Pale Ale tasting

More Hard Work

Time to test the Pale Ale I brewed on February 7th. I suppose I should call this an American Pale Ale as it contains all American hops and was brewed to style type 18B (American Pale Ale) according to the Beer Judge Certification Program style guidelines. This is not something I've ever bothered about before but members of my local homebrew group are attempting to brew this style which will then be evaluated by a certified beer judge, so I have made the effort to brew the beer according to the parameters specified, which are:

OG 1.045 - 1.060

FG 1.010 - 1.015

ABV 4.5 - 6.2%

IBU's 30 - 50

SRM 5 - 10 

Fortunately this beer ticks all the boxes (according to Brewer's Friend and my hydrometer readings); 

OG 1.050

FG 1.011

ABV 5.1%

IBU's 46.3

SRM 8

Which is great, but more importantly does it taste good?

Short answer, yes!

The style guidelines state it should be "pale, refreshing and hoppy" which it is, but with a little bit of malty sweetness to balance the bitterness. It's also very clear.

I like this one, I may take more notice of style in the future.

Scottish Pale Ale tasting

First Tasting

After 11 days of bottle conditioning it's time to check the Scottish Pale Ale brewed on Jan 31st.

It's excellent, I am really pleased with this. It is beautifully bitter and full bodied, very smooth, very clear and extremely drinkable despite the strength (5.8%) I might make this again. It's going to be even better after a few more weeks conditioning. I must remember not to drink it all as I am entering it in the Stockport Beer Festival Homebrew Competition, and they want four bottles! 

Update 23/03/2017

Just tasted this again and it's got better. Very crisp clean taste, extremely clear and well carbonated. I find it almost tastes like a strong European lager. The Edinburgh Ale yeast is exceptional.

Altbier tasting

First Tasting

It's time to taste the Altbier I brewed on Jan 24th. It's only been in bottles for 18 days but I think it's time to try it. Although 6-7 weeks conditioning is recommended I'm too impatient to wait that long.

It's smooth and malty, a bit ester-y, but hopefully that will drop out over the next few weeks, and very clear. I actually tipped the bottle right up (forgetting about the sediment) but the yeast remained stuck to the bottom of the bottle. Overall I'm pretty pleased with this, I'll try it again in a couple of weeks.

Bottling - Scottish 100/- Pale Ale

Bottling Day

Once again I have managed to be sufficiently organised to manage some bottling on a brewday. The Scottish Pale Ale I brewed on Jan 31st finished at 1.015 resulting in 5.84% ABV and 72.5% apparent attenuation. This was supposed to match an 1879 recipe from William Younger but my OG was 10 points lower than forecast at 1.060. Fortunately the FG was also 10 points lower and apparent attenuation 10 percentage point higher so the final ABV was an exact match for the historic recipe.

Pale Ale brewday 07/02/2017

Pale Ale brewday 07/02/2017

This is similar to the pale ale I brewed in November 2016, but this time I will bottle it rather than put in the pressure barrel.

Recipe (BIAB):

• Mash for 1 hr at 67°C
• Boil for 60 mins
• Mash water volume 30lt
• Maris Otter 4.4kg
• Carapils 200g
• Crystal malt 70L 200g
• Galena 20g (at start)
• Amarillo 30g (15 mins)
• Amarillo 45g (at end)
• Citra 20g (dry hopped 3 days)
• Irish Moss 1 tsp (15 mins)
• Gervin English Ale Yeast 11g pack

Hopefully I should get 21-22lt in the fermenter.

Results:

I ended up with 23lt in the fermenter and 1.050 OG, exactly as predicted! Hopefully I 'll get a final gravity reading of 1.012 giving 5% ABV.

Update 15/02/17

Actual FG was 1.011, so ABV = 5.1% and attenuation = 78%.
Final bottle count was 42 x 500ml, should keep me going for a bit!

Bottling - Altbier

Another Bottling Run 31/01/17

In addition to brewing my historic Scottish 100 shilling ale I even managed to bottle the Altbier I brewed on 24/01/17. The FG reading was 1.012 giving an ABV of 5% and apparent attenuation of 75%. Now I just have to leave it to condition for about 7 weeks. I'll condition at room temperature for a couple of weeks to get the secondary fermentation and then move it somewhere cooler.

After such an intensive bout of brewing activity I need a beer!  

Brewday 31/01/2017 - Scottish 100 Shilling Ale

William Younger 1879 100/- Scottish Ale

This is a historic recipe provided by top beer writer Ron Pattinson whose blog Shut Up About Barclay Perkins is a great source of old ale recipes. I'm brewing this 100/- ale as part of a homebrew event where members of Manchester homebrew club and my group Chorlton home brewers are brewing several of these 19th century Scottish ales to bring to a tasting with Ron at Beer Nouveau in Manchester on April 2nd. I'm not sure how we'll know if they taste authentic but hopefully they will all be great beers.

Recipe

This is a very simple recipe!

Pale Malt (I used Golden Promise for extra Scottish authenticity) 5kg

Cluster 90mins - 58g

Goldings 30mins - 58g

Yeast - WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast

OG should be 1.070 and I'm aiming for 17lt into the fermenter.

Results

Not brilliant, I got 16lt in the fermenter but an OG of only 1.060. That's only 62% efficiency, I usually get about 75%. Hopefully the yeast will achieve 70-75% attenuation resulting in an ABV of 5.8% which is close to the original recipe specification. The difference between my recipe and the brewing record is the level of apparent attenuation, the historic recipe has apparent attenuation at 63% which is low for this yeast strain.