CS8 - Oaked Pale Ale

[Paul Harrison]

For 20L

 

6.50kg Golden Promise

1.00kg Munich

.450kg Carapils

.350kg Pale crystal

 

50gms Pacific Jade @ 60mins

20gms Motueka and Nels Sauv @ 10mins

100gms Motueka, 40gms Nels Sauv and US Cascade @ flameout

20gms Motueka and US Cascade dryhop

 

US-05

 

40gms of untoasted american oak chips soaked in chardonnay for a week. Beer transferred to secondary after two weeks and put on the oak chips for a week.

 

I was going for an IPA with a tart/funky flavour from the chardonnay oak chips. Unfortunately this beer in no way went to plan. O.G was 1.060 instead 1.068 (can you get higher than 1.060 in a BIAB setup? I've had this problem before) volume in fermenter was 16L rather than 20L. To top it off my friend had borrowed and lost my hydrometer so i couldn't get a F.G reading. Would have left it longer on the oak but I ran out of time. Sorry guys, but I brought it weak with this effort. Tastings at bottling were okay if a little sweet.

 

I'll do better next time. Promise!

[Adrian Tayler]

Perfectly carbonated to my liking, aroma was strong and hoppy, I definatley get the Nelson Sav which I love.

 

Flavour is very hoppy indeed, Not sure if I get any Oak flavours, or it is hard to determine under that massive last hop addition.

 

Overall, I rate this beer quite high, awesome mixture of hops, great aroma and a punch in the mouth of flavour. however I would be interested to see the ABV and IBU as the balance seems like it could be a little unbalanced.

 

great beer, thanks for sharing..

[John H]

Pours Murky Gold - Nels Sauv on the nose and taste. A badass IPA - nice.

I couldn't detect the oak in the flavour but it may have been detected as a dryness in the mouth , but it may also have been due to the bitterness.

My earlier IPA's were quite unbalanced with too much bitterness which killed the malt. My personal preference for this beer would have been to back off the bitterness to allow some more malt backbone to come through.

Also - if you want a higher OG you could try boiling for longer.

Still - a nice IPA - thanks for sharing.

[Dan]

Golden and cloudy with a nice little head.

Strong hoppy aroma - no oak.

Quite bitter, with grapefruit/marmalade flavour. Seemed a little off balance with the malt however.

The lingering bitterness struck me the most - sort of dominated the show. No oak in the flavour either.

It was still a nice beer mate - I just don't know if my enamel would let me have another :) Cheers.

[Paul Harrison]

Thanks for the comments guys. i tried a bottle myself and agree with the "no oak" comments. Dissapointing as that is what I was gunning for. More oak chips and left longer on the chips would have helped. I took a gravity reading a week before bottling that read 1.015 so assuming that, it makes it a 5.9% beer.

 

I should also note that this was based on the Yeastie Boys Digital IPA recipe. which is 77IBU but with the reduction in volume the IBU level went 100+ so it does seem unbalanced.

 

I'll have to give this another go.

[Matt Smith]

I don't think you should be so quick to write this off, I thought it was awesome. Given that you were 4 litres and 8 gravity points down I think it makes for a pretty interesting "mistake" (for lack of a better word). This is what home brewing is all about though right, we have the freedom to deviate from the plan, learn from it and enjoy the fruits anyhow.

This went down really fast, I enjoyed the savage bitterness and the really sharp, intense fruity flavours, obviously not alot of malt happening, but there is just enough body to carry the hops. While it takes a back seat, the oak is there for sure, I think it does a good job of softening the the beer a little. If you have any of this left, you could go and pick up a bottle of oak aged Armageddon to try side by side, I think you will definitely recognize the oak character if you have a reference point.

Thanks!

[Andrew]

Hi, Just read your notes on this and you under-promised and over-delivered. This beer is awesome. I loved the hop aroma and somehow I think I could smell blueberries in amongst the passionfruit and orangey notes. It is a little on the sweeter side but thats personal taste. If I bought this in a bar or bottle shop, I'd be going back to get some more again and again. Whatever you reckon you screwed up, do it next time as well.

[Tilt]

This one is far from a bomb - in fact its one of my faves in the swap.  It didn't last long and I went looking for more in a sadly empty bottle.  The hop combo you've chosen is a cracker - plenty of bitterness, plenty of citrus and fruit and a clean finish that lingers.  The malt base sits behind it unobtrusively giving the hops  mainstage but theres a complexity which I can't pick as oaking but whatever it is its good.  Well done, cheers.

[SR]

Cloudy orange

Thin head, but fine creamy bubbles

Fruity citrus aroma... with what I will describe as a sweet malty hoppy Firestone Walker character ( = oh so good! )

Marmalade

Delicious!... everything you smell is delivered in the taste

Big yummy bitterness, with a honey-like aftertaste

... and lets not forget the amazing fruity hoppy burps... like the best sherbert ever!

God this is good... wish we had lots more of this and would be super stoked to buy this...

After reading the recipe & notes, was surprised to see oak in the recipe (I tasted blind, not knowing what it was or even the name)... didn't really come through

Needless to say, one of the favourites so far - if you do better next time Paul, we're all in for a real treat... AWESOME!

[Stu H]

Hey Paul,

Apologies for the late tasting!

The first glass poured very clear amber, and the second VERY cloudy with some chunks (may have been oak). Great head.

Lovely stonefruit aroma, with very little oak characteristic discernable. In the mouth however the oak makes it's presence known, though not in an overblown way. Quite bitter, and a touch astringent (though being in a PET bottle in my fridge for several months probably didn't help).

However pretty damn tasty, for me a touch less bitterness, control the sediment, and boom!