The perfect Summer Ale with a bite

[Redtab78]

So after a few tries, I have finally nailed down the process for my first original recipe, I thought I would re-write the thread to encompass all the changes I needed to make and share with you all for a try. Who knows, maybe I can make it into the recipe database with this one!!


My goal with this was to emulate the "Goodlife brewing Sweet AS" golden ale. after tons of research and quiet a few weekend batches using different hop bills and grain bills, this is the final recipe. Without futher adue.......I give you my "Relaxationa":

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Northwest Ale (Wyeast 1332)
Yeast Starter: yes 1.5L
Batch Size (Gallons): 6.0
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU: 18
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4.1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days @ 62-66F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 60F
Tasting Notes: In the style of: crisp, citrus, slightly hoppy, light taste of pine, nice thick foamy head with great retention.

SPECIFICATIONS:
OG 1.060
FG 1.008
IBU's...... 18 from bittering with a perception of much more than 18 IBU's
SRM 4.1
ABV 6.8% - was shooting for 6%, but I didn't anticipate the FG being lower than 1.011

Grain Bill:
9 lb American - Pale 2-Row (US northwest) 37 1.8 69.2%
2.5 lb American - Vienna 35 4 19.2%
1 lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 7.7%
0.5 lb German - CaraFoam 37 1.8 3.8%
13 lb Total

Hop Schedule:
0.75 oz NZ Pacifica Pellet 5 Boil 60 min 13.2 IBU
0.35 oz NZ Pacifica Pellet 5 Boil 20 min 3.73 IBU
0.35 oz NZ Pacifica Pellet 5 Boil 5 min 1.23 IBU
0.55 oz NZ Pacifica at flameout

PLUS an additional 1oz of NZ Moteuka in secondary (10 days)

ADDITIVES:
1 TSP Irish moss added at 15 min
.25oz of cracked coriander seed at 15 min (Thrown in loosely, not in a bag)

FERMENTATION:
PRIMARY: Pitched yeast (full starter of 1.5L) into exactly 6 gal of wort after getting the temp down to 80% then set into my ferm chamber (which was set to 64F). due to a malfunction (kids unplugging my heating unit) the temp dropped to 62F on day 3, then I fixed the problem and raised the temp up to 66F where it finished out the remaining 11 days.
SECONDARY: After the OG had dropped to 1.008 I racked into secondary and added the 1oz of Motueka hops and let sit for an additional 10 days at 60F)

MASH:
Single infusion @ 152F for 70 min (I let it set until my iodine test came out with very little yellow color after adding the drop to my sample)
Batch sparge until I met my pre-boil vol of 7.5 gal

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
I shot for a 6% ABV but ended up at 6.8%. After having 4 of these I was feeling very good to say the least. I shared some with my neighbors who came over for a BBQ who all was extremely impressed and preferred this beer over any other I had on my tap at the time (Mac and Jack clone, and BMC Centennial blonde) as well as the beer they had brought over which was 10 barrel IPA, and Kona Brewing golden ale. So to me being fairly new to home brewing, having these types of reviews and comment from others (besides SWMBO), makes me very proud of this recipe and I felt compelled to share this with you all.

I will be bottling a few up and entering this into a LHBS contest later next month, I will come back here and share the results!

NOTE: Special thanks to all those who assisted me with the development of this beer from the gain bill to the water profile questions as well as the mashing process and temps: kh54s10, m00ps, Redlantern just to name a few.

 

[Build]

Nice Summer brew!

 

[eadavis80]

Good looking mug!

 

[Redtab78]

Thanks!! the beer continues to improve in flavor in the keg...

 

[Redtab78]

so, I got a preliminary "scoring" yesterday from a guy at me LHBS who judges competitions, he went through the whole scoring sheet and guidelines for the 2008 BCJP rule book, and everything about this beer is spot on EXCEPT the amount of wheat I used in the grain bill and the ending ABV. He suggest I lower the base somewhat, and raise the wheat amount as well as lower the ABV to under 5.6%. He mentioned making the wheat at least 30% of the overall bill....

He also suggested that I could raise it just a tad less to right at 20% and use a kolsch yeast, and enter it into category 6C instead of 6D, with the exception of the ABV and current grain bill (just a little high), it fit the entire profile for a kolsch.


