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Citra Pale Ale 1.0 (Testing Pale Ale 2)

With some satisfaction that the issue with the Brewie+ overshooting target volumes being possibly solved (by removing excess water after loading), I decided to try one more recipe to see if I could consistently hit my volume and gravity targets. I decided to try another Pale Ale with a blend of Simcoe, Cascade, Citra, and Amarillo hops.

Ingredients

5 pounds Briess 2-row Pale Malt
12 ounces Caramel 10L Malt
8 ounces Munich Malt
1/2 tsp. Citric Acid added to mash water
0.10 ounces Simcoe Pellets @ 13.6% AA (60 min.)
0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (25 min.)
0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (25 min.)
0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (25 min.)
0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (10 min.)
0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (10 min.)
0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (10 min.)
0.10 ounces Citra Pellets @ 13% AA (0 min.)
0.10 ounces Amarillo Pellets @ 8.6% AA (0 min.)
0.10 ounces Cascade Pellets @ 6.9% AA (0 min.)
1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1/8 tsp. Brewtan B in the mash water
1/4 tsp. Brewtan B in the boil
1/2 tsp. Irish Moss at 15 min.
1 packet Safale US-05 yeast
6.6 liters mash water
5.8 liters sparge water

BeerSmith estimated the following qualities for this beer:
  • BJCP Style: 18.B American Pale Ale
  • Batch Size: 2.5 gallons (actual was 2.5 gallons)
  • Original Gravity: 1.057 SG (actual was 1.057 SG)
  • Pre-boil Gravity: 1.046 SG (actual was not measured)
  • Final Gravity: 1.010 SG (actual was 1.019 SG)
  • IBUs: 34.4
  • SRM: 6.2
  • ABV: 5.8%
  • BU/GU: 0.605
Mash schedule:
  • Mash in 15 minutes at 104F
  • Mash at 150F for 60 minutes
  • Mash out at 168F for 15 minutes
  • Sparge with 168F water
Boil schedule:
  • 60 minutes: Simcoe addition
  • 25 minutes: Citra, Cascade, Amarillo
  • 10 minutes: Citra, Cascade, Amarillo
  • 0 minutes: Citra, Cascade, Amarillo
Fermentation schedule:
  • Keep fermenter in an area of the basement with an ambient temp of 60-62F, which should keep the beer in the same temperature range throughout fermentation.
  • When FG is reached, prime and bottle.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/10/2019: The final volume was right at the 2.5 gallon mark in the fermenter. The yeast took off about 12 hours after pitching. The ambient basement temperature held the beer at 60-62F throughout fermentation so it was a nice clean ferment. Final gravity reached 1.019 SG.

03/19/2019: The beer was bottled today, using carbonation tablets to a "high" level of carbonation (since recently I've noticed many of the beers seemed pretty flat).

03/24/2019: I took a bottle of the beer and placed it in the fridge to test carbonation and flavor. It's a little early but I wanted to know if we were getting carbonation or not.

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