Karankawa Pale Ale

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Keep me posted. I would like to know what you think. (those of you that made it according to the directions.)

Forrest
 
I finally put in my first order from AHS. I couldn't not get this kit at the price. I think it was 18 bucks and some change for all grain? For a mild that would be a good price, but for a hoppy pale? Wowee! I am excited to give it a try. I have never really been a recipe guy, but we'll see if I can follow it.
 
I brewed this yesterday, mini-mash. Should be bubbling away by the time I get home this afternoon...
 
OK OK - now that cannibalism is all in vogue when it comes to beer I have to look into this just for the fact that the label will be outstanding. DAMN YOU FORREST!!

BTW - I HATE it when some one reviews a recipe and say it's GREAT and I switched out this hops for that hops and added different grain. AAAAGH!!!
 
1,000,000+

Millionty plus.

Forrest

Ex: I made your AHS coffee stout and it didn't turn out well. Did I mention that I added some extra hops I had in the freezer for about a year and 1/2 pot of french roast at bottling?
 
Ex: I made your AHS coffee stout and it didn't turn out well. Did I mention that I added some extra hops I had in the freezer for about a year and 1/2 pot of french roast at bottling?
Click to expand...

EXACTLY - I picked ANY review and found this one! DRIVES ME UP A WALL.

AHS Brown
This turned out to be a very good beer. I didn't follow the recipie exactly. I changed out the yeast for White Labs European Ale yeast (WLP011) and I added Hazelnut/Noisette Liquor Quick brand at bottling time.

sigh! sorry - had to get that off my chest.
 
I kegged it Saturday afternoon and pulled a small (6-8oz) glass this evening just to give it a taste.

Nice head. Decent, but not overwhelming aroma. Definitely as easy-drinking Pale Ale. I'm not sure I'd categorize it as "aggressively" hopped, but it is a very nice beer. Obviously it has a ways to get yet as its only been on gas for 48 hours...

But overall- very easy to drink, nice hopiness- but not overwhelming. Not very bitter (the wife likes it), but probably wasn't intended to be.
 
Two questions/comments - one for Forrest.

1. What is the difference between and aggressively hops Pale Ale and an IPA ???

2. If I owned a home brew store I would not have a Tuesday Special but a Thursday Special - reason is people get paid on Thursdays and have extra cash. Tuesday is just before pay day.

think of it like a poker tournament - On Thursday money is cheap and inexpensive because you have a lot of it, you're the big stack. But on Tuesdays your dollar is actually MUCH more expensive because you are the little stack.
 
i just ordered this kit yesterday so ill be following this thread to see what everyone thinks of it so kepp posting guys on how all your beer comes out thanks.
 
I pulled a sample last night after two and a half weeks in the primary and it was shaping up pretty nicely. I'll have a better review in another couple of weeks.
 
ive had a steady, vigorous fermentation going on, maybe the temps in my beer closet are just right....
 
I wanted to start this ale last week, but all has been hectic here... just got back from a big meeting at the lawyer's office... trying to get some satisfaction out of the insurance company of the idiot who hit me head-on last October... stopped by the liquor store and picked up some supplies, i.e. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and some strainer bags from the paint store.
Also... I found a guy on Craigslist with some free beer bottles to give away... he no longer bottles his beer since he got his kegerator. He is meeting me in about an hour with 80+ 12 ounce bottles... yes!
Updates to come as soon as I get off of my rear end and get this thing going.
Bill
 
Hillbilly_Bill said:
I wanted to start this ale last week, but all has been hectic here... just got back from a big meeting at the lawyer's office... trying to get some satisfaction out of the insurance company of the idiot who hit me head-on last October... stopped by the liquor store and picked up some supplies, i.e. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and some strainer bags from the paint store.
Also... I found a guy on Craigslist with some free beer bottles to give away... he no longer bottles his beer since he got his kegerator. He is meeting me in about an hour with 80+ 12 ounce bottles... yes!
Updates to come as soon as I get off of my rear end and get this thing going.
Bill
Click to expand...

nice score!:rockin:
 
Forrest, i always try to follow all your recipes exactly but all of the ones i have done from you say to transfer to a secondary after about a week? What is your opinion on doing it that way to say 3 weeks in the primary and then directly into the keg for conditioning? Thanks.
 
andrew300 said:
Forrest, i always try to follow all your recipes exactly but all of the ones i have done from you say to transfer to a secondary after about a week? What is your opinion on doing it that way to say 3 weeks in the primary and then directly into the keg for conditioning? Thanks.
Click to expand...

