11 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

I posted this OVER HERE awhile back and now getting ready to make this beer. I switched the yeast from WLP090 San Diego after having a conversation with one of the brewers at Goose Island. He said that the 312 was made with "a sort of mutated English yeast that might not be English or American" and he suggested that if he were making it at home, he'd go with an English yeast. Maybe they used one of these "BEST OF BOTH WORLDS" ale yeast that is American & English in the same package. Anyway, I couldn't think of a better yeast than 1968 for this. The rest of the numbers are in line with the GI website: Nugget, Mt. Hood and Amarillo, IBUs of 30, only pale malt and C60, etc. The name of the beer has been changed to protect the innocent.

847 Suburban Pale Ale

9.5 lbs Rahr Pale Ale Malt
.5 lbs Crystal 60°L
5 AAU Nugget pellets for 60 minutes
1 oz Mt. Hood pellets 5.7% for 4 minutes
1 oz Amarillo pellets 7.2% for 4 minutes
Wyeast 1968 London ESB ale yeast

OG: 1.055, FG: 1.014, IBU: 30, SRM: 7, ABV: 5.3%

The Rahr Pale Ale malt has a nice, deep character and the 1968 is a low attenuater so I'm going to mash at 150° for 60 minutes, single infusion. I think the Rahr Pale Ale malt is perfectly suited for this beer because GI describes the beer as having a big malty backbone. All filtered tap water, balanced water profile, get all the pH numbers lined up, etc., ferment in the low 60s. Should be clear, pale amber & delicious... hopefully. Cheers.

[HVB]

This sounds like a real nice beer. I like the idea of 1968 but a split batch between that and WLP200 would be interesting.

 

How did you pick 4 minutes for your late additions?

[Big Nake]

How did you pick 4 minutes for your late additions?

I assumed the Nugget was the bittering hop and then I played with the late additions until I got to 30 IBUs... same as the commercial version. That could have been 10 and 2 or 5 and 3 or whatever. I'm sure there are hundreds of ways to reach 30 IBUs so I just futzed with it until I got it. Yeah, the WLP200 would be very interesting. In the end, I figured that I make enough beers with 1056, WLP001, 1764, WLP090 and such so bringing 1968 in here to pinch hit has me looking forward to this beer.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

Was that about .4 to .5 ounces of Nugget?

[Big Nake]

Was that about .4 to .5 ounces of Nugget?

Yep. My Nugget pellets are 13.5% so .38 would be about 5.1 AAU.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I never got into using AAU, I learned on ibus. Try tasting them side by side. I'm sure Goose Island is measured ibus vs theoretical ibus we get from formulas. I guesstomate your recipe closer to 20 ibus unless you're kettle stays hot for a while after flame out.

[Poptop]

Ken, can you (again) splain why you use AAU for your first and/or bittering addition?

[Big Nake]

AAU is just a way to get consistent bittering across various strengths of hops. It doesn't really come into play for later additions, just for bittering. It started when I was making various recipes where it would call for "1 ounce of Mt. Hood for 60 minutes". But I would see Mt. Hood at 4% and then again at 5.7%. Didn't the person who wrote the recipe realize that there would be a big difference between 4% for 60 minutes and 5.7%? So AAU is just percentage multiplied by ounces. In this recipe, 13.5 x .38 = 5.1 AAU. If the Mt. Hood recipe I mentioned called for 5.2 AAU, the 4% version would be 1.3 ounces and the 5.7% version would be .91 ounces. I still calculate IBUs for the total beer and my calculator says that the 5 AAU of Nugget plus the two late additions comes to 30 IBUs. Is this a foreign idea? I thought it was common and widely used.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I use the same idea but without the AAUs. I write my recipes with x ibus of a certain hop at a specific time and adjust the weight to match the ibus. Since my computer with promash died, I got in the habit of doing all of my ibu calculations by hand. I've tweaked the numbers over time to match what I've observed in the finished product.

[Poptop]

Ken, your method is not foreign at all, I just wanted your re-explanation, thanks!  I calc IBU's through Beersmith and I always start with my finish hops and then plug in my bittering to hit my final IBU.  Probably sounds a bit crude....

 

I've been wanting to try your AAU method actually.

[Big Nake]

I have also been on a kick where I make hoppier beers less bitter by adding less of a bittering charge and more hops late. Conversely, I make maltier beers (usually with just one hop addition) with a slightly larger bittering addition to make up for the fact that there are no other hops in the recipe. All of this is adjusted by style. But on a beer like this, it's more about what happens later in the boil because this is not an overly bitter beer but it *IS* a hoppy beer so the Nugget is just there as an anchor and the late Mt. Hood and Amarillo is what will get your attention when you're drinking it.

[Poptop]

Agree on all points above