Chinook, Northdown, EKG IPA

[clibit]

I've had a couple of bottles of this now and it's really good, and a nice burnished golden colour. Classed it as an IPA cos of the bitterness. The Chinook gives it a good solid bittering but not over-powering, and then there';s the woody, spicy floral English hops present. You could sub in a different bittering hop, Target or Admiral, or another American bittering hop, or Magnum, and use different English aroma hops - First Gold is a good swap for EKG, for instance, and pairs well with Northdown. I like mixing English and American hops in a beer. You could mix up American and English aroma hops. I used basic Munton's yeast as it was an impulse brew, it's fine, but you could use a nice English liquid yeast to make it even better.

Batch Size (L): 8.0
Original Gravity (OG): 1.049
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.81 %
Colour (SRM): 8.1 (EBC): 16.0
Bitterness (IBU): 50
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

1.400 kg Maris Otter Malt (84.95%)
0.114 kg Caramalt (6.92%)
0.100 kg Wheat Malt (6.07%)
0.034 kg Crystal Extra Dark (2.06%)

15.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ FWH
15.0 g Northdown Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes
10.0 g Chinook Pellet (12% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes 80C steep
10.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes 80C steep

3.0 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
3.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 0 Minutes (Mash)
3.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

Mash at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Ferment at 20°C with Muntons Ale yeast or English yeast of your choice.

 

[clibit]

Had a bottle last night, bottled 19 days now, it's changed quite a lot. The bittermess and spicyness have subsided, it's sweeter and more like a straight English pale/blonde ale now. Very balanced between malt and hops. I'm surprised at the amount of change. I think the Muntons standard yeast is a lot better than many people make out, it has created a really nice mouthfeel and nice gentle esters. Very clear, no yeast in my glass, lovely conditioning. Why pay more?! :-)

I'm struggling to work out where all the IBUs and the spicyness have gone during a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning. It's not an IPA after all! 50 IBUs dropped to what tastes more like 30. Bizarre.

 

[Spapro]

Had a bottle last night, bottled 19 days now, it's changed quite a lot. The bittermess and spicyness have subsided, it's sweeter and more like a straight English pale/blonde ale now. Very balanced between malt and hops. I'm surprised at the amount of change. I think the Muntons standard yeast is a lot better than many people make out, it has created a really nice mouthfeel and nice gentle esters. Very clear, no yeast in my glass, lovely conditioning. Why pay more?! :-)

I'm struggling to work out where all the IBUs and the spicyness have gone during a couple of weeks of bottle conditioning. It's not an IPA after all! 50 IBUs dropped to what tastes more like 30. Bizarre.

You had my mouth watering with your original tasting notes, sounded delish.

It is strange it has changed so much in the course of just 2 weeks more in the bottle.

Re: yeast I have not tried the Muntons yeast but have been very impressed with the Malt Millers 'NBS Ale Yeast' ? just £1.95 for a 12g sachet dried yeast. Some nice esters and packs down quickly. Tried a few yeast slopes from the Brewlabs but for the cost and faff of creating starters and skimming to re-use etc if I can get good results with dried yeast for £2-£3 a pop then why bother with anything else ?

 

[clibit]

I may eventually come to that conclusion! I may not though, the two batches of Nelson Motueka pale ale I have fermenting are tasting really good, one with WLP006 and the other with Wyeast 1469. Very different from each other.

I really liked this Chinook beer when I first tasted it - spicy and bitter but some residual sweetness too. But, although the bitterness and spicyness have subsided, and those are two qualities I love, I think it's even better now. I really enjoyed the bottle I had last night. I think the yeast has done a lot of work these last two weeks, removing spice and bitterness, but replacing it with esters and mouthfeel and a nice balance. Not what I was aiming for, but great, and I love it.