pale ale with all galaxy

[loko750]

Hey guys been out of the game for about 12 years or so but getting back into it. Now I have a lawn mower lager and Mexican cervesa in my fermentors at the moment, Just something simple to start off again. But I do prefer my aussie and American pale ales and I want to start experimenting with single hop brews to get the hop flavor profiles into my brain and I thought why not start with an aussie hop so tell me what you think about this one. It will be my first extract brew.
2 cans coopers light malt
250g crystal steeped
20g galaxy at 60
20g galaxy at 20
20g galaxy at 5
US-05 yeast

The above brews were fermented at 22deg but I have a temp controller on the way and an old chest freezer to use as a fermentation fridge so will be fermented at 18deg. Now I just want to here your ideas on this recipe go hard tear it apart or whatever I will be putting it down on Saturday coming when I bottle the two in the fermentor.
Cheers guys I have learnt plenty in the two weeks of being on here.
Brendan.

 

[menoetes]

Looks bitter, do you know what the AA% of your Galaxy hops are? I'm assuming your batch size is 23lts...

I have some Galaxy from a 2013 crop that are 12.3% and your recipe with my hops would leave you with just over 48 IBUs. That's quite bitter for an Aussie Pale which are normally between 20 - 40 IBUs but perfect for an English Pale Ale. So if you like them bitter then you're probably smack on the mark

If you wanted to be closer to a true Aussie Pale Ale profile you could add 200g of dextrose to up your OG and change your hop schedule to something like this...

20g Galaxy @ 35min
20g Galaxy @ 15min
20g Galaxy @ 5min

Estimated results vs Aussie Pale Guidelines (info from BrewMate)

Est. OG: 1045 (APA: 1044-50)
Est. FG: 1010 (APA 1004-06, we're a little off there)
IBUs: 37.3 (APA 20 - 40)
ABV: 4.53 (APA 4.2 -4.6)

Having said all that; I've never worried to much about official guidelines in my brewing and by changing the hops to later additions you will really get the Galaxy shining through, both in flavor and aroma. I love that hop! :icon_drool2:

Hope this was of some help...

 

[loko750]

Thanks menoetes sounds like I will be using your hop schedule the hops were 12.3% so I will go with that and report back when I get to put the brew down any other comments welcome.

Cheers guys.

 

[loko750]

Oh and I have 250g of dex left in a bag so that will go in also.

 

[menoetes]

Sounds good, best of luck sir!

 

[pcmfisher]

If you haven't already got the Galaxy buy Citra instead.

IMHO a much nicer bitterness.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Citra has far smoother bitterness across the boil, especially early and far better dry hopping

But Galaxy is an excellent hop, and great from 30 down to flameout.

 

[slcmorro]

I've done an all Galaxy Pale Ale before. Took a couple of weeks in the keg to get to it's best like most beers, but it was nice in the end. Tasted terrible to start with, but the bitterness and the passionfruity flavour mellows out nicely with time.

I'm currently mashing a lager that's only bittered with Magnum at 60 and Galaxy at 10. I'm an advocate for Galaxy in lagers

 

[Red Baron]

I've done a few brews with Galaxy as the 60min bittering hop, and I find the taste to be like a gritty or dirty bitter. Next time I use Galaxy, i'll be doing like menoetes suggested and using it later in the boil.

Cheers,
RB

 

[loko750]

Already got the hops guys so this one will be galaxy, maybe just Citra in the next one. Will be trying a few different single hop pales over the next few brews. I want to try cascade and Amarillo as well so I guess there is my next few ales sorted.
Cheers guys.

 

[loko750]

Well got this down today smelled absolutely awesome in the fermentor. OG: 1.044 so far so good. Thought something was wrong at first OG 1.064 but must of had a lump of LME in the tap second reading was spot on also put down a version of coopers caribbean siesta but used cascade hops instead of calypso as LHBS did not have the calypso. Anyway guys thanks for the advice will report back once this is ready to go.
Cheers.

 

[menoetes]

Sounds great Loko, what yeast did you use? Coopers kit yeast or something else? Like a lot of other brewers on AHB I use US-05 as my go to yeast most of the time as I find it gives a good clean tasting, clear brew and works well across a lot of beer styles.

It sounds like you have got a handle on using hops and steeping grains, maybe yeast is your next step (if you haven't done it already)? I've just got into liquid yeasts myself...

 

[loko750]

Yeast was US-05 on both brews today unfortunately I overestimated the size of my chest freezer and can only fit one fermentor in there so the pale ale is in the temp control and the other one back in the broom closet which sits around 20-22 degrees but I have a freezer full of frozen soft drink bottles to try and get the temp down a bit in there.
Cheers.

 

[loko750]

Well she has been down at 1.010 for the last four or five days now tasting very nice. So that means its been in primary for ten days. Put some finings in and dropped the freezer to 0. Now I was wondering if four days is enough for the cold crash as I really want to get this into bottles on sat so I can start another brew. Any ideas guys I am all ears.
Cheers

 

[menoetes]

Just sticking my oar back in here... 4 days is fine but the longer you leave it the clearer and cleaner it will get. I tend to do well with finings and a 5 day cold crash, my beer is very clear but others might recommend longer. IMHO you're ready to bottle whenever you like

 

[loko750]

Cheers menoetes I was pretty sure that was the case just wanted a second opinion. The first two kit and kilo had finings added the day before bottling and they are clear as after ten days in bottle so I figured would be all good thanks for the back up. Now I just have to drink them lol they are not tasting the best yet the all galaxy pale ale tastes better already and not even in the bottle yet. Once again thanks for all the help and excuse the rambling just back from a mates place with 12 hop hogs under my belt.
Cheers