Galaxy/centennial amber

[sven945]

I've been told I should brew something with a bit of a more sensible ABV than the saison (7.5%) and dubbel (8.5%) that I've got on the go at the moment. I've got 30g of Galaxy hops in my freezer, and I've made a few IPAs so I thought I'd try making something a bit more malty next. I've used aromatic malt in a Belgian IPA and I like what it brings. I've also had good results having no bittering hops, and I reckon that would work well with something like this. I've read that centennial works well with galaxy, but I've not bought that yet so feel free to tell me I'm being an idiot!

I was thinking about something a bit like this.

12 litres total
1.5kg pale malt
0.7kg Munich
0.3kg Aromatic
0.4kg medium crystal

10g Galaxy @ 15 minutes
15g Centennial @ 15 minutes
10g Galaxy @ 0 minutes
10g Centennial @ 0 minutes
10g Galaxy dry hop
15g Centennial dry hop

Beersmith tells me I should get 1051 OG, and 1013 FG, with 28 IBUs.

My local brew shop has some WLP051 California V yeast that looks interesting, so I might use that, or perhaps Yeast Bay Vermont ale.

Any thoughts? I've not brewed anything hoppy for a while so I'm a bit out of practice with thinking that way!

 

[saltymirv]

Centennial and Galaxy would work great together IMO, I might have to try that actually. Your hop schedule looks totally fine, I would only make a couple tweaks. Since you only have 30g of Galaxy, I would save it for the flame out and dry hop.

I'd try something like this:

20g Centennial @ 30 (34 IBU)
10g Centennial @ 0
10g Galaxy @ 0
10g Centennial @ dry hop
20g Galaxy @ dry hop

Its pretty much the same, just favoring Galaxy a little more. I've never used WLP051, but I have used TYB Vermont Ale and its amazing; I highly recommend it.

As far as other thoughts, I think you might be a little high on the crystal amount. I've got it at 13.8% if I did the numbers right. Dropping it down to 250-300g might be better

Also you didn't mention any water treatment, which I highly recommend for hoppy beers

 

[sven945]

Thanks for the tips. I've cut the crystal down to 250g (not upped anything else, making it even more of a sensible strength!). Also I've adjusted the hops pretty much to what you suggested (though I've read a few things against 30 minute additions, so I've shifted those 20g to 20 minutes and added another 10g at 10 minutes to make up for it).

If my local shop still has the Vermont then I'll probably use that. I did a bit more reading about the California V and some people love it but some people have had problems. But lots of people have had smells of sulphur, and I've not got much ventilation in the room where my fermenters go.

As for water treatment, it's not something I've done before (just for convenience's sake) but maybe I should investigate.

Thanks very much for the help.