big bad baxter pale ale
brewed: 30/12/13
pitched: 30/12/13
bottled: 11/01/14
subsequent batch info: perhaps. might even need some further tweaking but this version was a big improvement on the original
ingredients:
3.7kg joe white pale malt
160gm weyermann carapils (dextrine)
160gm joe white medium crystal 60
10gm warrior (pellets, 15 aa%, 60 mins)
15gm centennial (pellets, 9.5 aa%, 15 mins)
15gm galaxy (pellets, 10.5 aa%, 15 mins)
15gm centennial (pellets, 9.5 aa%, 1 mins)
20gm galaxy (pellets, 10.5 aa%, 1 mins)
13gm galaxy (pellets, 10.5 aa%, dry hopped after 4 days for 4 days)
17gm centennial (pellets, 9.5 aa%, dry hopped after 4 days for 4 days)
12gm cascade (pellets, 5.5 aa%, dry hopped after 4 days for 4 days)
11.5gm yeast US-05 - american ale
1.0 tablet whirlfloc
0.5 tea spoon yeast nutrient
process:
20L batch, single infusion, no sparge, mash in 66C for 90 mins, plate-chilled, 16C fermentation, 2C cold crash
OG: 1.039 (1.042 expected)
FG: 1.005 (1.008 expected)
%AbV: 5% bottled
australian standard drinks (1 x 340mL glass): 1.5 *
ibu: 40
brewing notes:
30/12/13 - what a day! amazing weather and i spent it chilling at home sick! what better way to spend a day than brewing my baxter's beer version 2; with baxter himself. i used my amazing new 30 plate chiller to get my wort to pitching temps. all my numbers were close to spot on and a lot of fun all round. didn't get to sample a taste going into the fermenter so i'm excited to try it out in a few days when checking on gravity.
this beer is the re-make of the baxter pale ale. i swapped out the cascade for centennial and added a fair bit more to it. also tweaked the grain bill as i'm not really a big fan of vienna malt (on its own anyway).
tasting notes:
05/01/14 - took a first taste test today and it's very smooth and nice so far with a lovely subtle blended hop character. it's now down to 1.007 so it's sitting right on where i wanted it - at about 4.7% bottled ABV. i had some miscalculations with how many hops i had so i had to fumble around, and ending up adding some cascade to make up my numbers. i used this because i only had a bit left and cascade was used in the original recipe so it's a throwback! a little bit less galaxy dry hopped, a little bit more centennial and the cascade addition in total. should be lovely in a few days when i crash chill it.
20/01/14 - so it's by no means ready but i had a sample tonight to check its progress. still tasting the familiar i'm-not-ready-yet-green apple tastes, but i really think the galaxy and centennial hops work well together. i think they'll be amazing once the beer comes into its own in about (hopefully) 1-1.5 weeks. at this very early stage it's hard to pinpoint but i would maybe next time consider singling out the hops and having them added at different times. mouthfeel is sadly too thin, but i was expecting that finishing so damn low. stupid thermometer. overall, happy, and excited for my next test when it's properly ready!
29/01/13 - have had a few tastes of this over the last few days, particularly on australia day and i can say i'm very very happy with this new version! a lovely defined bitterness and a bit larger than the last one. the hops are a lot more pronounced and offset better than the previous version, and the colour and depth are just more rounded than the initial version. stoked! will get even better in a few weeks i think too.
* formula from: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/standard
beer pictures:
