Batch #7: British Pale Ale

A freestyle British pale ale. I planned this as a lighter beer to step up a nice British yeast to be repitched into a subsequent oatmeal stout and India pale ale. My efficiency made it a bit heavier than I intended, though.

Recipe

Grain Bill

8 lbs. Fawcett Optic
1 lb. Fawcett Medium Crystal (about 50L)
8 oz. DWC Biscuit
8 oz. Durst Wheat Malt

Hops

0.75 oz. East Kent Goldings (5.7% AA) at first wort
1 oz. Northern Brewer (7.7% AA) @60 min.
0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (5.7% AA) dry hops

Yeast

WLP023 Burton Ale pitchable tube, no starter. This is reputed to be the same as Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley ale.

Mash

Single infusion, 60 minutes at 154F.

Vitals

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.018
Calculated IBUs: 38
Carbonation: 12 psi @54F

Timeline

Brew day: November 14, 2002

4:00 pm: Mash in at 154F.
5:00 pm: Begin sparging with 160-170F water, add first wort hops.
5:35 pm: Finish sparging, collected 6.5 gal.
6:40 pm: Rolling boil.
7:00 pm: Add Northern Brewer hops.
8:00 pm: Finish boil, begin chilling.
8:35 pm: Finish chilling, rack to fermenter.
8:50 pm: Pitch yeast at 62F.

Checked fermenter the morning of November 15, found it at 58F with no activity. Moved to 68-72F closet upstairs. The yeast is a top cropper, and needed a blow-off tube a couple of days later.

Racked to secondary November 22, SG 1.018.

Dry-hopped November 29, and moved fermenter to 55F basement for cool conditioning.

Kegged December 11.

Tasting notes

December 23, 2002

I am tasting the first glass from tap. It is quite murky and undercarbonated (first glass), but still promising.

The malt profile is quite smooth, with a low but balancing hop bitterness. The fruitiness of the yeast is apparent as a pear/apple flavor and aroma.

The dry hop aroma is not yet apparent, except perhaps as a grassy astringency. The astringency could also have something to do with suspended yeast, which is contributing some unpleasant flavors at this point.

December 27, 2002

Still Murky, but not nearly as much as at the last note. The grassy astringency is dying down, revealing a vibrant spiciness from the hops. This is great in combination with the pear/apple fruitiness of the yeast.

January 6, 2003

Quite hazy, orange-copper in appearance. Head falls quickly, leaving lace on the side of the glass.

The flavor is brightly fruity (apple/pear), tangy, and toasty with a round and complex hoppiness, moderate bitterness, and mild hop spiciness in the aroma. The overall mouthfeel is smooth, but seems a little thin-bodied for a beer of this gravity. The toasty flavors are unpleasantly assertive in the first few sips. As the glass progresses, however, other flavors partly balance it out. Based on this experience, biscuit malt should be used with caution (like special B).

The wheat malt may be enhancing the toastiness, and could be reduced or left out. A cleaner or maltier British ale yeast could make the biscuit's toastiness more pleasant and balanced. More caramel flavor would also help this beer, although the amount of crystal malt seems high enough. Perhaps adding the crystal malt in the sparge or caramelized sugars in the boil would be more effective.

$Id: batch7.html,v 1.6 2003/01/07 04:45:48 chris Exp $