Citrillo Pale Ale Recipe and Brewday

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Nick Ladd

I have a bit of nostalgic love for the humble American Pale ale. I can only assume this sentiment is shared by a large number of craft beer drinkers that came of age during the beginning of the craft beer explosion we’re currently in the midst of. Experiencing the relative extremity of a beer like Sierra Nevada pale ale for the first time was somewhat shocking and admittedly, not instantly pleasurable. To my inexperienced palate, the beer was extremely bitter and intense, something radically different from the adjunct-laden lagers I cut my consumption teeth on. It took some time to acclimate, but since those early experiences with SNPA, I’ve rarely looked back.

Revisiting SNPA today makes me realize just how much my palate has changed. The transition my drinking habits have made towards bigger and bolder closely aligns with the shifts that we’ve seen within the APA category. SNPA would now barely register as a pale ale compared to the highly alcoholic hop bombs that are the most popular examples of the style today. My goal with this recipe is to capture the intense tropical and citrusy hop flavor and aromatics that today’s most popular APAs possess (Zombiedust comes to mind) while pairing down the alcohol to be more in-line with something like SNPA.

Citrillo Pale Ale Recipe

Size: 4.0 gal – My goal is to net 2.75 gallons into the fermenter after hop-related and equipment losses.
Efficiency: 68%
Attenuation: 78.0% (estimated)

Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 SG (estimated)
Color: 8.82 SRM
Alcohol: 5.76% ABV (estimated)
Bitterness: 4.5 IBU – Note, my software doesn’t take into account isomerization during the whirlpool where I am getting the majority of my bitterness.

Grist:
7.75 lb (81.6%) 2-Row Brewers Malt (Briess)
1 lb (10.5%) Vienna Malt (Weyermann)
6 oz (3.9%) 2-Row Caramel Malt 40L (Briess)
4 oz (2.6%) 2-Row Caramel Malt 10L (Briess)
2 oz (1.3%) Acidulated Malt (Weyermann) – Used for pH Adjustment

Hopping:
2 g Citra™ (13.7% AA) – 60 m
2.75 oz Citra™ (13.7% AA) – Whirlpool 20m
1.25 oz Amarillo® (8.7% AA) – Whirlpool 20m

~~3 oz Amarillo® (8.5% AA) – Hop back.~~ Unfortunately, my hop back broke during the brew day. In lieu of the hop back addition, I ended up adding the hop back hops to my kettle with 5 minutes left in the whirlpool.

1.5 oz Citra™ (13.7% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days
0.75 oz Amarillo® (8.5% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablet – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
WYeast 1056 American Ale™ (1 very fresh packet)

Mash Regiment:
Saccharification Rest – 154 °F – 60m
Mashout – 168 °F – 5m

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 60°F and let rise to 64°F. Hold until activity begins to slow.
2. Raise temp to 70°F until all activity is complete.
3. Dry hop at room temp (74°F or so)
4. Crash to 32°F 2 days then package.

Northern English Brown 2.0 – Recipe and Brewday

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Update 3/22/14: Tasting and Review

For those who were able to get entries into the 2014 National Homebrew Competition, time is running short to brew and select the beers your want to enter. For 2014 the AHA has enacted a four-entry limit, a dramatic shift from past years, which were wide open, and a direct testament to the competition’s growing popularity.

For those hardcore competition enthusiasts, the NHC has always been a numbers game. Chasing prizes like the Ninkasi was about brewing and entering as many high-quality beers as you physically could. At first glance, the new limits seem to even out the playing field. This is generally true and dramatically changes the meaning of prizes like the Ninkasi. The opportunity, however, still exists for those wishing to play the numbers game in a more nuanced manner. Taking a look at the pre-competition selection side of the game unveils another opportunity to strategize. In many ways, the new limits not only force you to test your skills as a brewer, but also the analytic skills a brewer must use in order to select the beers they believe are the truest interpretations of their respective styles.

In order to best increase my chances, I have a pool of approximately eight beers from which I plan to select my four entries. One of the beers I’ll be selecting from is a Northern English Brown ale. This is the first time I’ve brewed this beer since it won a gold medal in the second round of the 2012 NHC. The recipe remains true to the original with slight changes for recipe size and availability of specialty grains.

