American Pale Ale Lemongrass + Hibiscus Pale Ale - perfect for spring patio sipping

[TandemTails]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

WLP002

Yeast Starter

1L

Batch Size (Gallons)

5

Original Gravity

1.050

Final Gravity

1.009

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

40-ish

Color

ruby red

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

65'F for 4 days

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

69'F for 10 days

Tasting Notes

Perfect balance of tartness from the hibiscus, subtle lemon notes from the lemongrass and nice hop flavor from the centennial dry hop

This is a great beer to sip on the patio as the weather gets warmer. Super easy drinking beer with great color and flavor profile. I didn't add any of the lemongrass or hibiscus until the last 5 days of fermentation along with my 1oz of centennial dry hop. Head has a nice subtle pinkness that doesn't really come through in the photo too well.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume     
7.00 g           Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)                  Water Agent   1          -             -           
4.00 g           Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)                        Water Agent   2          -             -           
1.0 oz           Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)                             Adjunct       3          0.5 %         0.01 gal   
9 lbs            Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM)           Grain         4          77.8 %        0.70 gal   
1 lbs            White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)                       Grain         5          8.6 %         0.08 gal   
12.0 oz          Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)            Grain         6          6.5 %         0.06 gal   
12.0 oz          Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                           Grain         7          6.5 %         0.06 gal   
3.00 ml          Yakima Hop Extract [91.10 %] (CO2 Extract) - Boi Hop           8          30.1 IBUs     -           
2.00 ml          Fermcap-S (Boil)                                 Water Agent   9          -             -           
1.00 Items       Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)                Fining        10         -             -           
0.50 tsp         Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)                  Other         11         -             -           
1.00 oz          Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min             Hop           12         12.5 IBUs     -           
1.0 pkg          English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml]      Yeast         13         -             -           
2.50 oz          Hibiscus Pedals (Secondary 5.0 days)             Flavor        14         -             -           
2.00 oz          Lemongrass (Secondary 5.0 days)                  Flavor        15         -             -           
1.00 oz          Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days          Hop           16         0.0 IBUs      -

Water is RO with only mineral additions those listed above.

Mashed with 16.5qt at 152'F for 60 minutes. Batch sparged with 5.5 gallons @168'F. Collected just shy of 8 gallons and boiled down to 6.25 gallons. 5.5 gallons into fermenter.

Notes on hibiscus and lemongrass: I have a lemongrass plant and cut the grass on brew day, chopped and smashed it, then froze it until i was going to need it. Added the lemongrass, hibiscus and dry hop in the same sack with some sanitized marbles 5 days prior to kegging. Cold crashed to 35'F the day prior to kegging.

Enjoy!

 

[deadwolfbones]

Would drink!

 

[Calaeb]

Going to order the stuff to make this today! Would the brewers best dried lemongrass work the same, or would I need more/less. I think I can get the hibiscus on amazon also.

 

[TandemTails]

Going to order the stuff to make this today! Would the brewers best dried lemongrass work the same, or would I need more/less. I think I can get the hibiscus on amazon also.

That's a good question. I've never actually used dried lemongrass since i've had a plant growing for a few years. I would imagine it would be about the same, assuming it's dried stalks and not crushed.

 

[greywolf]

This is next up. Received the hibiscus and dried lemongrass. Should be popular for the summer BBQ.

 

[greywolf]

Finally brewed this . Got this one keg carbed and ready to cold crash. Used Horninidal. Sample tasted pretty good. Looking foward to it. The lemongrass seemed really weak so I added the zest from one lemon and 1/2 oz of soraichi ace.

 

[greywolf]

This goes great with slow smoked pork. Pleasantly tart and clean. Thanks for the recipe.

 

[TandemTails]

very nice! I'm jealous of that huge BBQ haha.

Cheers

 

[greywolf]

a little hazy. very tert. Goes great with smoked meat. .

 

[greywolf]

gonna do 10 gal again for summer bbq season. Half hibiscus lemongrass and half as a fizzy "yellow" . Nice recipe. The crowd likes it. Unexpected color and It doesn't scare the BMC crowd. I bought dried lemongrass and it really doesn't have the punch of fresh. Will throw in some lemon zest at Dryhop. The ladies sure like it.

 

[InspectorJon]

Lots if grocery stores stock fresh lemongrass now in the produce department. If there is an Asian grocery store near you they will have it for sure. Dry lemongrass is really nothing like fresh.

 

[greywolf]

sounds like the ticket. thanks

 

[treacheroustexan]

I've been eyeing this post over the past few days and can't get it out of my head so I'm going to brew this tomorrow night. haha. I'll post back the outcome! Absolutely love the color.