Ted's Matrimony Ale

I got to know my friends Joe and Ted over pints at the Goose Island Clybourn brewpub while in school at DePaul; an appreciation for good beer has always defined our friendships.  Shortly after DeAunn and I moved back from Honolulu, Ted inquired about my nascent homebrewing hobby, and then jumped right into it (we both still working on Joe).  Ted’s helped out on some of my biggest brewdays, including both Russian imperial stouts I’ve made, and I’ve been on hand for several of his.  We both brewed for Joe’s wedding last summer, and it’s only right that I brew for his this June.

Ted’s love of Belgians and sours has greatly influenced my own beer buying habits, but we’ve always found common ground on hops.  Most of the people at the wedding will not be as geeky as we are, though, and will be looking for something not quite as heavy and hop oppressive as a double IPA on a warm Kansas afternoon.  I was really happy with the intense tropical fruit aroma and flavour I got in the small extract batch of Citra Bitter I made as a yeast starter for my wheatwine earlier this year, so I decided to go with an all-grain version based on the grains I had on hand.  A bit of Vienna and Caramunich to fill out the 2-row base, with some dark brown sugar late in the boil to bump the alcohol a bit without adding body, and we’re off.  I hopbursted and dry hopped to maximize all those great mango/papaya qualities without getting prohibitively bitter for those of less-than-hophead constitution.  Trying to fit in some English flare into this very Americanized special bitter, the S-04 may add its own layer of fruity esters (and also ferment and flocc out quickly).

Looking to get a bit more efficiency, I mashed overnight.  Other than bumping the OG by a few points, it also made the brew a bit simpler by dividing up the brewday, which was nice; I’ll be doing more of that in the future.  It turned out to be a stunningly beautiful spring brewday, and on top of that, I had a package arrive containing the new Radiohead album King of Limbs (which is, as expected, excellent) and Gordon Strong's new book Brewing Better Beer; once I whittle down the pile of other books I have on my bedside table, I'm looking forward to digging into this and Wild Brews.

I’d meant to dry hop for 5 to 7 days, but by the time I realized I had a fermenter space issue, 2 days is what I could spare; thankfully, the aroma was still intensely fruity at bottling.  This has been my fastest brew to date, kettle to bottle in 10 days; I usually don’t touch even my session beers for two weeks.  Hopefully it’ll hit its stride just in time for the wedding; unfortunately, DeAunn and I won’t be able to make it, so we’ll have to rely on reports on how it goes over.  All the best, Ted & Katherine!

Ted’s Matrimony Ale - Citra Special Bitter

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.047
Projected SRM: 8.3
Projected IBU: 52.4
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 84%

Grains/Fermentables
78.7% - 6 lb 2-row
9.8% - 12 oz Vienna
6.6% - 8 oz Caramunich III
4.9% - 6 oz Dark brown sugar (10 min)

Hops
1 oz Citra (13.7%) (20 min)
1 oz Citra (10 min)
1 oz Citra (Dry hop 2 days)

Yeast
S-04 English Ale dry yeast

Extras
1 tsp Irish moss (10 min)

Water additions (mash)
4 g Gypsum
.5 g Salt
.2 g Chalk

Brewday: 6 May 2011
Sacch rest @ 154F for 9 hours (overnight)- dropped to 120F
Pre-boil volume: 6.8 gallons
Pre-boil SG (w/o sugar): 8.8P (1.035)

Fermented in basement at ambient (60F); brought upstairs after a week to finish out

Dry hops: 13 May 2011

Bottled: 15 May 2011
FG: 1.007
ABV: 5.2%
Bottled with 3.2 oz of table sugar