American Pale Ale First Place 2013 Chicago Winter Brew Competition - Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale

In December, my son and I brewed this APA featuring the Nelson Sauvin hop and yesterday, it won first place in the American Ale category at the 2013 Chicago Winter Brew Competition.

Recipe
(made with organic malts and hops)

7.25 lbs Pale Malt
3 lbs Munich Malt
1 lb Caramel Malt 20L
1 lb. Wheat Malt

0.5 oz. Chinook hops (10% aa) - first wort hop 60 minutes
1 oz. Nelson Sauvin hops (11.3% aa) - 10 minutes
1 oz. Nelson Sauvin hops - 5 minutes
1 oz. Nelson Sauvin hops - 1 minutes
3 oz. Nelson Sauvin hops - dry hop

Irish Moss
Edinburgh Yeast



Original Gravity: 1.056
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 5.7%
Bitterness: 38 IBUs
Mash: 154 F for 60 minutes, single infusion, batch sparge
Fermented at 60 F



More info at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Nelson-Sauvin-Pale-Ale.html

Nice. I have never brewed with Nelson Sauvin, but I have some sitting in my freezer just waiting for a good recipe to use them in. Thanks for the post.

why do you use chinook for bitter? How is the combination with ns?

Congrats, Jim! I saw a couple of people I know who took home ribbons from that comp. Nice looking beer. Never have used NS hops, now I'm curious to do so.

Rhoobarb said:

Congrats, Jim! I saw a couple of people I know who took home ribbons from that comp. Nice looking beer. Never have used NS hops, now I'm curious to do so.

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Hi, I've missed seeing you around here! Are you back in the Chicago-area?

hindoo said:

why do you use chinook for bitter? How is the combination with ns?

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I like using chinook for a basic bittering hop in APAs and IPAs, as a first wort hop. It gives a nice clean bittering and provides a good background, I think, for whatever hops I'm really featuring in flavor and aroma.

I like the combination and, thankfully, so did the judges

Grats on the ribbon.


Dang 6.5 oz hops in 5 gal APA... How much beer did you end up with?

eric19312 said:

Grats on the ribbon.


Dang 6.5 oz hops in 5 gal APA... How much beer did you end up with?

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5.5 gallons into the fermenter, probably 5 gallons into the bottles. Most of those hops are late additions and dry hops, wanted lots of aroma and flavor with less than 40 IBUs.

Rhoobarb said:

Congrats, Jim! I saw a couple of people I know who took home ribbons from that comp. Nice looking beer. Never have used NS hops, now I'm curious to do so.

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Me too!

Great job Jim!

?? Are the results to this posted somewhere? I had sent a couple beers in, but never saw any results posted and it said on their site that results would be announced on Feb. 17. Had not gotten my scoresheets back either....

Thanks

Congrats man! I'm wearing my Square Kegs shirt right now. Wish I got tickets in time...

Braufessor said:

?? Are the results to this posted somewhere? I had sent a couple beers in, but never saw any results posted and it said on their site that results would be announced on Feb. 17. Had not gotten my scoresheets back either....

Thanks

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http://squarekegs.brewcamp.com/

Thanks. Do you know if scoresheets have been mailed? Curious to see the comments on a couple beers that scored lower than I had anticipated.

Braufessor said:

Thanks. Do you know if scoresheets have been mailed? Curious to see the comments on a couple beers that scored lower than I had anticipated.

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They didn't say anything about whether they were mailing or scanning and emailing the scoresheets.

I still haven't recieved my score sheet back.

This looks like a great recipe Pappers. NS hops are very tasty. Thanks for sharing.

lmahony1 said:

I still haven't recieved my score sheet back.

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Me neither - No replies to e-mail either.

At our club's upcoming competition, we're scanning the scoresheets and sending them out via email. I think our competition director is having one of his interns at work do the scanning!

gratz

Edinburg's my favorite yeast -just curious, why the low 60* ferm temp?

qwd890 said:

Edinburg's my favorite yeast -just curious, why the low 60* ferm temp?

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I like it too. I find if I ferment it low, it has a very 'clean' flavor profile, which is what I was looking for.

What temperature do you ferment it at for which styles?

I've always just done the recommended 68ish for everything, and have mostly used it in stouts and porters. I was a bit surprised at seeing your 60, as I have had a bit of trouble if dips down to even 65 or so, and white labs website mentions that this strain doesn't do well below 62- any tips on how to keep the yeasties happy at that temp, beyond a big starter and nutrient?
Btw, brewed this yesterday and fermentation is just really taking off, have it at 66 currently

qwd890 said:

I've always just done the recommended 68ish for everything, and have mostly used it in stouts and porters. I was a bit surprised at seeing your 60, as I have had a bit of trouble if dips down to even 65 or so, and white labs website mentions that this strain doesn't do well below 62- any tips on how to keep the yeasties happy at that temp, beyond a big starter and nutrient?
Btw, brewed this yesterday and fermentation is just really taking off, have it at 66 currently

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I use Edinburgh more than any other yeast, probably, and use it at and around 60 if I want a clean yeast profile. I measure the temp using a digital controller with the probe attached to the outside of the carboy.

I make yeast starters or pitch multiple vials, depending on the size of the beer and my foresight. I oxygenate, but don't add nutrients. Have never had a problem with attenuation.

Good luck with your batch!

Congrats! I was at the evening session of the event. It wasn't my favorite event of the year but still good fun.

forstmeister said:

Congrats! I was at the evening session of the event. It wasn't my favorite event of the year but still good fun.

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I was at the afternoon session, where they handed out the awards. Any festival featuring local beers is great, but I agree, there were a lot of hipsters around and the music was way too loud. In general, I felt old

Pappers_ said:

I was at the afternoon session, where they handed out the awards. Any festival featuring local beers is great, but I agree, there were a lot of hipsters around and the music was way too loud. In general, I felt old

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I do like that it was local only, especially since two of my best friends are the brewers at Finch's. The crowd was a strange mix but was well behaved at least. I really enjoyed the Koval bierbrandy. It was well done.

Well I made this for my initial batch my new eHERMS! All I can say is WOW, it turned out amazing...I just tapped it last night very good. I modified it some here is what I did and what I ended up with. Thanks.

All Electric Herms 5.50 gallon batch boil size 7.0 G

10.00 lbs Pale Malt
1.00 lbs C40
1.00 lbs Wheat

1 oz NS Boil 60, 10, and 1
1 package dry Safale US-05
Primary Ferm 7 days at Ferm 7 days w/1 oz NS Dry Hops

Kegged @ 38 @12 PSI two weeks
OG 1.052
FG 1.012
ABV 5.21%
IBU 55.0
Calories 231 per pint

Again I highly recommend making any variation of this ale very good, will brew again....and again, my wife loved it! Thanks

I had Majestic from Pipeworks, which uses NS hops and was wonderful. Combine that with an established love of Chinook and I think this might be my next brew!