Brewday - 24/06/2020 - Play it again Sam...

... just slightly different.

So the next brew is very similar to the last. In fact, the grist will be identical and I'm swapping hops from the original European hops to a combination of American and New World. Simcoe and Galaxy to be exact. 

So the recipe for this brew looks like this;

3350g Maris Otter
300g Cara-Pils
180g Dark Crystal

Mash for 75 mins @ 67c

Hops during a 75 minute boil;

Galaxy 15g @ 50 mins

Galaxy 15g @ 7 mins
Simcoe 15g @ 7 mins

Galaxy 5g @ 2 mins

Simcoe 20g @ 2 mins

The hops have a higher alpha than the last brew so the quantities/timings are reduced but the intention is to hit  an OG of around 1.036 with around 30 units of bitterness again.

Yeast this time will be Lallemand BRY-97

Brewday is pencilled in for Wednesday June 24th. As usual I'll update this post on the day to report if things went to plan. 

EDIT: The day was hot, but drama free. It tool a while to cool the wort, but got it to 20.5c before pitching and put it in the temperature controlled fermenting fridge, where it dropped a bit more and when the yeast krausen started to form it was sitting nicely at 18c.

Homebrew Review - Ordinary Ale

Ordinary by name, ordinary by nature. 

Maybe that's  little harsh because this beer is exactly what I set out to achieve. A nice everyday pint you can enjoy all evening, without consequences. It's like a friend you can while away the hours with, without any aggro. No needle, no falling out, just a pleasant time. But then again, nothing too memorable either. 

That's not to say I'm not pleased. It's clear as a bell with a nice tight white head (this was from the keg). The earlier pints were slightly hazy, but as always the last few out were stunning to look at. The head dissipated quite quickly but continued to lace the glass on the way down.  

The beer is nicely balanced, the body and the colour are ideal, but if I'm being particularly picky, the beer lacks a bit of bite. I was hoping for bit more hoppiness (which can't be a word as I've got a red line beneath that one) to give the impression it's punching above its weight. In reality it's the lightweight that's good in it's division but has no pretensions about stepping it up and mixing it at a different level. 

To be fair I did overshoot the gravity, the thin mash in the Braumeister made the extraction very efficient and the beer ended up at 3.9% rather than the expected 3.6%.

There's nothing wrong with a small beer and I'm tempted to brew this again. Maybe with some American or New World hops, but keeping the grist the same, to see if the more feisty hops make a significant difference. 

I served this about 8c and it hit really hit the spot after a few garden jobs in the sun. I might make it my next brew with the hops I mentioned substituted - maybe  Galaxy and Simcoe.... Until then Cheers!