GF Citra Amarillo Pale Ale

Building on what I have been learning here, this is my latest recipe in the fermentor. The below recipe calls for all the Sorghum in at 60 minutes, this is actually split evenly with half going in at the beginning and half at flame out.

The candi sugar was made at home using DAP and the method linked below. You can pick up pure DAP from More Beer, a pound of it is cheap and will last a long time.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/


GF Citra Amarillo Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale OG: 1.045
Type: All Grain FG: 1.011
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 4.45 %
Calories: 147 IBU's: 31.57
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 4.53 Gal
Color: 12.8 SRM Batch Size: 4.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes
________________________________________

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 24 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
3.30 lbs 62.26 % Briess White Sorghum LME 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 18.87 % Rice Extract Syrup 60 mins 1.032
1.00 lbs 18.87 % Candi Sugar, Amber 60 mins 1.036

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.25 ozs 17.41 Warrior 60 mins 15.00
0.25 ozs 3.58 Amarillo 10 mins 8.50
0.25 ozs 5.56 Citra 10 mins 13.20
0.25 ozs 1.97 Amarillo 5 mins 8.50
0.25 ozs 3.06 Citra 5 mins 13.20

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
5.00 oz Malto-Dextrine 15 mins Boil
1.00 oz Whirlfloc Tablet 15 mins Boil
1.00 oz Yeast Nutrient 15 mins Boil

Very nice. I will be looking to do a beer with a hint of orange later this summer, and I think this recipe would work great for that.

In fact, I am going to brew again next week, and I am going to use this recipe as my inspiration....tweaked slightly.

Citra Hopped Up Ale
ABV:5.2%
IBU: 75
SRM: 13 (I think it will be higher)
Boil time: 60 minutes

4.6lbs Sorghum (LHBS bought in bulk and packaged in 2.3lb jars....I'll throw in one at 30 minutes and one at 10)
1lb Candi syrup, dark @ 60
1lb Brown rice syrup @ 60
1lb Rice syrup solids @60

1oz warrior @ 60 minutes (never used these before, excited to though)
0.25oz Amarillo @30 minutes
0.25oz Citra @ 30 minutes
0.25oz Amarillo @ 15 minutes
0.25oz Citra @ 15 minutes
4oz Maltrodextrin @ 15 minutes

I see a lot of people using yeast nutrient. Do you think this is necessary or a "just in case"?

Yeast nutrient is absolutely unnecessary in my experience. I've never used it in any of my beers, and this includes beers that have no sorghum at all, just rice syrup and other sugars. I usually figure that, because I'm always adding steeping grains or sweet potatoes or herbs or something, somehow or another I'm getting the yeast everything it needs. It might help fermentation go faster, but I've never had trouble reaching target FG...if anything, I tend to come out lower FG than expected! My first beer was pretty high gravity, for a 3 gallon batch I did 3 lbs of brown rice syrup and 3 lbs of dark candi sugar (not syrup) and 1.5 lbs of honey, as well as 1 lb of toasted steeping grains. No yeast nutrient, no problem! Bottled it after three weeks, gave it a month in the bottles to condition, and it was fine.

I haven't tried the sweet potatoes yet, but I might.

I have some yeast nutrient, but I think as long as I am sticking with primarily sorghum based brews I'll probably just save it.

igliashon said:

Yeast nutrient is absolutely unnecessary in my experience. I've never used it in any of my beers, and this includes beers that have no sorghum at all, just rice syrup and other sugars. I usually figure that, because I'm always adding steeping grains or sweet potatoes or herbs or something, somehow or another I'm getting the yeast everything it needs. It might help fermentation go faster, but I've never had trouble reaching target FG...if anything, I tend to come out lower FG than expected! My first beer was pretty high gravity, for a 3 gallon batch I did 3 lbs of brown rice syrup and 3 lbs of dark candi sugar (not syrup) and 1.5 lbs of honey, as well as 1 lb of toasted steeping grains. No yeast nutrient, no problem! Bottled it after three weeks, gave it a month in the bottles to condition, and it was fine.

Click to expand...

I have always looked at it as cheap insurance.

Considering the fact that after we mix some sugar water up it is up to the yeast to carry us through to the finish line. I want them to be eating the best food possible. (way over simplification, but the Eye of the Tiger song just popped in my head)

Probably right though, over engineered..

Will be posting pictures in several more weeks of the brew, I am very happy with the fermenting amber color from the syrup.

Brewed my take on this yesterday. It smelled great, and since I had some yeast nutrient anyway I through some in.

Fermentation started quickly and with much more gusto than my previous GF batches.

Sorry for the external link, but I'm on my phone:

http://brewology101.com/AleAbacus/4544/GF-Hopped-Up-Citra

Name: GF Hopped Up Citra Brewer: thanantos
IBU Formula: Rager Units: standard
Boil
Boil Volume: 2.5 gal. Boil Length: 60 min. Target Volume: 5 gal.
Mash
Mash Efficiency: 75 Mash Length: 60 min.
Style
Name: American IPA Category: India Pale Ale - 14B Type: Ale
Notes
Sorghum at 28 and 13 or so.

App freaked out and showed my IBU at 140 something @ 33. Decided to add the majority of the hops late while I figured out what happened.

Wort down to 85 when added to the water. 75 in the bucket. Yeast pitched.