Northern English Brown Recipe

Size: 3.25 gal – My goal is to net 2.75 gallons into the fermenter.
Efficiency: 64%
Attenuation: 75.0% (estimated)

Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 SG (estimated)
Color: 17.62 SRM
Alcohol: 4.95% ABV (estimated)
Bitterness: 25.3 IBU (calculated)

Grist:
4.75 lb (65.5%) Maris Otter (Crisp)
1.5 lb (20.7%) Vienna Malt (Weyermann)
4 oz (3.4%) Special Roast Malt (Briess)
4 oz (3.4%) Victory® Malt (Briess)
4 oz (3.4%) Crystal 60 (Thomas Fawcett)
4 oz (3.4%) Pale Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett)

Hopping:
20 g East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA) – 60 m
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings (3.2% AA) – 5 m
0.125 oz East Kent Goldings (5.8% AA) – 5 m

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
WYeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale – 1L 1.040 Starter on Stir Plate

Mash Regiment:
Saccharification Rest – 152 °F – 60m
Mashout – 168 °F – 5m

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 60°F and let rise to 64°F. Hold until activity begins to slow.
2. Raise temp to 70°F until all activity is complete.
3. Crash to 32°F 2 days then package.

Single Tap IPA Review

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Stylistically, I find IPA to be one of the craft beers categories with the most variation. There are many popular IPAs that have almost no malt character, while others are relatively robust and judicious in their application of toasty and caramel flavors. Some are absolute hop bombs with robust flavors of citrus, pine resin, grass, spice, and tropical fruit, while others tend to portray a more nuanced hop character. All IPAs should lean towards the bitter side, but some are so excruciatingly bitter they make you wonder if you’re damaging your tooth enamel. Some IPAs are daringly dry while others retain a hint of residual sweetness. Many are lower in alcohol—and could be argued to be pale ales—while others blur the line between single and double IPA. With this recipe, I was shooting for something towards the middle, in terms of alcohol, malt, and bitterness, while taking hop flavor and aroma to an extreme level.

Tasting Notes:

Judged as a BJCP Category 14b. American IPA.

Aroma (8/12):
High level of hop aroma which prominently features grapefruit zest upfront and a touch of pine resin in the background. There is a whisper of stone fruit (peach?) in the aroma that is quite pleasant. Some grassy, dry hop characters come out as the beer warms which lends an earthy and spicy component to the aroma. The hops are perhaps a bit muddled in their presentation. The malt aroma is very low and a bit indistinct letting the hops shine. There is no perception of caramel malt on the nose. No alcohol, DMS, or other off-aromas. Very clean fermentation character with no perceptible ester.

Appearance (2/3):
The beer is a deep golden hue with hits of red that push the beer to being nearly a copper color. There is a very distinct haze, but not nearly as muddy as some commercial beers I’ve sampled. A nice off-white, sticky head persists until the beer is finished.

Flavor (14/20):
This beer has a very strong hop flavor that couples with a firm hop bitterness. The flavors are somewhat reminiscent of the white pith of a citrus fruit. There is a touch of slightly vegetal/grassy hops on the finish. The relative depth of color in this beer would make you think there would be some fairly strong malt components to the flavor. This is not the case. The beer exhibits only a hint of light toasty malt that is difficult to extract from the large amount of hop flavor. The bitterness is clean and crisp, but perhaps a bit too intense. There is a hint of residual malt sweetness that is a touch heavy.

Mouthfeel (3/5):
Medium-bodied with a firm, clean finish. There is just a hint of residual sweetness in the finish. The beer is slightly over-carbonated giving the beer a prickly mouthfeel which improves once the gas subsides.

Overall Impression (6/10):
This is a nice IPA that showcases American hops in all of their brashness and intensity. There aren’t any of the tropical notes that are found in some of the most popular contemporary examples which may detract from in its popularity with beer geeks who tend to chase the latest novel hop flavors. This beer is right in the middle of the BJCP style, but could get dinged for not having quite enough malt depending on what a particular judge is looking for. In future recipe iterations, I plan to slightly lower the hop bitterness and further dry the beer out to allow for the hop flavors to shine even more brightly. Additionally, I will likely not use Columbus again for this beer as I feel it contributed to some of the rougher hop flavors this beer exhibits.

Total: 33/50 Very Good

My Funked-Up Cider

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Nick Ladd

Making hard cider is stupid-easy. My 1-gallon experiment included pre-pressed cider, a 200ml slurry of my house “bug” culture, and a small addition of nutrients. The up-front investment of time was approximately 30 minutes.

