There would only be a little over a month between brew-day and drink-day, so I needed to brew something that would ferment quick and clean. I decided to go with an English style bitter and knew that the Fermentis Safale S-04 would do the trick. I toned down the ESB recipe that I have been working on fine-tuning and came up with something like this:
I actually wound up brewing the beer at Ryan's during game 3 of the NLDS, and surprisingly, I did not take many pics that night (was too busy running between his garage and his bar to watch the game). Ryan brewed something that night too; an abbey style dubbel, I believe.
8 lbs. Maris Otter Pale info .5 lbs. American Caramel 10°L info 1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Whole, 5.00 %AA) boiled 60 min. info .5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Whole, 5.00 %AA) boiled 30 min. info .5 oz. East Kent Goldings (Whole, 5.00 %AA) boiled 1 min. info Yeast : DCL Yeast Safale S-04 Top Quality Ale Yeast info
Mash Schedule
* 153° F for 60 minutes
* 170° F for 10 minutes
I bottled after two weeks in primary (that S-04 kicks ass). I came in slightly over on the ABV (4.0%) per style guidelines, but everything else was pretty much spot on... I'm not a big "style guidelines" type of guy anyway. I bottle conditioned the beers for 3 weeks and Ryan helped with some sweet labels featuring the tag artwork - the finished product looks real nice if I do say so myself.
Anyway, this beer is a keeper - I'm going to make a few modifications and add it to the arsenal... this one has "pin" written all over it.
My groin is pretty fuct after the death march I took in August, so I am sure my disc golf will suffer as a result of not playing in a few months... but I am hoping the Llama Brew will be enough to save face.
Here are some photos (click for full size)
Trubby two week sample:
Blanks:
Labels:
Progress:
Final Product:
