AG#82 Mustang Ale
The P-51 Mustang - American made, powered by a British Engine and designed by a German. So I'm arguing my mix of American, British and German ingredients is bang on.
I feel I've never totally nailed a bitter, and in truth what I'm going for here is a kind of British Bitter/American Amber Ale hybrid. I read the styles as being two sides of the same coin, the same kind of thing just using local ingredients.
I've taken some inspiration from
@pilgrimhudd 's recent Mosquito Amber Ale, with a glance in the direction of
@foxbat 's Mainline Bitter recipe and come up with this one.
The recipe is actually an evolution of my recent English Amber Ale (itself a variation of my Hoppy Amber Ale) with some tweaks to address it's shortcomings:
- I wasn't happy with the Imperial A-09 yeast last time (or at least the fermentation) so I'm giving Lallemand Verdant IPA a whirl for only the second time. It's said to be derived from WY1318 so should suit the style.
- I wasn't totally convinced before about hopping solely with EKG so this time I've gone for a mix of Cascade and First Gold instead, plus some Magnum up front for bittering.
- I also thought it was too dry, possibly because I was too heavy handed with the gypsum so I've gone for a more balanced sulphate to chloride ratio to make it less about the hops and bring out the malt flavour a bit more.
- And in the same vein I've also tried really hard to use a bit of restraint and reign in the hops a little bit at least, so let's see how it turns out!
15L tap water, 10ml CRS, 0.75g gypsum, 1.25g CaCl half a Campden tablet, giving:
Calcium 169
Chloride 128
Sulfate 130
Alkalinity 193
1000g Maris Otter
500g Vienna Malt
250g Amber Malt
250g Carapils
125g Carared
60g Extra Dark Crystal
65g Briess Extra Special Malt
2.25kg TOTAL
95min full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC
Boil 30mins:
10g Magnum 11.0% AAU 30mins
6g Cascade 5.8% AAU 15mins
6g First Gold 8.0% AAU 15mins
8g Cascade 5.8% AAU 10mins
8g First Gold 8.0% AAU 10mins
11g Cascade 5.8% AAU 5mins
11g First Gold 8.0% AAU 5mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 5mins
Whirlpool 10mins from 90-85degC:
6g Cascade 5.8% AAU 15mins
6g First Gold 8.0% AAU 15mins
Pitched a full vitality starter made 2 days ago from 50g medium DME, 0.5L water and 5.5g Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast.
12.4 SRM - Lovely deep amber-caramel colour
34.7 IBUs Rager
OG 1.042
FG - Brewer's Friend predicts 1.010 and 4.2% ABV, but I think it will finish a little higher, maybe 1.012 or so.