Homebrew Tasting: Great Saison Experiment + Extra

The Great Saison Experiment (Part 1, Part 2) went marginally. I'm not having the best of luck with my experiments lately (The Great Wood Experiment was crashed by Brett). The positive spin is that I'm learning more about experimentation. The Saison Experiment's problem was that I tried too many new things in one test. Mainly, I used a huge dose of oats in the beer. Also the lower starting gravity of the beer and high percentage of simple sugars resulted in flat tasting beer. These 3 things are my only explanation as to why these beers don't have much flavor  And without much flavor it is difficult to pick out differences in yeast. So next year, I'm going to stick with a more straight forward and tested recipe to use as the canvas for these yeasts.

There were some subtle differences, but not nearly what I was expecting from this experiment. Therefore I'm going to hold off another month on an official tasting to see if I can get some more flavor development and a greater spread between each sample. As a result of not being all that excited about the results, I ended up splitting these batches even more. Below is a list of all the beers made from this single 20 gal brew session:

1. French Saison Wyeast 3711 - harvested from last year's French Saison - 5 gal batch
1. Plain (1 gal) - bottled
2. Farmhouse Pale Ale #1 (2.5 gal) - Dry-hopped with 1 oz Citra - brought to QUAFF
3. Farmhouse Pale Ale #2 (1.5 gal) - Dry - hopped with 1 oz Chillindamos' Centennial hops
2. Saison Dupont - harvested - 5 gal batch
1. Plain (1 gal) - bottled
2. Farmhouse Pale Ale #3 (2.5 gal) - Dry-hopped with 2 oz Saaz Whole leaf - drank during the Barrel Project
3. Farmhouse Pale Ale #4 (1.5 gal) - Dry - hopped with 1 oz Chillindamos' Centennial hops
3. Brett Drie - used yeast cake from ESBrett - 5 gal btach

1. Plain (1 gal) - bottled
2. Pink Version (1 gal) - 1 liter of homemade Prickly Pear syrup, 1 oz Hibiscus flowers - bottled
3. Go-Go Juice (1 gal) - 1 lb dates, 1 lb figs - carmelized
4. Farmhouse Pale Ale #5 (2 gal) - Dry - hopped with 2 oz HBC 342 - weak, added 1 oz Calypso - currently on tap (10/5/12)
4. ECY03 - 1/2 vial - 1 gal batch - bottled
5. ECY08 -  1/2 vial - 1 gal batch -  bottled
6. Lost Abbey Red Barn - harvested -  1 gal batch -  bottled
7. Southampton Saison Deluxe - harvested -  1 gal batch - bottled
8. Logsdon Seizon Bretta - harvested -  1 gal batch -  bottled

Farmhouse Pale Ale

This might be my new summer beer. This is going to be brewed every year. I have never gone through kegs that fast and had so much great feedback. I took Farmhouse Pale Ale #3 (Dupont-Saaz) to our Chardonnay Barrel Project brew session and it went over very well. So well, that there was only a super cloudy pint went I got back home. Farmhouse #1 (3711-Citra) was taken to my monthly QUAFF homebrew club meeting and seem to be well liked by most. We usually don't get too much feedback about beers because the meeting is so big, but multiple people asked about it after the meeting. Then #2 and #4 were just a showcase for Sean's (Chillindamos) homegrown Centennial hops. These hops were so aromatic with a great blend of piney and lemon citrus falvors. The yeast character on the 3711 version boosted that lemon character even more.

Right now I'm working on my Farmhouse IPAs which are dry-hopped versions of my Spelt Saison.

I do have one formal tasting sheet filled out on my Brett Drie Table Saison with Prickly Pear and Hibiscus.

I'll be tasting all 8 plain versions side by side in the next month. Contact me if you are interested in participating.

Split Batch Series: English Dark Mild

This is the second beer in my Split English Ale Yeast Experiment. In the Best Bitter Batch, the Fuller's strain was much preferred to the West Yorkshire strain. But it will be tested again, and with a much different beer, Dark Mild.

