British Golden Ale Hoppy New Year

[nujjer]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Lallemand Verdant IPA Ale

Yeast Starter

No

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

No

Batch Size (Gallons)

6

Original Gravity

1040

Final Gravity

1007

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

50*

Color

23EBC/11SRM

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days @68'F/20'C

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days @50'F/10'C (ambient)

Tasting Notes

Bitter start with fizzy mouth feel. Smooth classic English hoppy taste from Challenger and First Gold at flame out.

Lots of folks here post their accidental successes - here's mine. It's super easy, I was essentially using up leftovers before putting a new order into my supplier. Made mid-December so wife suggested "Hoppy New Year".
Not sure if it qualifies as a British Golden Ale on account of the Citra, but it doesn't really feel like an IPA either, even though it has IPA yeast. It's beer.

I've been full mash brewing for about 18 months - I go with the flow, I use my household water and don't worry about things too much. I'm a Brit so even though we left Europe yesterday (!) I use metric.

Grain bill and mash
Maris Otter Warminster Pale Malt - 4.5kg/10lbs
Dark Crystal Malt - 200g/7oz
Torrified Wheat - 350g/12oz

15ltr/4gal @65'C/150'F for 1 hour
Sparge through to boiler up to 25ltr.

Hop schedule
Citra pellet 40g/1.4oz @60mins [*14% alpha! No Citra taste made it through to the beer, but boy is it lovely and bitter.]
Challenger 16g/0.6oz @flame out
First Gold 33g/1.2oz @flame out

Ferment and finish
Made wort up to 24ltr with fresh water to get target OG of 1040 @20'C/68'F
Hydrated yeast in a cup of water at 30'C/86'F for 20 mins.
Bottled with a carbonation drop in each 500ml/16oz bottle. Wait 2 weeks.

So, although it was an accidental beer, it's one I will definitely make again.

 

[SBaker]

This sounds interesting and you said it was tasty. If you had dry hopped ( with Citra )about three days before bottling you may have gotten more Citra aroma. However, it sounds as if you made a tasty ale and that makes it a success.

 

[nujjer]

.... If you had dry hopped ( with Citra )about three days before bottling you may have gotten more Citra aroma....

Thanks @SBaker - Yep, my experimental intent was to just get bitterness from the Citra without the flavour, it worked. I do like to make a SMaSH with just loads of Citra including 100g dry hopping, its immense!