Modern Homebrew Recipes (17 page)

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

0.5 tsp CaCl
₂
and 0.5 tsp CaSO
₄
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout

Mash rests:

152°F (67°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 10 minutes

Kettle volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Boil Length:

75 minutes

Final Volume:

5 gallons (19 L)

Fermentation temp:

68°F (20°C)

Sensory Description:
Clean base malt with a little bit of toasty and lightly caramelly flavor as an accent. The orange blossom honey adds some aromatics that play well with the hops and yeast. Clean, lingering, bitter finish. Bright, fresh hop aroma.

Formulation notes:
This was the prototype for many of my future hoppy beers, including those that include some orange blossom honey. It’s not enough honey to turn this into a full-fledged honey beer, but it does add a little extra body, esters, and flavor. It also includes minor additions of character malts for a little extra background complexity, but none of them have a major impact on the overall taste.

Variations:
The beer is a playground for classic American C-type hops. Use it to experiment with different combinations, or as a single hop varietal beer. Personally, I’d go with Cascade or Centennial (or both).

GALAXY PALE ALE

This is a recipe I put together when giving talks about
Brewing Better Beer.
I wanted to feature the Galaxy hops I first discovered while in Australia in 2010, but also demonstrate how to use many of the new techniques from the book. While formulating, I thought it would be amusing to create a great American Pale Ale using no American ingredients.

Style:
American Pale Ale (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Beautiful gold color with a huge fresh fruit aroma, and a clean, smooth bitterness on a relatively neutral malt base.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

0.5 tsp CaCl
₂
and 0.5 tsp CaSO
₄
in mash

Mash technique:

Step mash

Mash rests:

144°F (62°C) 30 minutes

153°F (67°C) 30 minutes

Kettle volume:

8.5 gallons (32 L)

Boil Length:

90 minutes

Final Volume:

6.5 gallons (25 L)

Fermentation temp:

62°F (17°C)

Sensory Description:
Huge punch of fruity notes with a tropical, passion fruit aroma and a little citrus. The bitterness is strong but clean and not at all harsh. The little bit of maltiness and body helps balance the hop bitterness. It doesn’t seem nearly as bitter as the IBUs would indicate due to the first wort hopping, hop bursting, and a hop stand.

Formulation notes:
The mix of Pilsner malt and two-row gives a fairly neutral base, but still has some flavor. It’s not all one or the other; all two-row is a bit too neutral, and all Pilsner can make it taste too sweet. You can use any German or Belgian Pilsner malt, but I like the Belgian since it has a touch of fruitiness. I like using about 10% Munich malt instead of any crystal malt (remember, Munich is the new crystal) since it provides maltiness and body without sugary or caramel sweetness. The English yeast can give a fruity but clean note as long as it isn’t fermented too warm. The Galaxy hops have great passion fruit character (or at least they did when I first tried them in Australia; more recent vintages seem to be more piney and tropical fruity). I used a 20 minute steep at the end, which can give this more bitterness than estimated.

Variations:
Obviously you can use some US ingredients in this beer, particularly for the two-row base malt. Wyeast 1272 could also be used instead. I like to use some US Cascade hops late along with the Galaxy. Citra, Amarillo, or other fruity-type hops would work well, too. The base beer is so neutral that it could be used for almost any hop experiment. You could also tweak it by adding specialty grains to make it an amber or brown ale; just back off the hops somewhat if you go that route, as they can clash with character malts. If you want to go all out with hop aroma, you can dry hop it with 2 oz (57 g) of the same variety you brewed it with.

CLASSIC BLONDE ALE

American Blonde Ale is one of my go-to summer beers. I don’t like to make them too strong or aggressive, but still want them to have significant flavor dimensions. This version closely matches the BJCP style description, and is what I’d use in competition. Judges are funny about this style; it’s very broad, yet many of them are looking for specific interpretations. If I’m judging the style, this is what I’d look for. It’s a double-size batch, so you can drink a keg and take another to a party.

Style:
Blonde Ale (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Flavorful base malt supporting a gentle bitterness from light American hops.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

2 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout

Mash rests:

151°F (66°C) 60 minutes

168°F (76°C) 10 minutes

Kettle volume:

13 gallons (49 L)

Boil Length:

75 minutes

Final Volume:

11 gallons (42 L)

Fermentation temp:

65°F (18°C)

Sensory Description:
Clean but malty base with balanced bitterness (higher than estimated, but still a touch malty in the balance). The hops are light but expressive, adding a citrusy, tropical note. There is some residual malty sweetness to keep it from being too dry in the finish.

Formulation notes:
I like to go with a clean malt base that has some malty flavors without going all caramel or crystal sweet. The German or Belgian base malts work well, as do low color German crystal malts for a little body and flavor. The US base malt cuts the flavor of the continental malts. The hops go in late, and can provide more IBUs than the calculation shows if they continue to steep before chilling. To keep the IBUs restrained, start chilling right away or use the Centennial hops in a hopback. Yeast that provides a malty profile is the best choice for this style, since you don’t want it bone dry. You want some residual malt to help balance the hops, and give some malty flavors in the aftertaste without being sweet. The fruity-citrusy American hop character is clean and refreshing, and complements the malt nicely.

Variations:
Compare this recipe to the Galaxy Pale Ale and other American Blonde recipes. In a style so subtle, it’s easy to change the character by making some small adjustments. Fortunately, all those other versions are also very good beers, but this is the one that tends to do best in competitions.

WEST COAST BLONDE

I made this beer for my presentation at the 2013 NHC, and it helped demonstrate some educational facts about hop utilization. I was looking for a balanced blonde ale, but wound up with something that tasted a bit more like a pale ale. So I just called it a West Coast Blonde Ale, and everyone thought it was appropriate. Rebalanced with different hops, this beer is the predecessor to the Classic Blonde Ale recipe.

Style:
Blonde Ale (Classic BJCP Style)

Description:
Estimated to be 15 IBUs, but measured in a lab to be 27 or 38 (depending on the test method
¹
), indicating a need for updates to recipe software formulas, and problems with how labs measure whirlpool-hopped beers. The beer is aggressively bitter for a blonde ale, which is more common on the US west coast. It features an identical grist to the Classic Blonde Ale but the different hops make it a completely different beer.

Ingredients:

Water treatment:

RO water treated with ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons

2 tsp CaCl
₂
in mash

Mash technique:

Infusion, mashout

Mash rests:

149°F (65°C) 60 minutes