I've never really nailed hoppy beers; usually I'm supremely underwhelmed by the aroma and flavor I achieve (the one exception was the session IPA, which is why it went to competition). For this batch, I leaned more toward the currently trendy tropical fruit salad style with Galaxy, blended with the no-longer-new-school big citrus of Amarillo. The malts are overwhelmingly German, with oats for body/mouthfeel (it's getting to be a regular thing) and just a little American crystal. My love affair with Vienna continues, augmented by dark Munich and Caramunich for extra maltiness. Looking for more yeast character than Cal Ale--which also seems to be the current trend for East Coast hoppy beers--I put Denny's Favorite back in the ring.
BeerSmith is back up and running, and the new version has me rethinking my efficiency calculations. I've always had my mash efficiency in mind, but looking through the new version of the program, I'm now trying to think more in terms of overall batch efficiency. Which, of course, means I'm looking at significantly lower numbers. Even factoring in that, my mash efficiency seems to have dropped off a fair bit from even a year ago. Is it my crush (same mill gap), water calculations (need more?), or just Reno? Still working it out.
Brewday went well, though it's a real struggle to get temps in check here in late August; I pitched with the wort only down to 80F. Fortunately, not much seemed to get going before the swamp cooler brought the batch into the mid 60s. The beer is through fermentation now, waiting for an empty carboy so it can receive its dry hops. The yeast will go on to ferment another pale ale, my first straight-up SMaSH.
Galaxarillo Pale Ale
Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.047
Projected SRM: 9.2
Projected IBU: 47.5
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 64%
Grains
61.5% - 6 lb Best Malz Vienna
20.5% - 2 lb Weyermann Munich II
10. 3% - 1 lb Flaked oats
5.1% - 8 oz Weyermann Caramunich II
2.6% - 4 oz C40
Hops
.2 oz Millennium (15.9%) (60 min)
1 oz Amarillo (10.7%) (10 min)
1 oz Galaxy (14.8%) (10 min)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop - 5 days)
1 oz Galaxy (dry hop - 5 days)
Yeast
WY1450 Denny’s Favorite 50 - 1.4 l starter with continuous aeration
Extras
1 tsp Irish moss (10 min)
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (10 min)
Water (mash)
Profile: Reno
5 g Gypsum
4 g Epsom salts
3 g CaCl
3 ml Lactic acid (88%)
Brewday: 16 August 2015
Mash: 12.5 qts @ 152F for 60 minutes (+1 qt @ 212F to get to temp)
1st sparge: 10.5 qts @ 190F
2nd sparge: 12 qts @ 180F
Pre-boil volume: 7 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 10.3P (1.040)
Water profile based on the "Light colored & hoppy" profile from brewersfriend.com.
5.5 gallons at 12P (1.047) into the fermenter.
Chilled to 80F (warm ground water), 1 minute pure O2, pitched yeast.
Active fermentation 15 hours later at 65F.
Fermented in swamp cooler at 65F; brought up to 70F at the end of fermentation.
Dry hop: 5 September 2015
FG: 1.015
ABV: 4.2%
Gravity was a few points higher than expected, but the sample didn't taste overly sweet. Nice warm malt character; hops give balanced bitterness with a bit of tropical fruit flavor, but not very pronounced in taste or aroma.
2nd Place, American Ales: NV State Homebrew Championship 2015
