HomebrewandBeer.com forum

So after a lengthy period of time off brewing, I got back in the saddle last weekend with a quick APA and I'm following it up again this weekend with an ABA.

Thought I'd share my recipes as I'm starting to dabble with some things that I haven't spent too much time with before and thought they may interest some. I'm still blending styles (BJCP be damned) to make beer that I think will be good, as opposed to being restricted by set guidelines, so any posts of "Looks good but isn't to style because of x, y and z," simply won't be read! Haha.

Brew Day 1
Bullfrog Bright (American Pale Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.053 (°P): 13.1
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 5.21 %
Colour (SRM): 3.2 (EBC): 6.3 <--- This is before caramelising wort so the end product is quite darker.
Bitterness (IBU): 36.2 (Average)

4.00kg [83.33%] Pilsner
0.50kg [10.42%] Wheat Malt
0.30kg [6.25%] Carapils (Dextrine)

8g [0.4 g/L] Centennial (9% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil)
7g [0.3 g/L] Nelson Sauvin (12% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil)
15g [0.7 g/L] Citra (10% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil)
7g [0.3 g/L] Nelson Sauvin (12% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil)
5g [0.2 g/L] Amarillo (8.6% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Boil)
13g [0.6 g/L] Cascade (5% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Boil)
22g [1 g/L] Nelson Sauvin (12% Alpha) @ 1 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 17°C with Safale US-05

Notes: ~10L wort caramelised to bring colour up.

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Over-sparged this one on purpose then boiled down the resulting excess liquid in a second vessel to caramelise it. Obviously brought the colour up and I'm interested to see what the resulting flavours will be.

Brew Day 2
Frog's Leg & Rabbit's Tail (American Brown Ale)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.060 (°P): 14.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol (ABV): 5.89 %
Colour (SRM): 29.5 (EBC): 58.1
Bitterness (IBU): 25.9 (Average)

4.00kg [66.67%] Pale Malt
1.00kg [16.67%] Munich I
0.30kg [5%] Carapils (Dextrine)
0.30kg [5%] Chocolate
0.30kg [5%] Crystal 80
0.10kg [1.67%] Black Malt

10g [0.5 g/L] Pacific Gem (16% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil)
20g [0.9 g/L] Cascade (5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
10g [0.5 g/L] Nelson Sauvin (12.6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
10g [0.5 g/L] Pacific Gem (16% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 19°C.

Notes: Yeast used is recultured from White Rabbit Dark Ale.

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Haven't used Pacific Gem before and the only commercial yeast I've ever recultured is Coopers, but I have it on good authority that the yeast used by White Rabbit for primary fermentation is the same strain used to bottle condition, so I figured I'd give it a bash.

Oh, as a quick aside to Jello, you can pick either of these as your prize from the last lotto, mate. They're both going to be crash chilled and kegged/carbonated at the same time, so it's up to you.

Congrats on your come back bullfrog

Both look very tasty. Let us know what the bitterness is like in that brown ale, I personally would have upped it a bit to balance chocolate and crystal. I did a similar grain bill recently with completely different hops though, loved the choc, crystal and black combo.
Cheers

Well I wanted to have it mainly malt driven but with a lot of hop flavour up-front (to give Sonny something to drool over next time he's around, haha) but was thinking along those lines as I brought the strike water to temp. Ended up mashing at about 64.7, as opposed to 66, so it will be a bit drier and let the hops show through a bit more.

They both look good, but I like the look of the APA.

Thanks mate. No hurry by the way. I've only consumed 3 of my winnings to date.