Kohatu Pale Ale

I’m really disappointed about how this beer came out. Bitterness is good and there is slightly tropical, mango and fruitiness but overall disappointing on the hop front with almost no hop flavour or aroma – and almost a grassiness which indicates it was on the dry hops for too long.  Went easy on the hops because I wasn’t sure if the wife would like it, but she has been drinking a few IPAs lately so it’s even weak for her Good colour, nice head, malty sweetness, just disappointed about the hoppage.  There’s almost a very subtle Nelson Sav flavour, which may be to do with using them for bittering – although I wouldn’t have thought any would come through after a 60-minute boil.

It’s very hard to get a gauge on the on the profile of this beer because of the weird grassiness that is taking over. I’m certainly not a fan of the hops, and won’t be looking to use these again in the future.  As for the malt base, I’ve used it again in my Motueka Pale Ale so have given it a second chance.

Brew Rating: 1.5/5

Brewday

The brewday was a pretty standard day with not much to report. It did seem to take a lot longer to completely convert. I did have to throttle the pump back a lot more than otehr beers so maybe it’s a rinsing issue more than conversion.

Fermentation

Fermented for 12 days, crashed for 24 hours,  gelatine for 48 hours and forced kegged. Dry hopped about 7 days in so it was sitting on the hops for 8 days.

Vital Stats

Recipe: Kohatu Pale Ale
Brewer: Dene McDonald
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 29.30 l
Post Boil Volume: 25.00 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Bottling Volume: 21.49 l
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 14.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 35.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3.50 kg Gladfield Ale Malt (6.0 EBC) Grain 1 73.2 %
0.45 kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (63.0 EBC) Grain 2 9.4 %
0.45 kg Gladfield Munich Malt (15.5 EBC) Grain 3 9.4 %
0.23 kg Gladfield Gladiator Malt (10.0 EBC) Grain 4 4.8 %
0.15 kg Gladfield Sour Grapes Malt (4.0 EBC) Grain 5 3.1 %
20.00 g Nelson Sauvin [11.20 %] – Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 25.9 IBUs
30.00 g Kohatu [7.70 %] – Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 7.0 IBUs
30.00 g Kohatu [7.70 %] – Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 2.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 9 –
40.00 g Kohatu [7.70 %] – Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Robobrew, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.78 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 18.64 l of water at 70.5 C 66.0 C 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 15.45 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:
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Mashed in with 17 litres of water @ 69
Mashed for 60 mins at 66, temp fluctuated and kept dropping
1.070 before mash out
Mashed out to 75 for 15 minutes
Temp took ages to rise and didn’t match on the analogue thermometer and was lower
1.075 after mash out. Left it for another 45 mins and rose to approx 1.084
14 litres of sparge @ 75 approx.
Pre boil 1.040
23 litres @ 1.055 post boil
20 mins to chill
22 to the fermenter, 1 tipped out.
Left in the kitchen for an hour and temp seemed to rise to 24ish… not sure as it was a hot day. 10 mins in the fermentation chamber and it was at 20.
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Robobrew #2

About Dene McDonald

Home brewer just tying to make the best beer I can with limited resources. I'm a sucker for a dark beer, and believe deep down that sours are just beers gone wrong - you can't trick me into drinking off beer.

View all posts by Dene McDonald →

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