SOBA NHC 2013 recipes

[Kelly Milligan]

Hey ya'll,

I recall there being another thread similar to this for last year's recipes, figured I'd get a 2013 version started! (hint hint Barb, give us some Joppa Stout love!)

Martin asked if I could share my "Smell the Roses" recipe :) Happy to! 

This is a rad summer beer. Sorry to say, but it uses pretty tough-to-get hops. This doesn't use any random ingredients as the name may suggest, just a name with a bit of a back story. I'm providing the ingredients in % (grains) and grams per litre + AA% + IBU's (hops) - I do double size batches so you can work it out for your system from there.

Session IPA - "Smell the Roses"

ABV: 5.2%

IBU: ~60 (Using Rager)

OG: 1.055

FG: 1.013 - 1.015

Water adjustment

My water is pretty soft, adjust this to your system. I've added gypsum and Acid Malt to achieve the appropriate mash PH.

0.3g/L Gypsum in mash water (aiming for about 250 ppm if I recall)

Fermentables

91% Golden Promise @ 6.3 EBC (I used Thomas Fawcett, but am also a big fan of Bairds)

5% Medium Crystal @ 153 EBC (Bairds)

3% Munich Malt @ 16 EBC (Weyermann)

1% Acid Malt (Weyermann)

Hops (kettle)
I'm using Simcoe to bitter as it gives a lovely smooth bittering. The Cascade is intended to be a "layering hop", with two rockstar hops like Simcoe and Amarillo, I needed something to sit quietly in the background and tie the hop profile together. 

1g/L Simcoe @ 12% @ 85mins (36.7 IBU)

1.25g/L Simcoe @ 12% @ 20mins (15.4 IBU)

2.5g/L US Cascade @ 6.2% @ 10mins (9.5 IBU)

1.25g/L Amarillo @ 8.5% 0 mins (probably a few extra IBU's from this addition)

Other additions

0.1g/L White Labs Yeast Nutrient @ 10mins

1x White Labs Servomyces Capsule per 20L @ 10mins (Make that yeast happy for gods sake!)

~1g/L Koppafloc @ 10mins

Hops (dry)

From what I've learned over time, dry hopping is all about surface contact with the beer (duh..). I don't have a conical fermenter so can't rouse my dry hops using CO2. Instead, I split the dry hopping out like this to get multiple instances of the hops "falling through" the beer before settling on the bottom. I also do it across a temperature range to try get different characters out of each dry hop. This could all be hearsay, so by all means do what you think works best for your system. The "days" refers to how many days before kegging or racking the beer. You can see I have it at crashing temp for that last addition.

0.65g/L Simcoe & 0.65g/L Amarillo @ 7 days @ ~20c

0.65g/L Simcoe & 0.65g/L Amarillo @ 5 days @ ~10-17c

0.65g/L Simcoe & 0.65g/L Amarillo @ 3 days @ ~1-5c

Yeast

White Labs WLP007 - This strain has been a favourite of mine for some time.. It has great attenuative properties (70-80%), and ferments very clean like an American Strain, but just seems to give the beer something a little bit special.. 

I grew up this vial over the course of a week, stepping a starter up to about 450b cells for ~40L. This is a bit of an overpitch. It was a very happy chappy when it went into the beer!

Process

Mash at 67-68c for 60mins

Boil for 90mins

Chill wort to 17C & oxygenate well before pitching yeast

Raise temperature to 19c over first 36-48 hours

Raise temperature to 21c over next 5 days

Fermenation will finish quickly with WLP007 (she's a beast), allow the yeast to clean up for at least a week before crashing and transferring.

Start your dry hopping after 1 week of fermentation. 

WLP007 Drops clear well, so you probably don't need to Gelatin this. Feel free to if you want it super clear, but that hop haze will prevent you from getting it brilliant. 

Carbonate to 2.3 - 2.6 volumes depending on your preference

Drink in volume in the sun, with a BBQ burning, music cranking and laughter abounding.

OK, I think that's pretty much it! feel free to ask any questions you may have. 

CHEERS!

K

[Grant R Baker]

Well done guys... and very good of you to share these recipes with everyone.  Cheers

[Matt Smith]

Here is an APA that got me my first ever Gold. It's my attempt at a classic, reasonably balanced C-hop APA (although, I couldn't resist popping a little Simcoe in to brighten it up a bit). This finished out at 1.009, but I think it would have been better at around 1.011. A little more to chew on always helps in a pale ale of this gravity in my opinion.

