Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Citra Session - Pale Ale featuring Citra / The English Beat ESB





It's winter here in Chicago. Brewing has been sparse since I only brew outdoors. I did manage to brave the cold for a few sessions this month. Putting together a beer for a competition and one for my enjoyment. You may recall this Summer I went on a huge session beer kick. I love the challenge of getting maximum flavor and without impacting the beers drinkability. Keeping brew like this in my kegerator free's up my beer budget substantially, another positive. I must say this urge hasn't left, as you can tell from the recipe's below. Enjoy and as always, constructive feedback is appreciated.


The Citra Session Pale Ale

OG 1.054
PG 1.046
FG 1.013
ABV 5.4%
SRM 15
IBU 100 (estimated from recipe calculator, nowhere near this amount)
EFF 75%
Boil 60 min
Yeast US-05 (1 package)
1 tsp Gypsum split between mash and sparge (based on Chicago water)


Grain

8 lb 2 Row
2 lb Munich 10l
1 lb Caramel 80L
12 oz Caramel 40 L
4 oz Caramel 120L

Hops

1 oz Columbus 60 min 15.5%
1 oz Cascade 30 min 5 %
1 oz Cascade 15 min 5 %
1 oz Citra 10 min 12%
1 oz Citra 1 min 12%
2 oz Citra Dry Hop in secondary for 5 days



The English Beat ESB

OG 1.052
PG 1.045
FG 1.014
ABV 5.1%
SRM 12
IBU 41
EFF 70% (efficiency suffered last time due to the cold.)
BOIL 60 min
Yeast S-04 Safale (yeast flocs hard, beer will be crystal clear in the glass)
Water 1/2 tsp calcium chloride split between mash and sparge

GRAIN

11 lb Marris Otter
8 oz Caramel 10
4 oz Caramel 20
4 oz Carmael 120
2 oz Dehusked Carafa (for color)

Hops

2 oz Goldings 60 min 4.5%
1 oz Fuggles 01 min 4.5%

6 comments:

Andrew Lautner said...

the pale ale sounds awful tasty.

brewing two beers simultaneously by yourself is rather impressive!

Slovak Brewer said...

I was not brewing them on the same day. I have done that in the past however. You just stagger them by the time you think you will need.

We need to swap some brews soon..

Basement Brewer said...

Like the sounds of that Pale Ale. I havent tried a beer that low in alcohol but that high in hop bitterness. I'd really like to try brewing something like that, it usually comes out pretty nice I take it?
BB

Andrew Lautner said...

ah, ok. regardless, even the stagger approach by yourself seems like quite a feat. we used some new equipment on sunday, which brought upon us some surprises. made for a long day. didn't help that we could barely reach boiling in the 20 degree weather.

agreed! i'd love to try some of your brews. i'm hoping to have a couple brews bottle conditioned very soon. as soon as i do, i will holler, likely via twitter.

cheers!

Slovak Brewer said...

BB: Yeah, it's actually quite good. Obviously not for the classic pale ale purist. The bitterness is not overwhelming but firm. You got to enjoy it fresh.. as you should with moset low ABV beer..

Drew: What new equipment did you use? Me propane burner get's me to boil pretty quick but my MLT is not insulated now.. so I was constantly manning the tun keeping it at temp.

Andrew Lautner said...

it was our first time using a therminator. it didn't cool the wort like we had envisioned. we totally drained the kettle at too high of a flow rate (we speculate), therefore resulting in no more than 100 degree loss. live & learn. we purchased a thrumometer since then, and will be using it for the first time saturday, along with a much slower flow rate.

by the way, i'm gonna holler at ya on twitter. wondering what your availability is this sunday so i can get you some bottles.