Doing yet another brew day on Thursday, this will be my last for the year I'd imagine, and I want to get it done before Chrissy and the last couple of Test matches of the summer. It's unlikely to end up in a fermenter before I go back to work though since I have the Chinook pale ale going in after the red ale is kegged in a couple of weeks or whenever.
Anywho…. since I now have some English ale yeast, it's time to revisit a style I have not brewed for some time, that being an English Pale Ale, specifically the Special/Best Bitter category. I do enjoy good examples of these beers so I'm keen to get good at this style as well as my other two favourites that I've worked on over time and recently being APAs and Bo Pils. I also realise that Caraaroma probably isn't a standard ingredient in these beers but it seems to be the only crystal grain I've used that really brings out that toffee/caramel flavour that I have noted in beers of this type.
So, onto the recipe, based on 72.5% efficiency.
4.500 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 92.4 %
0.200 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 2 4.1 %
0.150 kg Caraaroma (256.1 EBC) Grain 3 3.1 %
0.020 kg Black Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1300.2 EBC) Grain 4 0.4 %
20.00 g Goldings, East Kent {6.40 %} - First Wort 75.0 min Hop 5 15.6 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles {5.40 %} - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 5.7 IBUs
20.00 g Fuggles {5.40 %} - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 4.1 IBUs
20.00 g Goldings, East Kent {6.40 %} - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 4.9 IBUs
Harvested Wy1318 London Ale III Yeast.
90 minute mash at 66-67C followed by a 10 minute mash out at 78C. 75 minute boil time.
Aiming for 25 litres into the FV.
Est Original Gravity: 1.044 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %
Bitterness: 36.1 IBUs
Est Color: 22.3 EBC
My new habit of periodically stirring the mash throughout the 90 minutes and again through the heating up to, during, and after mash out seems to have gotten me some extra gravity points on the last couple of batches, but I want to confirm this over a few more before increasing my efficiency number used in Beersmith. Also having discovered my hydrometer is reading two points lower than the actual SG has helped bump up the efficiency as well…
Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out once it's ready to drink.