You need to use a secondary. You also need to transfer the beer off of the sediment about 2 days after your fermentation is finished. This is about a week after the beer starts fermenting. You can leave it in the secondary or the keg for as long as you like.

This will improve your beer. If you ask 5 brewers you will get 10 answers. Of course you dont have to use a secondary, but there are a lot of things you dont have to do. Stop at red lights, be nice to people, pay your electricity bill on time... It is just a very good idea to do so though.

IMHO of 20 years of brewing.

Forrest
 
Forrest... I plan on following the directions with my mini-mash kit with Nottingham yeast, but I plan on hydrating the yeast as I always do when I am making wine... just to let you know.
 
Hillbilly_Bill said:
Forrest... I plan on following the directions with my mini-mash kit with Nottingham yeast, but I plan on hydrating the yeast as I always do when I am making wine... just to let you know.
Click to expand...

Rehydrating yeast is optional. It works fine just sprinkling it in. They are yeasts and they know what to do.

I will find some info from an expert and post it here when I find it.

Forrest
 
The following info applies to beer and wine.
Here is why I don't bother with rehydrating:

What is the best way to handle the yeast?

If you look at the instructions in your wine kit (and please, do), they will likely instruct you to sprinkle your packet of yeast directly on to the must. Yet if you read the yeast package (and many winemaking textbooks) they recommend rehydrating the yeast. If the objective is to deliver the maximum number of yeast cells to the must, which technique is best? It turns out that the answer is not as simple as one or the other, but the main point is that rehydration is not really necessary.

You can rehydrate your yeast if you absolutely want to, but be sure to do it accurately and precisely, as explained further below. The rest of us will tear open the package and dump it in, and spend the extra time sampling our last batch!

When performed correctly, rehydrating gives the highest live cell counts, and the quickest, most thorough fermentation. The catch is, it has to be done precisely correctly. Lalvin EC 1118 champagne yeast, for instance, asks you to add the yeast to 10 times its weight in water at 40-43°C (104-109°F).

Breaking it down, the amount of '10 times' is important if you're trying to maximize live cell counts. That's because the yeast is dried on a substrate of nutrients and sugars. At a ratio of 10:1 water/yeast, the osmotic pressure allows for maximum nutrient uptake (osmotic pressure is influenced by the dissolved solids in the water, like nutrients and sugars). If too much water is used, the yeast will grow only sluggishly. If too little water is used, the cells may burst from the flood of liquid and nutrients forced into them.

Secondly, the temperature range is inflexible. The outer integument of a yeast cell is made up of two layers of fatty acids. These layers soften best in warm water, much as greasy film will come off of dishes best in warm water. Once it has softened up, it will allow the passage of nutrients and waste products in and out of the cell much more efficiently. If the water isn't warm enough, the cell won't soften. If it's too warm, generally anywhere above 52°C (125.6°F) the yeast cell will cook and die.

The next thing you have to worry about is temperature shear. Yeast is terrifically sensitive to environmental conditions. If it goes too quickly from a favorable temperature to a less favourable one, weakened cells may die, and others may go dormant, in an attempt to ride out the temperature shift. This reduces the numbers of live, viable cells available to ferment the must, and gives spoilage organisms a chance to get a foothold, and potentially ruin your wine. So if you are rehydrating your yeast, you'll have to wait as the yeast cools to within two degrees of your must temperature before adding it: accuracy counts!

On the other hand, simply dumping the yeast onto the top of the must should result in lower cell counts. Empirical evidence shows this isn't the case: the yeast appear to know what they're doing. Generally, a five-gram packet of yeast will have less than a six-hour lag phase on an average wine kit. This is perfectly acceptable, and isn't long enough to allow spoilage organisms to get a foothold in your wine. Plus, it's a heck of a lot simpler than going through the rehydrating process, fraught as it is with risks.
 
