Short Notice Pale

With the exception of the citrus saison, my end-of-year brewing tended toward the malty end of the spectrum.  By the Christmas season, though, I'd definitely reached the point where I was ready to have something different in the fermenter; I was lulled once again by the siren song of the hop cone.  While putting together the list of ingredients to buy for the session sour, I decided on a whim to put together an impromptu American pale ale.  The plan was to brew it back to back with the sour, or at most the next day.  Of course, it ended up waiting a month and a half to be brewed, earning it the dubious distinction of my first beer of 2012.  So much for the "short notice" moniker.

Pretty no-frills grain bill: working through my trusty bag of Malteurop 2-row, accented with equal parts aromatic and crystal 20L (I have a seemingly never-ending stock of the stuff from a long-ago group bulk buy).  Denny's Favorite 50 went back in the carboy on sugar-to-alcohol conversion duties.  For the centerpiece for this beer, I went back to experimenting with a couple new (to me) hops: Chinook, a classic American "C" hop known for its powerful bittering and sharp taste; and Ahtanum, a newish variety with a noted citrus aroma.  These were supplemented by old standby Centennial.  Overall, I was aiming for an easygoing, moderately bitter, hop forward beer.

I was very happy to get out the brew setup again, though I have some new equipment that didn't get a chance to play this time.  This one was fermented pretty cool; it might have been nice to push up the temperature a bit and increase the esters, but as is it should let the hops really shine.  The aroma from the airlock has been sweet, perfumey, and overall wonderful.  I'll be moving this one for a short stay in secondary on top of the dry hops, then into bottles in pretty short order; it'd be a shame to let any of those tasty aromatics dissipate.

Short Notice Pale

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.050
Projected SRM: 8.0
Projected IBU: 36.1
Boil time: 70 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 86%

Grains
75.0% - 6 lb 2 row
12.5% - 1 lb Aromatic
12.5% - 1 lb C 20

Hops
.4 oz Centennial (8.7%) (FWH)
.4 oz Chinook (11.8%) (60 min)
.3 oz Chinook (15 min)
.5 oz Ahtanum (4.5%) (10 min)
.8 oz Centennial (dry hop - 5 days)
.6 oz Ahtanum (dry hop - 5 days)
.4 oz Chinook (dry hop - 5 days)

Yeast
WY1450 Denny’s Favorite 50 (1 qt starter)

Extras
1 tsp Irish moss (10 min)

Water additions (mash)
6 qts RO water
1 g Gypsum
1 g Epsom salt

Brewday: 5 February 2012
Mash: 154F for 60 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 6.1 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 10.3P (1.041)

Fermented in brew closet at 57-60F ambient.  Activity 18 hours after pitching.

11 February 2012: Brought out to main area at 65F ambient to finish out.

Secondary: 17 February 2012

Bottled: 23 February 2012
FG: 1.013
ABV: 4.8%
Bottled with 4 oz table sugar.

Tasting: Did not turn out, unfortunately.  It's been a while, but I recall some overwhelming off-flavour.  Need to get on doing regular tasting notes!  Will have to give Ahtanum another shot so I can get a handle on what it has to offer.