CS5 - Ally McGs Hopalong Cassidy and Chesnutt Brown

[Ally Mcg]

2 different beers in the swap from me for a variety of reasons that I shan't go into.

Hopalong Cassidy

5kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
.4kg Carapils
.1kg Dark Crystal
Columbus, Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial in the boil
Amarillo, Centennial and a pinch of Columbus dry hopped
S-05 Yeast
OG 1.055
FG 1.011
58IBU  5.74%abv

Chesnutt Brown

2.4kg Gladfields Pale Malt
.37kg Carapils
.19kg Dark Crystal
.03kg Pale Chocolate Malt
.02kg Black Patent
.02kg CaraAroma
Rakau and Centennial in the boil
S-05 Yeast
OG 1.052
FG 1.011
21 IBU 5.34% abv

There are 8 bots of one and 7 of the other. Look forward to any and all feedback. Cheers

[Reviled]

I got the hoppy beer :o)

Pours bright amber with a small head that stays, heaps of mandarin on the nose at 8*c with a bit of a candy smell in the background. Chewy bitter toffee up front which turns into more mandarin. Pretty well balanced and nicely brewed, a tasty APA mate! Cheers

[Barry]

Me too!
First night of case swap drinking and I've had 2 hoppy pale ales.
This one's quite a bit drier than Dales, bit lighter in colour, lighter body.

Pours a pretty clear deep golden colour with lasting white head, nice lacing (though I think my pint glass is still sticky from Dales beer!)
It's crisp and dry, medium to light bodied and really really tasty. There's enough caramel to balance out the bitterness, it's balanced more towards the bitter side of things but after my pizza it's really refreshing. Lovely hop character, the glass is getting emptied at a rate of knots.
I definitely wouldn't go any heavier on the dark crystal in such a hoppy beer, it will start to obscure things, but 100gms is working really well.
Really a pretty damn good beer Ally, drinkable in the extreme. Cheers!

[Dale]

Just sitting down to a Hopalong Cassidy. Into the glass with a little head, great golden colour and only a slight haze. Nice aroma. First mouthfull and nice malt flavour moving into a smooth bitterness that lingers on. More balanced than I thought 58IBU would be. Really nice beer Ally thanks very much.

[Stu McKinlay]

Hopalong:
Great beer Ally. Well balanced, nice and bitter. Clean ferment, superbly attenuated. Hop flavour is all oily citrus (orange, mandarin, grapefruit) and a little stonefruit... it has a leafy characteristic that had me thinking you'd used NZ hops, or a combo of NZ and American. Malt character is spot on but I reckon this beer would do well from finishing a point or three higher. I reckon a slightly sweeter finish would just lift that hop flavour.

Can't embed from work, so I present you you, in an old school way, The Knife - Heartbeats.

[JackoNZ]

First case swap beer for me, I got the brown. Decanted into a jug and then poured hard into a glass to get a nice frothy off white head. Head thins out fairly quickly and almost gone half way through the glass. Brown with some red and orange tinges, a little hazy but clears up somewhat as it warms up. Malty aroma with a little marmalade in there. Taste wise, very clean, medium to thin body with a nice level of carbonation, it had good mouth feel as it warmed and I think the lower levels of carbonation helped bring that through.

A little bit of sweetness in there, nicely balanced, dry, a nutty flavour coming through with more marmalade and some toffee notes. Something else in the flavour I couldn't put my finger on, was there a hop flavour addition in there or just bitterness? I thought I got some citrus type flavours and maybe a little woodyness too, not sure. All in all a well brewed beer that I enjoyed with dinner, thanks Ally.

[vdog]

Got the brown. Decanted off into a jug and poured from there. Aroma was very malty, bit like walking past a brewery. Little head which dissipated quickly. Enjoyed drinking this one - uncomplicated, easy drinking. Nice work Ally.

[Ally Mcg]

Cheers all for the feedback - glad they seem to be going down well.

I think they'll both be contenders to be brewed again at some point with a few minor tweaks based on what you guys have said.

[Haish]

Hopalong for me :) Deep amber in colour with a persistent white head. Huge citrus on the nose, oranges and mandarins. Love the combination of dark crystal and Maris Otter, gives a great chewy toffee maltiness backed up by the citrus hop flavour and 58 IBUs. The bitterness leaves me wanting more.

I have to say, this is an extremely well fermented beer with very clean flavours. Another beauty from CS5, thanks Ally! I'm definitely going to have a crack at this recipe so I'd love some more specifics about the hopping if possible.

[Ally Mcg]

Cheers Haish

Glad you enjoyed it - hopping went as follows

16.9IBU Columbus @60
7.2IBU Simcoe @30m
6.3IBU Amarillo Gold @30
9.3IBU Simcoe @ 15
4.6 IBU Amarillo @15
5.8iBU Centennial @ 5
7.8IBU Simcoe @5
25g Simcoe, 25g Centennial, 5g Columbus for 20L Dry hop 5 days

[Martin Bridges]

OK, Brown for me. Pours crystal clear, maybe a fraction the mahogany side of chestnut. Not a lot of head though, despite a fairly vigorous pour.

Not a huge aroma, but what I get is malt. Slight nuttiness.

Lovely malt palate. Not as much body as I'd expected with the CaraPils in there and the decent gravity, but smooth maltiness. Further down the pint the hops start to make an appearance, freshening the palate nicely.

All in all, a nicely put together beer. Thanks man.