English Dark Mild is a style I have been working on over the years and I think it is really progressing. It originally started out as Jamil's recipe and has been tweaked every year. The major change from last year's batch was to substitute Chocolate Malt for Brown Malt. And I was a big fan of this change, not only did it make the beer a bit more historically accurate, but it gave the beer a more toasty flavor. This year I made a few slight adjustments again.

• Upped the Crystal Malt from 10% to 14%, but kept the same proportion of light to dark. I wanted a bit more residual sweetness to balance the dryness of the roast and toast of the dark malts
• Added 1 lb of wheat malt to build head retention and seems to be in most historical recipes
• Decided to go with a more balanced dark malt addition, so I used equal parts Brown Malt and Pale Chocolate Malt

Recipe: English Dark Mild 2011
O.G.-1.039               F.G.-1.012                IBU-15
SRM-21                  ABV-43.5%             Batch -10 gal

Grain Bill (77% Efficiency):
10 lb Maris Otter (69%) 
1 lb Carastan Dark - 135L (7%)
1 lb UK Crystal ~77L (7%)

1 lb Wheat Malt (7%)
12 oz Brown Malt (5%) 
12 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (5%)  

Hops:
.85 oz Horizon, 9.1%, pellet, 60 min 14.6 IBU

Yeast:
150 mL of White Labs 002 - no starter 

150 mLl of  Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale Yeast - no starter 

Brew Day:
Brewed: 11/27/11

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet per 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.5 gal 
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 154F @ 60min

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 11 gal
Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 10 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.038
Ferment Temp: Around 68

A side by side taste test will be performed like it was for the Best Bitter.

Homebrew Tasting: Best Bitter West Yorkshire Vs. Fullers

This was one of my first 10 gal batches where I split it into 2 - 5 gal batches and it won't be the last because there is a lot to learn from doing this.

Brew Session detailed here

The differences are quite amazing and I greatly preferred the Fuller's batch over the West Yorkshire yeast (at least for this malt bill). See below for my tasting notes on each.

Fuller's (WLP002)

West Yorkshire (WY1469)

I think the main difference is that the Fuller's yeast kept more residual sweetness. That alone helped to make the malt flavors stand out more. I still need to work on the hop flavor and aroma for these beers, because these were both malt forward beers. I think my big process change for them next year will be to use whole flower hops for my flavor and aroma additions. And I'll keep the Fuller's yeast and compare another English strain in next year's split batch.

Session Beer Series: Best Bitter 2011

This is a style I have been brewing consistently over the last few years. I am determined to get a beer that is worthy of the fine casks ales of the UK.

2009 Recipe - Session Beer Series: Best Bitter (Haus Ale)
2010 Recipe - Session Beer Series: The Best Bitter

I did not make any big changes, but a few slight adjustments:

• Kept the Biscuit (or Victory) Malt because I like the big cracker taste it gives. It really adds to the fresh bread taste of Maris Otter.
• Bumped up the Special Roast to 7% and split the Crystal 120 into UK Crystal ~70L and UK Crystal ~135L. 
• Used Horizon hops for my main bittering hop to help decrease the amount of hop matter in the boil and hopefully give a more neutral bitterness
• 10 gal batch to split wort on 2 different yeast strains

I was excited to try 2 different yeast strains for this Best Bitter. I used WLP 002 because this strain is fantastic. Plus this will allow good comparison to previous batches and contrast with my other new yeast. Much deliberation went into the other yeast selection. But I finally decided on the Wyeast Private Collection: Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale Yeast. It sounds like a well endorsed yeast and works very well for top-cropping (which I'm planning on doing since it will be fermented in a 5 gal keg).

