It was a Thursday afternoon and I was watching the clock gradually run down on the day at work.  I was having an afternoon cup of tea and chatting to the MWB lads on messenger.  We decided on the spur of the moment to try a 30/30, quick stove top brew on a school night, just to see how quickly and fuss-free a brew day (ok, night) could be.

I’ve been fancying doing a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale style brew, so quickly Googled a recipe to see what the basic make-up of it was.  It uses Cascade and Perle hops.  I knew I had plenty of Cascade, but I didn’t have any Perle, so Googled substitutions.  The first result I saw said Northern Brewer, as I knew I had plenty of that, I went with that.  The grist on the recipe I saw was 2R pale ale and Crystal 40.  Based on that, I fired up BeerSmith and set about building a recipe.

I have loads of Maris Otter, so went for that as a base malt.  I swapped the Crystal 40 for Crystal Rye (150EBC) and some CaraPils, just because I fancied trying the Rye and I always use a bit of CaraPils.  I’m not trying to create an exact clone after all.  The recipe was pretty much ‘middle-for-diddle’ on the BeerSmith “sliders” for an APA style, so that was good enough for me.  For the hopping, I went for Magnum to bitter to almost all the IBUs I was looking for, allowing late additions to make up the rest.  The Northern Brewer that was in place of the Perle, going in late, followed by some Cascade a minute before I switch off the gas and a bit more Cascade once its cooled a bit.

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Do you use them whole or pelletised? 😉

If anyone has had the pleasure of attempting to brew with two kids in tow, they know the joys of a brew day that can take twice as long as your usual brew day. Having the kids around shouldn’t prevent you from brewing though… it’s still possible.

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Hey, just thought I would share this with you guys, the story of the worst brew day I’ve ever had…

Its a Monday, first day of the Easter holidays and I’m feeling great, I stick on a podcast (Time to get jacked for the UFC Event this weekend, and to hear the build up for the bout between Michael “The Count” Bisping and Georges “Rush” Saint Pierre) and start my day the same way as always…

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Falconers Flight is a blend of NW Pacific Hops including Simcoe, Citra and Sorachi Ace. This recipe should give a very hop forward APA with all the characteristic flavours you would expect, citrus, pine and tropical fruits. It is currently fermenting so I will have to report back on how it turns out in a few weeks….

When I brewed it I actually forgot to add the flame out addition (doh!) so I will be experimenting with using that for a hop tea that will be added prior to bottling.

Batch size: 19 Litres

Brewhouse efficiency: 80%
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.009
IBUs: 35.8
ABV: 4.6%
EBC: 11.8

MALT/GRAIN BILL

3.1 kg Pale Ale Malt
0.16 kg Crystal Malt 40L
0.06 kg CaraMunich II

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE

10g Magnum at 60 minutes FWH (or use any clean bittering hop)
20g Falconers Flight at 10 minutes
20g Falconers Flight at 5 minutes
40g Falconers Flight at 0 minutes
50g Falconers Flight dry hop 5 days

YEAST

US05

Mash at 66c

Ferment at 20c

So, after the cock up that was my last brew, I decided to stock up on dried yeasts so that it didn’t happen again. I decided to go for a range of yeasts with some specific to brews I’m planning on doing soon and some for the future…

This is what I ended up with. Any suggestions for brews involving these yeasties welcomed. Help me choose the right beers for the yeast!

Chem