Time to brew my good old favourite Taiheke Golden Ale again. Last time out I brewed it with Citra, and the IBU and ABV were a bit off for the style, so I’ve restrained it back to an estimated 25 IBU and 5.1 ABV. I’m still tweaking this recipe to get it just right. Future change may include a little bit of Toffee Malt for a little more sweetness.
Brew Day
Strike water set for 68c, with a mash target of 64c. After mashing in the temp settled bang on for 64c. 60 minute mash was straight forward with no issues. Gravity at the end of the mash and before mashout was 1.064. Post boil gravity was bang on at 1.042, with a touch under the target of 28 litres.
Boil was also straight forward, and for the second time used the whirlpool arm with good effect. Post boil gravity was 1.047, and just over 20 litres went into the fermenter meaning an expected ABV of 5%. Will ferment at 19 degrees for 12 days, and then crash for two days with gelatin.
Tasting Notes
Shades of marmalade, grapefruit, and golden honey, this beer has come out ok. Disappointingly ok. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no off flavours and it’s not bad. It’s just ok. It’s more like a commercial beer in that I’ve managed to take away everything that was good about it and make it just average.
The colour is on point, malt flavour is nice, lacing is good, but the hops are just missing in action. It seems that pairing back the bitterness and abv, combined with a change back to Taiheke hops has made me realise how good it was with the extra pep in it. That, and Taiheke just doesn’t cut it compare to Citra. It will be interesting to see what the Citra Taiheke combo comes out like.
Whilst I’m being a bit hard on Taiheke, it’s not the hops fault. It’s my fault for paring an earthy hop with a lighter beer that needs a malty punch to back it up. All learning and developing my skills in paring hops and malt.
I think I’m settled on this recipe, and that I want it at 5.5%, 35-40 ibu, and with Citra goodness.
Recipe Specifications
Batch Size: 23.00 l
ABV: 5.1%
OG: 1.047 SG
FG: 1.008 SG
Color: 10.4 EBC
IBU: 25.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Schedule
60 Minutes @ 64 Degrees Celsius
15 Minute Mashout @ 75 Degrees Celsius
Grain
4.2kg Gladfield American Ale Malt
.2kg Gladfield Gladiator Malt
.2kg Gladiator Light Crystal Malt
Hops
22g Taiheke 7AA @ 60 Minutes (17.4 IBU)
25g Taiheke 7AA @ 10 Minutes (4.4 IBU)
25g Taiheke 7AA @ 0 Minutes (0 IBU)
25g Taiheke Dry Hop @ 7 Days
Misc
1 x Whirlfloc @ 15 Minutes
Yeast
1 x pkg Fermentis US-05
