Sunday, April 3, 2011

AG Pale Ale

With the cooler converted to a mash tun it was time for my first all grain brew. I decided to start off with a simple pale. With no AG experience there was no point in starting with an overly complex, challenging brew. The base of the beer is 90% American 2 row pale malt, with 10% crystal 40l, for color and a little sweetness to offset any bitterness from the hops. In the interest of making a fairly well balanced beer I decided to add almost all the hops at the end of the boil for a nice clean, fresh hop flavor. Wyeast American ale yeast was chosen for it's proven success and nice clean flavor profile that helps promote hop flavors. Brew day was a complete success on all fronts. The yeast ripped through the wort quickly and after some bottle conditioning I had my first successful all grain beer.

OG: 1.059
FG: 1.010
ABV%: 6.5
IBU: 45

Appearance: Somewhat cloudy bright amber with a foamy white head. Plenty of soapy lacing.

Smell: Tons of hops, with just a little bready malt in the background. Hop profile is mostly grapefruit, with a decent amount of pineapple from the Citra hops. The beer was dry hopped for 7 days and smells amazing because of that.

Taste: Simple flavor profile, malt and hops. Nothing crazy or complex going on here, just a well balanced pale. The malt in the nose is much present on my palate and balances out citrusy, fruity hops perfectly. Bitterness is there, but not overpowering at all.

Mouthfeel/overall: Carbonation is perfect for style, just enough to bring out the hoppy flavors and smells without being fizzy in your mouth. Some hop resin is left behind after every sip. I don't wanna toot my horn, but this beer came out perfect. There isn't one thing I would change about it, besides kegging it next time.

1 comment:

  1. Nice post, welcome to the world of AG brewing, more work but definitely more control.

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