Chriso
Broken Robot Brewing Co.
Searching far and wide has not revealed much in my hunt for a Pyramid Apricot clone. I found a couple recipes that were extract-based and didn't much resemble each other. And in glancing at them, both seem far too heavily hopped to "do the trick".
So I drew inspiration from Ed's Bee Cave Kolsch, and also from Biermuncher's Krisper Kolsch. I know I want to use my White Labs Kolsch yeast for this one, even though it's not true to the Pyramid Apricot recipe. I've had Pyramid's Curveball Kolsch and I think the two are very compatible tastes.
So below is what I've come up with so far for a theoretical Pyramid Apricot clone:
Hopefully Pyramid Apricot
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 63.16 %
3 lbs Wheat - White Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM) Grain 31.58 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
1.00 oz GR Hersbrucker '07 [3.20 %] (90 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.50 oz GR Hersbrucker '07 [3.20 %] (15 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1 Pkgs German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029) [Starter 16 oz] Yeast-Ale
1.00 items Apricot (Canned, Oregon brand) (Secondary 14.0 days) Misc
Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.75 %
Bitterness: 16.2 IBU
Est Color: 5.3 SRM
90 min Mash In Add 2.97 gal of water at 169.4 F = 154.0 F
My potential concerns:
1) Is 2-to-1 too heavy on the wheat? It's heavier in wheat than either of the Kolsches I based it on, because I want it to shine through as a nice crisp wheaty beer.
2) Is 16 IBUs too little? That is to say, will this wind up being so sickly sweet and underhopped that only girls will like it? (Is that a bad thing? )
3) I went with Hersbrucker because I have gobs of it on hand. Is it worth it to look around for better-suited hops? OTOH, Hersbrucker is nice and low in AAs and that seems to be "right" for doing an Apricot Wheat.
4) Think it's going to wind up "weird" since I'm using the Oregon puree and not extract? I think I heard once that Pyramid uses flavor extract in their Apricot, and that there's no real fruit there at all...........
Comments welcome, please critique! Thank you!
So I drew inspiration from Ed's Bee Cave Kolsch, and also from Biermuncher's Krisper Kolsch. I know I want to use my White Labs Kolsch yeast for this one, even though it's not true to the Pyramid Apricot recipe. I've had Pyramid's Curveball Kolsch and I think the two are very compatible tastes.
So below is what I've come up with so far for a theoretical Pyramid Apricot clone:
Hopefully Pyramid Apricot
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 63.16 %
3 lbs Wheat - White Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM) Grain 31.58 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
1.00 oz GR Hersbrucker '07 [3.20 %] (90 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.50 oz GR Hersbrucker '07 [3.20 %] (15 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1 Pkgs German Ale/Kolsch (White Labs #WLP029) [Starter 16 oz] Yeast-Ale
1.00 items Apricot (Canned, Oregon brand) (Secondary 14.0 days) Misc
Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.75 %
Bitterness: 16.2 IBU
Est Color: 5.3 SRM
90 min Mash In Add 2.97 gal of water at 169.4 F = 154.0 F
My potential concerns:
1) Is 2-to-1 too heavy on the wheat? It's heavier in wheat than either of the Kolsches I based it on, because I want it to shine through as a nice crisp wheaty beer.
2) Is 16 IBUs too little? That is to say, will this wind up being so sickly sweet and underhopped that only girls will like it? (Is that a bad thing? )
3) I went with Hersbrucker because I have gobs of it on hand. Is it worth it to look around for better-suited hops? OTOH, Hersbrucker is nice and low in AAs and that seems to be "right" for doing an Apricot Wheat.
4) Think it's going to wind up "weird" since I'm using the Oregon puree and not extract? I think I heard once that Pyramid uses flavor extract in their Apricot, and that there's no real fruit there at all...........
Comments welcome, please critique! Thank you!