Poochops GF Brewday #6 - Cwtch

Poochops · Oct 29, 2017

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Cwtch
Author: Poochops

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American Amber Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 25 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.043
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 5.62%
IBU (tinseth): 49.03
SRM (morey): 9.8

FERMENTABLES:
3450 g - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (75.4%)
450 g - German - CaraRed (9.8%)
225 g - German - Munich Light (4.9%)
225 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (4.9%)
225 g - United Kingdom - Wheat (4.9%)

HOPS:
20 g - Magnum , Type: Pellet, AA: 11.1, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 30.07
30 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 9.32
25 g - Columbus, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.3, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 9.65
30 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11.5, Use: Dry Hop for 0 days
25 g - Columbus, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.3, Use: Dry Hop for 0 days
40 g - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.6, Use: Dry Hop for 3 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 68 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 13.5 L
Starting Mash Thickness: 3 L/kg

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Protofloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
CML American Ale Yeast

Catching up on my brewday posts, I put these on here for my own benefit as much as anything else so it's been in the bottle for a week already this one.

I must have been distracted when I put the malt order together because I used flaked barley instead of Munich. Hey ho, it was all mixed together in a build your own recipe pack from Geterbrewed so there was no fixing that on Brewday!

Hop schedule went awry, I forgot to add the 5 minute addition, it was chilled in the FV when I realised :-( so, what to do. I had an OG of 1.065 so I boiled 1.5 litres of water and steeped the pellets till cooled and threw the lot in the FV giving me 1.060 with 20.5 litres.

Added all the dry hops in one go after 4 days, so 70g of Citra and 25g of Columbus and left it for a further week, so day 11 I racked it into the bottling bucket through a mesh bag to catch any hop debris. Cold crashed that for 2 -3 days before bottling which was a great success as I often struggle with dry hop debris getting into the bottle. I'm going to use this method again going forward, rack off then cold crash. I used carbonation drops for the very first time as well, we'll see what the carbonation level is like in a week or two but the bottles have firmed up nicely as you'd expect.

Used CRS to reduce hardness to about 120ppm, mash PH 5.6. OG way too high at 1.060, FG 1.018, attenuation 70%, ABV 5.5%. Tasted like Cwtch in the trial jar if a little thin on body.

So, a mixed up Brewday all in all, buggered up the ingredients, buggered up the hops, overshot OG and some! couple of weeks till I crack one open, let's see what I've ended up with!

Clint · Oct 29, 2017

Sounds good! So there's no munich in yours?? Is the 3l /kg mash a gf thing as I usually do 2.5 for my ag set up?

Cheers

Clint

Poochops · Oct 29, 2017

No Munich that's right, I must have had a brain fart when I put my order together :doh:

it will be a bit less malty but on the other hand should have a good head :lol:
I tend to mash at 3l yes, just find it easier to wet everything out properly and my conversion rate is excellent. Does it make a difference do you think?

Clint · Oct 29, 2017

Hmm don't know. ..conversion=efficiency? Still learning my kit...

Poochops · Nov 4, 2017

Hmmm 3 weeks in the bottle and just poured my 1st. What can I say?

Well I carbed it with drops and its under carbed for my preferences. That head you see was added using a syringe! It is very creamy though, the body is lovely and the injected head lasted till the bottom of the glass.
Bittering - It's not bitter enough, more like bitter than Cwtch which isn't a surprise given I forgot the 5 minute addition, it's not bad at all it's just not bitey enough.
Aroma is lush, just what you'd expect from a big dry hop of citra and Columbus, it gets to me before the glass is near my face yum, tropical citrus loveliness.
Flavour is hops, hops and more hops, it could have done with the Munich that I forgot to add to give the malt profile a boost, but nevertheless its got that lovely Cwtchy hop profile in spades, very happy with that.
Will give it another week indoors then put it in the garage to cold condition for a fortnight before I get to work on it :lol: I'll do this again in the future but won't bugger up so many of the steps like I did with this batch.