So now....Im wondering.... if I am wanting to enter this beer in an upcoming contest....how exactly would the Kolsch yeast change the flavor profile from the Northwest Ale that I used? As I mentioned above this beer is amazingly good....but I want to enter a contest (just to say I have done it) but I want the best chances of winning too..

Finally.....I noticed under the Kolsch style, many beers are filtered....when during the process, and how exactly would I "filter" the beer?

 

[Redtab78]

Third generation...exact same recipe as above, this one is going fast!!!

 

[bacgabe]

Looks very tasty. Might have to give it a go. I must say, I don't really know where your LHBS guy was coming from. He seems to want to make some pretty drastic changes to your recipe to make a kolsch, and even so, his changes do not seem very well suited to a classic kolsch (high proportion of wheat malt and NZ hops are not traditional to a kolsch). I think your beer fits very nearly squarely within the definition of an american blonde and would do well in that category. The only thing you need to do to make it fall entirely within the style is to bump your SG down about 4 points. You could probably just knock a pound of base grain off, or decrease all your grains proportionally. I say enter it as an american blonde based on your original recipe (but with the SG tweak mentioned above) and see how it stands up!

 

[bacgabe]

In fact, if you did not want to wait for a rebrew, I would say you could enter your current beer as american Blonde Ale (6B under 2008 guidelines, 18A under 2015 guidelines). Although it would be a little out of style due to ABV, it is unlikely a judge would fault it for that reason (or even be able to detect it).

 

[Redtab78]

Looks very tasty. Might have to give it a go. I must say, I don't really know where your LHBS guy was coming from. He seems to want to make some pretty drastic changes to your recipe to make a kolsch, and even so, his changes do not seem very well suited to a classic kolsch (high proportion of wheat malt and NZ hops are not traditional to a kolsch). I think your beer fits very nearly squarely within the definition of an american blonde and would do well in that category. The only thing you need to do to make it fall entirely within the style is to bump your SG down about 4 points. You could probably just knock a pound of base grain off, or decrease all your grains proportionally. I say enter it as an american blonde based on your original recipe (but with the SG tweak mentioned above) and see how it stands up!

Thanks! I have no problem lowing the OG, I had made the recipe to fit my brewing process to achieve the 6% I was trying to get originally, but that was before I bought my own grain mill...since getting my own mill, I have went from lower side of 60% area up to consistently 75% efficiency...and as fast as people drink this, lowering the alcohol content might be a good thing for all!! lol.

If you brew it, please let me know how it comes out for you. I enjoy hearing the feedback when ppl drink it, and I don't think anyone else has brewed it yet, so I'd be curious to see if you hit the same numbers and enjoy it as much as we do!

 

[Redtab78]

So I have now brewed this beer 7 times, and this last time was using Wyeast Kolsch 2565 yeast, but kept everything the same as above. I will be entering this batch into an Oktoberfest competition, and I will let you guys know the outcome, but the initial taste test from a few guys are looking extremely positive!! The color and clarity is simply amazing as I had let this one sit for quite a while in secondary at 45F. I will post a few pics this afternoon.

 

[Redtab78]

Here's secondary and finished

 

[OswaldvW]

It looks like a yummy recipe. I think the hard task would be to find how to categorize the beer in a BJCP competition.

It looks like a pale ale with the ingredients but the bitterness is too low for a pale ale.

It also looks like it could be an American wheat, but you would need to lower the ABV and there also is the question of the coriander, plus the need to increase wheat malt and decrease base/Vienna malt.

As a Kölsch, again the problem would be the coriander. Kölsch beers are not seasoned with spices.

Perhaps there is an alternate category that you could use, such as a spiced beer? (30A).

 

[Redtab78]

It looks like a yummy recipe. I think the hard task would be to find how to categorize the beer in a BJCP competition.

It looks like a pale ale with the ingredients but the bitterness is too low for a pale ale.

It also looks like it could be an American wheat, but you would need to lower the ABV and there also is the question of the coriander, plus the need to increase wheat malt and decrease base/Vienna malt.

As a Kölsch, again the problem would be the coriander. Kölsch beers are not seasoned with spices.

Perhaps there is an alternate category that you could use, such as a spiced beer? (30A).

I can always drop the coriander...as it's such a small amount anyways...but your right, it is quite yummy!!!