First brew - DrSmurto inspired GA

[Reman]

Hi,

"First time" brew here. It's been over 10 years since I last dabbled and that was with the Coopers Starter Kit from Coles, where the first one was by the book turned out great and of course being young and stupid next batch we wanted it more alcoholic just add more sugar, right? Turns out undrinkable...

So for this my return to the ring, I've been researching, reading and drinking. JSGA is a favourite of mine, but I've tasted around the different Golden Ales and realised there could be improvements, hence taking DrSmurto's (AG) recipe and doing a couple of tweaks to get something that's a little different and hopefully a step above a JSGA.

[Apologies for formatting below I'll try and fix up when not on ipad]

Does the following look ok?

Brewer: Crispy
Batch Size: 20.00 l Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter (8B)
Boil Size: 13.47 l Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 22.3 EBC Equipment: Pot ( 4 Gal/15.1 L) - Extract
Bitterness: 28.9 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.051 (12.5° P) Mash Profile: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Est FG: 1.012 SG (3.0° P) Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
ABV: 5.1% Taste Rating: 30.0
Ingredients
Amount Name Type #
250.0 g Carabohemian (195.0 EBC) Grain 1
1.70 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Grain 2
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 60 min Hops 3
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 4
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 20 min Hops 5
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 20 min Hops 6
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 5 min Hops 7
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 5 min Hops 8
1 pkgs Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 9
1.50 kg Wheat Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Grain 10

 

[philmud]

What made you decide on the carabohemian? Is it in a DSGA extract recipe you've seen? I think it'd taste nice, but probably be quite dark in a golden ale. With that in mind, I've never used it, so could be wrong.

 

[Reman]

The latest AG recipe for DrSmuto's uses Carabohemian, but then again it uses Rye instead of Wheat too! Not as worried about the colour, it was the taste profile and that interested me. At 22.3 EBC is it a long way off what a GA would be?

http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11013

 

[philmud]

The (first) version in beersmith is 14.5 EBC, but by all means if it's on Drs orders go for it! It does sound tasty and like you, I'd be inclined to consider taste/balance before colour.

 

[Reman]

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like what I've got planned should work but might be a little darker than GA usually is.

I'll post up details during brew day, I'll be interested to see exactly how the colour will end up.

 

[Reman]

Brewer: Crispy
Batch Size: 20.00 l
Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter (8B)
Boil Size: 13.47 l
Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 22.3 EBC
Equipment: Pot ( 4 Gal/15.1 L) - Extract
Bitterness: 28.9 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.051 (12.5° P)
Mash Profile: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Est FG: 1.012 SG (3.0° P)
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
ABV: 5.1%

250.0 g Carabohemian (195.0 EBC) Grain
1.70 kg Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Grain
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 60 min Hops
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 20 min Hops
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 20 min Hops
9.2 g Amarillo Gold [8.5%] - Boil 5 min Hops
4.6 g Citra [12.0%] - Boil 5 min Hops
1 pkgs Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast
1.50 kg Wheat Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Grain

 

[Reman]

Forgot to add wheat LME at end of boil, so added after wort had cooled and already in fermenter. LME appeared to dissolve without too many issues. I found this out when I took the OG reading and it came out at 1.030.

Airlock started bubbling after 8 hours, but regular bubbles started after 36 hours.

Wort in fermenter started at 22 degrees and after 24 hours dropped to 20 degrees and after 48 hours to 18 degrees and has stayed there so far. Sniffing the output from the airlock you can smell the mix of Amarillo and Citra hops

 

[Reman]

This brew turned out quite nicely eventually. After two weeks fermenting I added a mix of priming sugar and gelatine into the fermenter before bottling. Tried a bottle after about a week and it hadn't carbed up at all and had an astringent sort of taste, after two weeks the astringent taste had gone but it still hasn't carbed up very much. I was going on holidays for 2 weeks so I packed up 25 bottles in a milk crate to enjoy but a little wary as they two I'd had didn't turn out so great. Anyway sitting in the back of a car for 5 hours must have done the trick as they were all nicely carbed from then on! It poured quite dark, not like a golden ale at all really, but I knew that was going to happen from the EBC estimate in Beersmith. The colour I would describe as between a GA and a Tooheys Old.

The bitterness is spot on, the Amarillo and Citra flavours are there but a little subdued. There is only a little aroma. There is a pretty good malty taste from the Carabohemian which is pleasant, and there is a nice hint of wheatiness in it. When I make this again I will probably one go all grain but if I was doing extract again I would go for a lighter crystal to get a more golden colour, I would also dry hop in the fermenter for the last five days with about 1g/L each of Amarillo and Citra. Overall I'm really pleased with my first one.