Kid Dynamite

1.052 - 1.009
29 IBU (NB: with a 20min steep at f/o, I'd put this at around 40 IBU)
7 SRM

Mash at 68, or wherever you feel will get you around 1.010-1.011. Ferment at 18 for 48 hours, then raise 1 degree per day until 21, hold here until crash cooling.

86.5% Gladfield Pale Ale
6% Carapils
5% Bairds Dark Cara
2% Gladfield Medium Crystal
0.5% Acid Malt (adjust this to your requirements, aiming for a ph of 5.3)

23.3 IBU Warrior @ 90
30g US Cascade @ 10
25g US Cascade, 15g Centennial, 12g Simcoe, 8g Columbus @ 0 min. Steeped for 20 mins.

Dry hops:

20g US Cascade
15g Centennial
15g Simcoe
10g Columbus

2 week old pack of Wyeast 1056, 1L starter.

Transfered off yeast for the dry hop into a CO2 purged Carboy. Leave dry hops for 3 days, then crash cool to 0, hold for 3 days before packaging. Fine with gelatin.

Water:

Ca: 68
Mg: 10
Na: 16
Cl: 35
SO4: 97

[Peter Smith]

if I had to swap out the Bairds Dark Cara   with other gladfields malts what would you think of 50/50 Dark crystal/toffee

[Matt Smith]

Hey Peter,

I'd go with a straight sub for gladfield light crystal. The dark crystal will be verging too much on the dried fruit character you get from darker caramel malts, which wouldn't go so well in this beer.

[Crusader-Rob]

"Here is an APA that got me my first ever Gold." Said the Champion Brewer....

Congrats dude, any chance of some judging notes?

[Matt Smith]

Thanks! Was a very nice surprise.
APA
US IPA
Table strengh Saison (Specialty category)

American Brown

Sour Blonde (specialty category)
Belgian Pale, aged with Brett Brux (specialty category)

[Matt Smith]

Happy to share more recipes if anybody is interested.

[Peter Smith]

be keen on your saison style fermentation notes yeast used etc etc  and congrats I did not know you where THE CHAMP!

and the sour blonde mate these notes are gold 

[Matt Smith]

Hey Peter.

My Saison recipe:

1.038 - 1.005
17 IBU

75.7% Gladfield Lager
10% German Wheat
6.5% Flaked Barley
6.5% Quick Oats
1.3% Acid Malt

8IBU UK Goldings @ 90
20g Saaz, 10g UK Goldings @ 15 and 0
20g Saaz Dry hopped

I Mased at 65. 1L starter of Wyeast French Saison. Pitched at 20, raised 1 degree per day until 24. Dry hop for 3 days.

Pay close attention to PH with such a light grist. I have since bought a PH meter, but this wort was super cloudy, so I assume with such a light grist my mash PH was too high. I did find the beer had a slight astringency also, which may have contributed to the harsh phenols that the judges mentioned.

I'd consider adding a bit of Munich/Aromatic or something for a little more colour and malt character. Avoid crystal malts though, refreshment and drinkability is the key with this little fella!

[Richard Jack]

I'd be interested in your sour and the brett if you don't mind sharing.

[Matt Smith]

Hey Richard.

Info for the sour here

The Brett Pale Ale:

1.058OG? Sorry, somehow this got lost on my software

82.5% Weyermann Pils
4.8% Dingemans Aromatic
4% Caramunich 2
4% Caramunich 3
4.8% Table sugar

Mashed at 67

16IBU Nuget @ 60
15g Pacifica @ 30
15g Pacifica and 15g Southern Cross @ 10 and 0
25g Pacifica and 25g Southern Cross, dry hopped.

Ardennes yeast.

This beer was a bit of a battle. I was attempting to make something in the vein of Orval/Green Flash Rayon Vert. I fermented the base beer down to 1.011 with Ardennes, racked to a carboy and added a 600ml starter of 2 bottles worth of Rayon Vert dregs. After 4 weeks I decided there was enough Brett character (despite no further attenuation), so  I dry hopped for 5 days then bottled it up. Over the next 6 months or so the gravity in the bottles dropped from 1.011 all the way to 1.003..you can see when the judges thought the Brett character was overwhelming. To avoid bottle bombs I had to pop the caps and vent, they slowly gushed for about 15 mins and I lost 50 or so mls from each bottle, but it did the trick.

The beer was a bit muddled for the first 12 months, but started to really shine after that, its 19 months old now and the judges had the last bottles. I personally enjoyed the intense Brett character, but I do agree it would be a more refined beer if the Brett was more subtle. If I brewed it again I would aim for a lower finishing gravity in primary, and add less brett to the secondary.

[Des Ross]

Fantastic result and congratulations. I would love to see details of that sour Blonde if that was possible. Cheers