Homebrew Review - Renegade Pale Ale

It's been a while since I reviewed one of my beers. Mainly because there have been problems.

This beer is largely the same recipe I brewed here. That original brew was ultimately ditched; the bottles succumbed to a distinct dryness that I found to be unpleasant. I'm convinced it's something happening in the bottling process and my thoughts were confirmed after tasting this latest version which was brewed in July.

Once again, the bottled version was disappointing. Not entirely clear, lacking both in flavour, body and very dry. Some other seasoned beer tasters thought there was little wrong, but I know my beer and it definitely wasn't right.

Half the batch was bottled, half was casked. This is the cask version.

Very pale, much clearer than the bottled version and it has plenty of flavour. Whatever is ailing my bottled beer, it's not manifesting itself in the cask.

The beer had good condition, poured with a small head which laced the glass on the way down. The simcoe didn't have quite the effect I was hoping for in terms of flavour, but there's definitely a mild citrus background, followed by a good whack of bitterness.

It's a really nice quaffing beer with an OG of 1.042. The sort of ale you'd happily down a few of, while basking in the sunshine.

If anything, it might be a tad bitter for what I originally had in mind, but that doesn't make it a bad beer. If brewed again, I might add a touch of crystal to give it a bit more body and perhaps dry hop it with simcoe to get a bit more flavour coming through.

The best part, though, is that it confirmed my earlier tasting issues are restricted to the bottles. I have made some alterations to my bottling regime in a view to eradicate the problems once and for all, and I'll know more when I crack open a few of my Citra Pale Ale which was bottled at the beginning of September.

But for now, I'll get on and enjoy this one. Recipe;

Renegade

Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Type: All Grain	Date: 12/07/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 50.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 62.65 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Elite Brewery
End of Boil Volume 55.12 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 50.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 77.4 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 8700.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 95.0 % 460.00 g Cara (Crisp) (34.5 EBC) Grain 2 5.0 % 32.00 g Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) [6.80 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 3 12.3 IBUs 30.00 g Progress [7.50 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 4 12.8 IBUs 15.00 g Simcoe [14.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 5.7 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 - 30.00 g Simcoe [14.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 7 1.0 IBUs 2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast 8 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.042
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.4 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.1 %
Bitterness: 31.7 IBUs	Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 9.3 EBC