Variety Amount Color Potential SG Grist%
BriesSweet White Sorghum Syrup 4 lbs. 6.00 oz. 2 °L 1.034 1.030 57%
BriesSweet Brown Rice Syrup 45 1 lbs. 5.00 oz. 2 °L 1.034 1.009 17%
Belgian Candi Syrup, Dark 1 lbs. 80 °L 1.032 1.005 13%
Rice Syrup Solids 1 lbs. 0 °L 1.045 1.009 13%
Total 7 lbs. 11.00 oz. 13 SRM 1.052
Hops add
Hops Amount AA% Use Time Type IBU
Warrior (Usa) 1 oz. 16.7 Boil 60 min. Pellet 59
Amarillo (Usa) 0.25 oz. 9.3 Boil 30 min. Pellet 7
Citra (Usa) 0.25 oz. 13.9 Boil 30 min. Pellet 10
Amarillo (Usa) 0.25 oz. 9.3 Boil 15 min. Pellet 4
Citra (Usa) 0.25 oz. 13.9 Boil 15 min. Pellet 6
Amarillo (Usa) 0.5 oz. 9 Boil 5 min. Pellet 3
Citra (Usa) 0.5 oz. 14 Boil 5 min. Pellet 5
Total 3.00 oz. 94

Excellent! Let us know how it turns out. Mine still looks like this until it is cold crashed on June 5th.

Satisfaction said:

Excellent! Let us know how it turns out. Mine still looks like this until it is cold crashed on June 5th.

Click to expand...

WOW...Impressive set up!

Also, I just realized I have been hijacking your thread. Sorry about that, but thanks for the great recipe!

Thanks!

I am just glad you brewed the recipe, completely agree that this smelled delicious making it. Have very high hopes that this one will turn out special.

Good luck, if you feel like trading a couple bottles let me know. Wouk be interesting in seeing how they compare/contrast.

Good to hear. I'd be happy to exchange some double deuces with you once I can confirm this batch comes out ok.

Regarding yeast nutrient, I added some to this batch since I had it sitting around and fermentation was down right EXPLOSIVE compared to the lazy result I had without it.

I have no idea how this will effect the end product, if at all, but it did its job for sure.

thanantos said:

Good to hear. I'd be happy to exchange some double deuces with you once I can confirm this batch comes out ok.

Regarding yeast nutrient, I added some to this batch since I had it sitting around and fermentation was down right EXPLOSIVE compared to the lazy result I had without it.

I have no idea how this will effect the end product, if at all, but it did its job for sure.

Click to expand...

Happy Yeast, makes happy beer.

Kegged this one tonight, getting close!

Good to hear!

I mentioned this in another thread where I am having some fermentation troubles, but with the addition of yeast nutrient in this batch my version of your recipe was done fermenting in a week or so and it tastes great!

I actually quite enjoyed drinking my hydrometer sample. The bittering hops were a tad overwhelming, but the beer is was only 9 days old so I expect everything to mellow out eventually.

Bottled this up on Friday. It smelled GREAT!

Can't wait to drink this one.

My wife and I have have been drinking this one for a couple days now, turned out great! Will get a picture or two this evening of the final product

My friend, I thank you again for the recipe. I just popped one, and it's awesome!

I'll definitely be brewing this one again, but next time I plan to stick more closely to your original recipe. Mine is DAMN HOPPY! Which isn't bad, but I'll try it your way next time.

Here's a head pic after only 6 days in the bottle:



Mine is also almost completely opaque. Next time I'll try some Irish moss to try and clear it up.

BTW, there is virtually 0 twang to this beer. I am not sure if its the hops overpowering it, the lowered percentage of sorghum in the batch compared to other fermentables or the fact that I added the sorghum late, but I can just barely pick it up when the beer warms near the end of a bottle.

Guess I should drink faster

Heres how mine turned out, crystal clear with a nice amber hue.

Beautiful!

Did you use a secondary? And how long in primary?

thanantos said:

Beautiful!

Did you use a secondary? And how long in primary?

Click to expand...

I use a conical fermenter, so my process is a bit unique.

Another question on how to use them popped up a couple weeks ago, here I briefly describe my system.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/conicals-332328/

All of my 1.060 gravity and below ferment for 24 days with little mini trub dumps taking place every 3rd day. After the 24 days, they are cold crashed to 34f for a week. Finally to the keg for carbonation.

So all primary, no secondary.

O yeah, I remember the pic you posted now. Makes this bucket brewer jealous

I'm going to brew this one again on Tuesday and try to boost the ABV by adding more sorghum.

6lb Sorghum
1lb 6oz BRS
1lb Candi Syrup, Dark
1lb Rice Syrup Solids

By my calculation it should net me 6.8% using S-04, and I'll stick with my hop schedule.

I did brew this again with 6.6lbs of sorghum and the rest as above.

It came out great, but the sorghum is showing up now. It's still really good though.

In fact, I need to stop drinking it because it's only been in the bottle 3 weeks or so, but I can tell it's getting better with age.

No more drinking it for at least one month. I WILL NOT!

Brewed another version of this on Saturday. I have some friends visiting from the NL in June so I dubbed this "Dutch Invasion IPA".

Fermentables:
5lbs sorghum (half added at flameout)
1lb rice syrup solids @ 60
2lbs caramelized clover honey @ 60
1lb clear candi syrup (hard) @ 60

Hops (IBU's calculated at 71):
1oz Chinook @ 60
0.5oz of citra and Amarillo @ 20
0.5oz of citra and Amarillo @ 7
Will secondary in keg and dry hop with 1oz of Amarillo

Other:
8oz maltodextrin
Irish moss
yeast nutrient

OG: 1.062 and Safale S-05 was pitched.