Update 8/2/14: Full Review

Fall in New York. A chill in the air, leaves on the ground, and a butt-ton of apples at the green market. During a recent trip to the Grand Army Plaza market, nearly every purveyor of produce was selling a variety of apples. Along with these apples came the real prize — jugs of apple cider. The trick is finding minimally processed juice unadulterated with Potassium Sorbate. Sorbates create a stable product by inhibiting the yeast’s ability to reproduce. This works great at preventing cider from inadvertently fermenting and becoming alcoholic, but also makes the juice tough, if not impossible, to use for the production of hard cider. After talking to five different stands selling sorbated juice, I found Tree-Licious Orchards out of Warren County, NJ. Their juice was not only sorbate-free, but had already begun to show the tell-tale signs of early fermentation.

This past NHC, Chris Baker gave a talk about cider and suggested that juice should be supplemented with Fermaid-K and DAP to help ensure a healthy and complete fermentation. His suggested rate was 1/2 tsp. Fermaid-K and 1/4 tsp. DAP per five gallons. After measuring and weighing out the nutrients, this works out to 0.54 grams Fermaid-K and 0.31 grams DAP per gallon of juice.

There is a good amount of precedence for making funky ciders. The Spanish have a knack for making tart, dry, complex, Brett-bombs; a naturally occurring event if the native yeast and bacteria residing on apple skins are left to their own devices.

My goal with this experiment is to produce a cider with a healthy dose of bacteria-derived acidity to make up for the fact that the juice I used was likely comprised of primarily culinary apples containing little balancing acid and tannin. With some luck, the acidity will help balance out the cider while preventing the cider from becoming too watery or austere.

Recipe:

One gallon of funked-up cider ready to start fermenting.

Juice:
1-Gallon Non-Sorbated Cider
My juice had a starting gravity of 1.050. If this ferments out completely, it should leave me with a 6.5% ABV cider.

Nutrients:
0.54 grams Fermaid-K, dissolved in water
0.31 grams DAP, dissolved in water

Yeast:
200ml House Bug Culture
My culture started with microbes obtained from commercial beers including Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, Russian River Beatification, and Tilquin Gueuze.

Process:

Sanitize 1-gallon jug, stopper, and airlock.
Pour in juice, nutrients, and yeast.
Let cider ferment.

Spawn of Duvel – Homebrew Tasting

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Nick Ladd

Judged as a BJCP Category 16B Belgian Pale Ale

Note: The Spawn of Duvel wasn’t really brewed to fit the Belgian Pale Ale category, but that is the closest category it fits into.

Aroma (6/12)
Very prominent banana ester that is reminiscent of artificially flavored banana candy or even under ripe green bananas. There is a bit of sharp alcohol that merges with this and reminds me that this beer is only 3 weeks old. The pear ester that I was hoping for is present, but in quantities that are barely perceptible. The is a very pleasant round pilsner malt aroma that is probably my favorite part about this beer. A herbal / earthy hop aroma is very low, but present.

Appearance (2/3)
The beer is a hazy rich gold color. The head is persistent and white. A couple weeks in the fridge should transform this into a much brighter beer.

Flavor (15/20)
The beer has a really nice slightly sweet pilsner malt character. The malt is a bit bread-like and features a very low, but complimentary toasty note on the finish. The banana ester and alcohol that was on the nose is much more subdued on the palate. Again, the hops are perceptible, but much lower in flavor than i had hoped or would have suspected based on the recipe formulation. There is a nice clean firm bitterness that doesn’t linger and perfectly balances the malt. At the finish there is a slight mineral note that is bit chalky.

Mouthfeel (3/5)
The beer has a medium mouth feel with a nice creamy texture. The carbonation is in line with most beer styles, but could used a bump to better fit the category. No alcohol heat or astringency.

Overall Impression (6/10)
This is a very enjoyable Belgian Pale Ale. It doesn’t have the malt complexity that the style guideline would call for which would likely hurt its scores in a beer competition. The main problem I see with the beer is that the banana ester is way too dominate. This muddies the familiar resemblance to Duvel that I was hoping for. In next iteration of this beer I need to figure out how to change my fermentation profile to better create the ester character I was striving for. Additionally, I would like to dry the beer out a bit more by mashing at a lower temperature.

Total: 32/50 (Very Good)