It came to me in a drug-addled haze...

[menoetes]

Put down the tar and feathers folks, it's not as illicit or loopy as it sounds...

I was in hospital for some elective surgery on Tuesday and was still pretty doped up when they rolled me back into the ward that evening for overnight observation.

The kind folks gave me a couple of Endone to keep me comfortable and left me for the night to get some sleep, but for some reason I couldn't quite drop off. Maybe it was the unfamiliar bed or the noise of the ward around me but I only half-drowsed that night, floating on a soft cloud of pain killers.

...and then my mind wandered to brewing, as it always seems do when there's nothing else for it to do.

I thought hazily about my first brew using re-cultered Coopers Commercial Yeast with some Falconers Flight and Galaxy hops that I had just tasted a few days earlier. I remembered how well the mellow esters and taste of the coopers yeast had complimented the fruity hops flavour and aroma. It was quite good...

So I dreamily began to plan another brew and here's what I came up with...

Meno's Orchid Sparkling Ale
A Partial/Extract brew.

Batch Size: 25 lts
Est. OG: 1.048
Est. FG: 1.012
Est. ABV: 4.7%
Est. IBUs: 38 IBU
Est. EBC: 13.2


2kg of Briess CBW Golden Light LME
1kg of Briess CBW Pilsen Light LME
1kg of Briess Pale Ale malt
0.2kg Weyermann Acidulated Barley Malt (at Goomba's suggestion)
0.2kg Caramunich I
0.1kg Carapils
30g Ahtanum Hops AA 4.5% @ 25min
30g Vic Secret Hops AA 16% @ 15 minutes
30g Galaxy Hops AA 14% @ 5 Minutes
Coopers Commercial yeast
Yeast nutrient + polycar etc.

The plan would be to mini-mash the grains at around 68'c for an hour in about 6 litres of water (+2 litres of 75'c degree water for my 'mini-sparge'). Top that up in a big pot with 1kg of my liquid malt and enough water to get to 12lts for my boil and away we go.

I figured that hop combo should come out nice 'n fruity with a pretty smooth bitterness by leaving the Galaxy and Vic Secret hops until the later additions. I choose Ahtanum over Cascade for that little bit of spice and extra fruit it offered (plus I have 200g of it in my freeze ATM).

Estimated total cost of the brew is: $28 ($1.12 p/Lt) or 84c a Tallie.

I'd welcome any feedback on the recipe - I'm still learning a lot especially when it comes to grains.

Cheers,
Meno

 

[wereprawn]

Good old Endone. Had a severe toothache a couple of years back and was prescribed Endone to keep the pain at bay till the dentist could see me. Only problem was i was committed to helping a mate move house that weekend. Being bombed up to the eyeballs on painkillers and beer I don't remember that weekend much, but apparently i worked like a machine and the two of us managed to get 1/2 a ton of piano into the back of the truck without a piano trolley. Ahh the non-memories.

That recipe sounds interesting mate. Hope it works out well. If so make sure you have some Endone handy for when you need inspiration. :lol:

 

[manticle]

I'd consider dropping the mash temp by a few degrees to balance the dextrinous malts and the extract.

 

[menoetes]

Cheers Manticle, I might drop the mash temp to 66'c, baring in mind that even in an esky waterbath it seems to lose 2'c over the hour. I'm still learning about mash temps...

Isn't the rule of thumb something like; lower mash temp = more fermentables and thinner body while higher mash temp = more body and taste but less alcohol?

 

[manticle]

Pretty much. 66 isn't especially low and carapils and crystal malts provide a fair bit of longer chain/less fermentable stuff. My experience of malt extract is that it generally finishes higher than grain based wort (or straight kk) so my suggestion is about the balance. Thicker from extract and spec grain, thinner from lower mash temp. Depends entirely on desired results too

 

[brando]

Why so much acid malt??

 

[menoetes]

Brisbanes got pretty soft water, Goomba (as an ex-Brisbanite) suggested that adding 200g of acidulated malt might help the water harden the f--- up and help the hops shine through...

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

200g acidulated in a full mash beer.

Not sure ( AKA NFI) how it goes with a partial beer.

I had issues with my AG beers in Wavell Heights tap water post-flood and the water's pH (and how it affected efficiency) not just the hardness. Here in Tassie some minor water adjustments are what I needed for soft water.

How it works under these circumstances (partial extract), I'm not too sure.

 

[menoetes]

Thanks Goomba, I might chop it back to 100g of Acidulated Malt, halving it tends to be the rule with special grains in extract/kit beers.