Northern Brewer Pilsner SMaSH

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

Not having any idea what Northern Brewer hops taste like I decided to figure it out. I used the pilsner malt left over from another recipe to make a SMaSH beer.

Here is my recipe: http://brewgr.com/recipe/47361/northerrn-brewer-pilsner-smash-american-pale-ale-recipe

Video recipe:

I'll probably do more of these if this one works out.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I'll post the review video back here when it's ready in a couple weeks.

 

[friarsmith]

It will probably remind you of an Anchor Steam beer which is 100% NB and dosed about like your recipe, but with a more simple malt profile since you didn't use any specialty grains. When I'm not brewing for a certain style, I really like SMASH beers, especially for leftover garden hops or random bags of pellets in my freezer. It's the best way to isolate and get some sensory feedback on hops/yeast/malt that you can apply in future batches. Plus, for some reason, the most simple beers often taste the best...

Regarding taste, NB is minty/rustic/woody/herbal and almost ginger-like with a heavy late boil addition and a grist with medium lovibond crystal malts. If this batch is too minty/rustic etc for you, consider using Cluster hops in a similar batch. They're a native hop to North America. Rustic/herbal/grassy with none of the potential woody/minty traits of NB, in my experience. Almost a less-refined Hallertau, fwiw....

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

Thank for the notes.

I hadn't realized that Anchor Steam used NB exclusively. Admittedly, I didn't do a lot of research. I didn't even look up a recipe. I made something up based on the knowledge I've gained over the last few months.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out in a few weeks.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

This one turned out quite different. The WB-06 yeast overpowered the hops. It tasted more like a hefeweizen than I expected. It was still good though.