Citra Bitter

I needed to make a starter for the Wyeast 9097 Old Ale Blend I used for the wheatwine portion of my recent parti-gyle.  While I could’ve just used some of the final runnings I’ve saved from previous mashes and thrown them on the stirplate, I decided to make a small (1.2-gallon) extract batch of beer.

A few months ago, fellow brewer and Northside Homebrewers Connection founder Ted Danyluk shared with me a bottle of a pale ale he’d made using only Citra hops.  I’d read about the intense tropical fruit flavour and aroma from this hop, but wasn’t prepared to be walloped by the papaya scent emanating from this beer.  It was amazing, and I’d been keen to get this hop in my kettle.

I’ve brewed a number of extract batches with my dad in the last couple years, but I haven’t made anything more grandiose than a few starters with extract since I put together my mash tun.  With few exceptions, my extract beers just never measured up to what I was able to brew with my all-grain setup.  This simple recipe has proved to me that it may well be worth revisiting extract brewing from time to time; the hydrometer sample I tasted when I bottled this beer was fruity, hoppy, and clean, with none of the extract “twang” I remembered from my early days of brewing.


Citra Bitter (Extract)

Projected OG: 1.032
Projected SRM: 9.3
Projected IBU: 44.3

for 1.25 gallons:

Grain/Fermentables
1 lb    Pilsner DME
8 oz    C 20

Hops
.2 oz    Citra (12.3%) (30 min)
.2 oz    Citra (10 min)
.6 oz    Citra (dry hop - 7 days)

Yeast
WY9097 Old Ale Blend

Brewday: 16 January 2011
30-minute boil
Fermented in basement, ~56̊F ambient

19 January 2011: has been fermenting strongly; moved upstairs to finish out

24 January 2011: moved to ice bath to flocc out yeast

Secondary: 30 January 2011
Volume: 1.2 gallons

Bottled: 7 February 2011
FG: 1.012
ABV: 2.6%
Bottled with .7 oz light brown sugar