Wanted to chime in here. I am going to be brewing the extract version of this beer tomorrow so I was going over the recipe. Normally I am an all grain brewer so when I noticed that it called fo 1oz of 14% hops I got a little worried. I am making this beer to bring to a party with coworkers and I don't think they will like the beer much if it is seriously overhopped. Judging by the responses above in this thread I suppose I am going to brew it by the book and just hope for the best, but it seems to call for a LOT of hops. I'll post how it goes later, lots of luck to the others brewing this kit.
 
Just brewed this up today. My first AG! Everything went well hit the OG dead on. It's already bubbling away in the basement. I drank the hydro sample and it was tasty! I cant wait... I'll keep ya posted.
 
patrck17 said:
Wanted to chime in here. I am going to be brewing the extract version of this beer tomorrow so I was going over the recipe. Normally I am an all grain brewer so when I noticed that it called fo 1oz of 14% hops I got a little worried. I am making this beer to bring to a party with coworkers and I don't think they will like the beer much if it is seriously overhopped. Judging by the responses above in this thread I suppose I am going to brew it by the book and just hope for the best, but it seems to call for a LOT of hops. I'll post how it goes later, lots of luck to the others brewing this kit.
Click to expand...

Well, from the AHS site, "As the name suggests, this is an aggressively hopped American pale ale"
 
As someone who is already drinking this beer... it is a crowd-pleasing beer. It IS NOT an IPA in terms of bitterness, aroma, etc... make the recipe as written and you'll get a very nice, very drinkable pale ale.
 
Mattingly said:
As someone who is already drinking this beer... it is a crowd-pleasing beer. It IS NOT an IPA in terms of bitterness, aroma, etc... make the recipe as written and you'll get a very nice, very drinkable pale ale.
Click to expand...

I'm brewing an allgrain version of this today. Beersmith says it should end up with more than 60 IBU's....I'm intrigued that this beer can be so smooth despite being "aggressively hopped."
 
A lot of hop flavor. A high alpha acid, low cohumulone hop has a lot of flavor and is less bitter than usual. Smooth yet aggressively hopped.
 
Brewed the mini-mash version of this kit Friday night. Followed the recipe from AHS and used Nottingham yeast. The directions were very good and covered the whole process well. Bubbled like crazy all weekend. I plan on racking to secondary next weekend and bottling 2-3weeks after. Forgot to take an OG reading, but not worried.

Can't wait to try the finished beer!

-Scott
 
Mattingly said:
As someone who is already drinking this beer... it is a crowd-pleasing beer. It IS NOT an IPA in terms of bitterness, aroma, etc... make the recipe as written and you'll get a very nice, very drinkable pale ale.
Click to expand...


This sounds great! I can't believe I don't have mine started yet... it has been so hectic around here since I started this thread that I haven't had the time for an enjoyable easygoing brewday. Finally, I was considering brewing today or tomorrow but now I find that I am out of water. Our water here is stock full of impurities and I can't stand the smell of it, so I buy water by the gallon from Wal-Mart. I'll have to make time to get to the store and buy a whole bunch of cases and put some aside specifically for this kit and a Pinot Noir kit I need to get going.
Needless to say, I am excited about the possibilities of this Pale Ale.
 
I made mine this past Saturday. I have not brewed for a few months and made a few rookie errors. The biggest mistake I think was not having top off water available. I did a full boil and ended up boiling off more than expected, so I ended up adding about half a gallon right out of the tap, I really don't like to do that cause of the risk of contamination, but usually the beer ends up good so not too worried about it. Second mistake was I forgot to add irish moss! This one annoys me because I am supposed to let my coworkers sample this one and I wanted to be able to have a real pretty clear beer. Also it seems when I use the moss it is easier on my stomach should I drink a couple too many. Too late now I guess, I hope it clears up well but I expect there to be a little bit of a haze.

Hope everyone's turns out well!
 
I brewed the extract version with Nottingham yeast last night. My OG was a little low (1.048), but oh well :) While brewing I was scanning through Papazian's book and in the hops variety chart it says that cluster is a poor aroma/flavoring hop. Is there a reason why cluster was used for both aroma and flavoring, and not bittering in this recipe? I know Papazian's opinion isn't the word of God, but just curious.

I'm excited about this one. It is bubbling away and smelling good!
 
Cluster has a unwarranted bad rap. Don't believe a 25 year old book.

If it was extract with top off water you got a false hydrometer reading.

Forrest
 

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