Galaxy Mid Ale

[Brew_Pharm]

Hi guys, Iv'e only just joined the forum but have been lurking about gathering info and recipes for a while so thankyou all for the tips.

I'm trying to get as close to what Pure Blonde Naked used to be, a mid-strength ale that was lower in carbs as now its a lager and
whats left of the taste is watered down too much for my Dad's liking. The two recipes ive used so far are

-Coopers Real Ale tin
-500g LDM
-Dry Enzyme
-S-04 Yeast
-23L Final Volume
-10g Galaxy Hop pellets (13.4% AA) at 30, 10 and flameout in a boil using 5L water and the LDM

The second was the same formula except Coopers Canadian Blonde as the tin of goo. Both were fermented at 16-18 degrees and then crash chilled to 2 degrees before bottling. Both are waaaay too bitter though th flavour is close and my thoughts are they are overly bitter because they are unbalanced with no malt left unfermented to help sweeten and add body.

After this monster waffle, can anyone help shed light on how to make this a little better as the old boy is on a health kick and would prefer low carb and mid-strength. Is this even possible or should I just make him the same brew but without the dry enzyme?

Thanks, Brew_Pharm

[emnpaul]

Been a long time since I had a Pure Blonde Naked...but if you think the flavour is close, I'd try this.

Galaxy is quite a bitter hop and additions at 30 and 10 will have an impact on the finished product. A 10g addition at flameout and a 10g dry hop after about 48hours of fermentation should have more than enough flavour without affecting the bitterness.

I'd be inclined to stick with the Canadian Blonde kit but go with a pretty neutral yeast like nottingham or even the Coopers kit yeast.

I haven't used dry enzyme but MHO is a mid strength beer is somewhat lower in carbs anyway and if you think past efforts have been "unbalanced with no malt left" then leaving out the enzyme might help in that regard.

I'd never claim to be any sort of expert, so if any of this doesn't sound like what you're after by all means pass on it.

Cheers
Paul

[Brew_Pharm]

Thanks heaps Paul, we seem to have no dramas drinking the results in order to get empty bottles so I shall give the altered hopping schedule a try next time. Nottingham is a bit hard to get unless I visit Sydney to see my brother, would US-05 be more neutral? I have a Coopers Pale Ale with Cascade late hopping thats using US-05 just finishing up at the moment, could drop it on the yeastcake maybe.

[rotten]

Maybe you could try S-23, which is a lager yeast. S-04 is an ale yeast. US-05 is very neutral and I have used it for both styles, although not true lagers, more Bo Pils type brews. Your ferment temp would be O.K. with this dry yeast in my opinion.
Hops and bitterness - maybe drop the 30 min add to 5 gm, and keep the rest the same if you think the flavour etc was O.K. Also keep the LDME to 0.5 kg otherwise it will be too sweet, and that doesn't seem to be your problem. The more unfermetables you add, the more bitterness you will need to balance it.
I will put it through my brewmate program to see how it adds up. I do think the above will help though.
BTW S-04 would still be a good choice as long as you drop your bittering addition.
As a general rule 60-40 min bittering, 40-20 min flavour, 20-0 aroma.
Don't get confused with that now though as you sound pretty close
My 2c
Cheers

[big dave]

Hey BP, welcome to the forum

The Galaxy is a pretty bitter hop, so even added at 30 min, you will still be getting a fair whack of extra bitterness. If you didn't want to ditch too much flavour by reducing the amount you are adding, you might change to a lower AA% hop like Cascade. Or alternatively, you could swap the pre-bittered tins for straight extract, where you will be adding the bittering yourself.

I have an all-galaxy ale in the fermenter which I am really looking forward to.

Good luck

BD

[emnpaul]

could drop it on the yeastcake maybe.

Good idea, that.

For mine I'd sterilise a stubbie bottle. After bottling your brew pour half a litre of cooled, boiled water into your fermenter then swish it around to stir up your yeast cake. Tip it into your stubby bottle and seal it with cling wrap and a rubber band and put in fridge. Sanitse your fermenter and then brew as usual, pitching your stubby of yeast cake at the appropriate time.

Cheers
Paul