Critique my Amarillo Pale Ale Recipe...

[the_bird]

RDWHAHB!

It'll be fine.

It'll be fine.







It'll be fine!

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Thanks for the encouragement bird! I think you are right. Upon inspection this morning the top half of the beer is clearing. I guess it is just yeast still in suspension... If it doesn't clear to my liking, I think I may try gelatin for the first time. Possible now that I keg, w00t!

I'm planning to primary this for 2 weeks, transfer to secondary with 1oz. of Amarillo for dry-hopping, gelatin (if needed) and possibly 4-6oz. of maltodextrine depending what the gravity is at transfer (if < 1.006 or something I am definitely adding some body). Then kegging after a week in secondary. Two weeks on gas and it should be darn tasty...

 

[Reverend JC]

1.006!?!?!?! wow, that beer would be drier than a popcorn fart!

With nottingham i bet you will end up around 1.01 to 1.013



you should be fine and end up with a dang tasty brew.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

1.006!?!?!?! wow, that beer would be drier than a popcorn fart!

With nottingham i bet you will end up around 1.01 to 1.013



you should be fine and end up with a dang tasty brew.

I'm hoping this is the case... but just not sure what mashing around 146F will do to you since its my first AG. Obviously i've been told it makes a very fermentable wort, but whether that means 1.010-1.012 or 1.004-1.006, I don't know.

I DO know it fermented out FAST... I was gone for a day and didn't even get to watch any fermentation activity.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Sooo... not sure what happened to this one, but heres the story. It was sitting for 10 days now, the 7th or so without a bubble through the airlock.

I wanted to dryhop for a week before kegging and conditioning for 3 weeks at 12psi. Well, I transferred to a 2ndary to dry hop and I checked gravity at transfer... 1.020?! WTF?! Not sure what the OG was b/c as noted I checked pre-boil.

Anyway, I thought this might be b/c I only had 4.25g, so I added the .75g I missed my 5g mark by. Well, this diluted it only to 1.016. Not what I was expecting out of Nottingham and a mash I did at 146F?! I thought it was supposed to be MORE fermentable, not less?!

So, I did the only thing I could think to do. Moved the carboy to a warmer place, added a few pinches of new dry yeast (Muntons crap I had and was about the expire - had it just for an unfinished ferment). I didn't know if it would hurt or not, nor did I care much, so I just put the 1oz. of Amarillo in to dry hop also.

I'm going to let this sit another week or so and see what happens... I hope it ferments out b/c it smelled SOOOOOOOO tasty and tasted tasty albeit a little sweet from being at 1.020.

Thoughts on what went wrong? Thoughts on what I did to "correct" it? This is my first AG and I'm already having problems. Grrr...

 

[srm775]

It's possible, depending on how well your mash tun holds heat (not many critters survive above 140° or so). The other thing that will happen is that your wort will be a lot more fermentable doing that long a mash, so I wouldn't do it.

I mash overnight all the time and haven't had a problem. It does help to split up the brew day nicely. You should be fine. I guess it's possible that your mash could sour (like sour-mashed whiskey), but I really doubt. 8-12 hours with most of that being at temps over 140°F you really there's not much time for anything to take hold enough to really change the flavor profile.

I think if you seal up your tun real good, and throw a couple of blankets/towels over it it should hold the heat pretty well. Also, pre-heat your tun with boiling/near boiling water.

I really have no evidence of this, but it's my opinion, that it creates a fuller-bodied beer.

 

[Professor Frink]

Looks good. I also Love Amarillo. The sad thing is, once you brew this and love it, you won't be able to easily brew it again. Due to he shortages. Man, If someone could snag some Amarillo rhizomes to sell he would be very wealthy I think!

I just tried a similar recipe this last weekend because my LHBS said one of the hops they won't run out of is Amarillo. I've never used amarillo before, so I figured I'd give it a try. It's only a few days into primary, but I'm excited about this beer.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Well, 30 days after brewing my first AG, it went into the keg. It spent 2 weeks in primary and 2 weeks in Secondary with a 1oz Amarillo dryhop.

At transfer to the keg, despite everything that "went wrong" along the way (low mash temp, adding water to 5g after fermentation had started, not stirring in my gelatin), I'd have to say this is one of the best beers I brewed to date; AG really is awesome and beer is a hearty and unpredictable beast.

Should only get better with carbonation!

 

[Evets]

I'm curious as to whether your FG dropped any further. I've had several beers that seemed to finish too high, for no apparent reason. It's a little scarier for me because I bottle, but I haven't had any bottle bombs yet.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

It dropped to around 1.015 after the 2 week secondary. I must have roused the yeast at the transfer and they did some more work.

Still seems a bit higher than I planned (1.010), BUT maybe the mash temp I measured (at one or two places only) was actually low and I mashed right and/or a little higher than expected. This would have created more complex sugars that may not have gotten broken down...

I got a digital thermometer now so no more guesswork!

 

[Evets]

That's cool. Thanks for the reply.