So in keeping up with the beers brewed last year, it's time for a post on the Southern Hemisphere Pale Ale. This beer was basically an attempt to brew something like Stone's Enjoy By IPA in a 5.5% ABV Pale Ale. Obviously the beers would be different, but my hope was to hold onto the core flavor profile, in a beer that's much more drinkable.
The major component of Enjoy By is the dry hop, which consists of a 50/50 blend of Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy. I started the recipe there and worked backwards. I simplified the 15min and flameout additions a little bit, but I tried to keep the overall theme the same. The hopping quantities were cut back significantly as well. The grist is where I really had to make some changes. Straight 2-row in a beer like this would come off a little too blah, so I really upped the specialty malts to try to replace that big ABV character. Lots of carapils for body, some carastan for sweetness, and some munich for maltiness.
This was another batch I split with my friend Kiernan, so everything is doubled compared to a 6gal batch. I got a starter of WLP090 ready, and brew day went smooth. 60min mash, 60min boil, and a 10min whirlpool before knockout. This fermented out clean and quick, and I tossed half the dry hop into the primary near the end. After a few more days, I racked both fermenters to secondary, and added the second half of the dry hop. Finally after 8-9 days later I racked this one to keg.
Brewed: 11-10-13
Dry Hopped: 11-16-13
Kegged: 11-25-13
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 43
12 Gallons
19lbs 2-row
24oz Carapils
24oz Munich
20oz Carastan
Mash at 152*
1oz Apollo @ 60
1oz ea. Simcoe, Cascade, and Amarillo @ 15
2oz ea Citra & Centennial @ Flameout
Whirlpool for 20min
WLP090 - Super San Diego Yeast
Dry Hop 1: 1.5oz ea Nelson Sauvin & Galaxy
(Dry hops are for each fermenter)
I ended up getting through about 3-4 gallons of the keg before I drain-poured the last bit to make room for other beers. Life is too short to worry about a couple gallons of so-so beer. I ended up brewing nearly the same recipe a couple weeks later with Citra and Amarillo as the dry hops. It was a much better beer, but we'll get to that in another post. Cheers!
I find Nelson has a weird taste no matter what. But being from NZ means that they put it in a lot of NZ pale ales.. :|
ReplyDeleteHaha! I typically like it, but there was something about this year's crop that I'm not wild about. I'll give it another go before I write it off completely, but so far I'm not thrilled.
DeletePity about the beers, but I completely agree. No need to suffer bad beer! I also wanted to thank you for your wonderful posts. As a new home brewer, I've found your posts a great resource. My American Amber Ale is finally ready, your recipe, and it is delicious. Far and away the best beer I've made, admittedly only 5 attempts :) I chose it largely because I'd not worked with any of those hops before. It is still clearing but the taste and aroma are pure bliss! Have you considered doing any vlogs on Youtube? There's a pretty large "brewtuber" community there and I'm quite certain your expertise would really shine there. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and that's awesome about the Amber.
DeleteI really haven't thought too much about Youtube, as I have a few other hobbies, and just finding the time to brew, write ,and respond to comments can be tough at times.
Bummer this one didn't turn out. Enjoy by is one of my favorite beers and it would be great to have a more "sessionable" version of it. It sounds like your grainbill wasn't the issue, but I'd like to offer up another option just for fun. The grainbill for Russian Rivers Row 2 Hill 56 Pale ale is really nice for pale ales in the 1.055ish range. It is 60% pilsner, 33% Maris Otter, 7% C20 and is great clean/dry canvas to showcase hop forward beers. I've started using it for a lot of pale ales and think it would work really well for this beer. Now to figure out the hops...
ReplyDeleteYou know, I saw a guy on HBT awhile ago that had emailed Vinnie, and he responded with that grain bill. I did really enjoy R2H56 when we were up in Santa Rosa, so that's a pretty good idea.
DeleteI had read somewhere that there was going to be a shortage of Nelson this year due to a poor harvest. It was for this reason that i purchased an extra 6 oz of last years crop. Maybe that has something to do with it? Poor weather?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I don't remember where I saw the article...
--Chris
It could be, or it could just be the batch I got. It's really hard to tell.
DeleteOh No! I just made your Enjoy By IPA recipe and am just about ready to dry hop it. Now I'm not sure if I should dry hop it with my 2013 Nelson or if I should try something else.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your blog is fantastic =]
Hi Scott
ReplyDeleteI just brewed up my attempt at this on Father's Day.
Quick rundown- 16lb 2-row, 2lb Vienna, 12oz C-Pils, 8oz C-20, 4-oz C40 and 4oz C-Munich.
1oz Columbus at 60, 1oz each Citra, Cascade, Centennial at 15m and at flameout. Whirlpool for 15 minutes then chilled to 64F. 10 gallons split into 2 buckets, each got a pack of US-05.
I've actually got an unopened 4oz pack of 2012 Nelson so hopefully can avoid any weirdness from the 2013 crop. One keg will get the double 1.5ea Nelson&Galaxy, the other will probably get a Citra/Mosaic blend.
Can't wait to try it, I might have to buy one of those nice stainless dry hoppers in your honor!
What year Nelson hops were in your 2013 enjoy by clones? I have a lb of 2013 Nelson i recently opened but am hesitant to use them
ReplyDelete