Recipe: The Best Bitter 2011
O.G.-1.045      F.G.-1.012      IBU-30
SRM-11         ABV-4.3%     10 Gallons

Grain Bill (75% Efficiency):
12 lb Maris Otter (83%)
1 lb Biscuit (7%)
1 lb Special Roast (7%)
4 oz UK Crystal ~77L (2%)
4 oz  UK Crystal ~135L (2%)

Hops:
1 oz Horizon, 9.1%, pellet, 60 min 22.7 IBU
1 oz EK Goldings, 5%, pellet, 20 min 4.2 IBU
.5 oz EK Goldings, 5%, pellet, 0 min 1 IBU
.5 oz Horizon, 9.1%, pellet, 0 min 1.9 IBU
.5 oz EK Goldings, 5%, pellet, Dry Hop in each keg
(extra 1 oz Citra, whole leaf, Dry Hop in 2.5 gal of WY1469 keg)

Yeast:
1 vial of White Labs 002 - no starter
1 vial of  Wyeast 1469-PC West Yorkshire Ale Yeast - no starter

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
2 campden tablet for 10 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.5 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 154F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 167
Batch Sparge Volume: 10 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 11 gal
Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 10 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.045
Ferment Temp: 66-68F
Length: 10 days
F.G.: 1.012

Stay tuned for the side by side tasting.

Homebrew Tasting: San Diego Session Saison

This beer turned out pretty close to what I was thinking.
If you remember from the Session Saison Brew Day post, I fermented this beer in 2 different containers. The big difference between the fermentors was temperature control:

• Keg was left in the brewing closet at ambient temperatures (72 - 76 F). 
• Carboy was kept at lower temperatures (68 - 70F) for 2 reasons:
• 1) This batch was made for a Bachelor party and the grooms favorite beer is Stella Artois so I didn't want this beer to get over the top spicy. 
• 2) For experimentation, I was curious what differences I would get from the temperature differences

These beers were different, but not nearly what I was expecting. The beers had very similar flavor profiles, the only real difference was the intensities of the flavor. The extra 5 degrees made an obvious difference. And I much preferred the Keg version, but the Carboy version did perform as I planned (Supposedly ... we drank all the beer waiting in the parking lot before the trip even started, so it was good)
  
Appearance: Pretty clear. the yeast took a while to settle out and is pretty fluffy. The color is very yellow due to 20% Flaked Corn

Aroma: Big citrus up front, a nice crisp lemony smell that comes off a bit sweet ( I believe this is also from the Flaked Corn.) Just a light background of peppery phenols.

Taste: The taste followed exactly with the aroma. It starts off crisp with a decent amount of lemon and citrus. Then you get some mild pepper notes and ends somewhat sweet (the sweet is hard to describe because the beer did finish at 1.002, but I think it a flavor from the corn that gives that perception)


Mouthfeel: Light, it has a quick finish that makes you want to keep drinking. It was carbonated up to 3 Volumes of CO2 which helps with the light mouthfeel.


Drinkability:Yes. Easy Summer-time beverage that has enough spice to be interesting, but not too much to prevent you from wanting to consume by the pitcher. My goal for this beer was achieved.

Notes: I'm very pleased with how this beer turned out. The one thing I might try to do differently is reduce the Flaked Corn by 5% maybe 10%. I liked the light body and but I think the corn sweetness threw off the dry finish of a Saison.


Session Saison Brew Day

Experimental Beer: Ancho Chile Saison

This is my first ever chile beer that I have brewed. And I only made a small 1 gal batch with it. I got this idea from Jeff B at 1227 Brewing and his Ancho Amber Ale. I am a big fan of the flavor from smoked peppers and I thought it would fit nicely into my idea for a San Diego/Mexican  centric beer.

The only commercial examples that I am familar with was series of Chile Beers that Ballast Point made. These beers were more geared toward tasting menus and not as an everyday drinker. And the ones I tried were hot and spicy. It was a strange spiciness, your first sip was normal beer flavor then intense heat to your cheeks and tongue, finishing with the carbonation to help you recover. To be honest I was not a fan. But I am also the person that eats Mild Salsa or if I'm looking to party I'll step up to Medium. I just often think that spicy heat ruins the flavor of most foods. But I know there are people out there that just love there fix of Flame Thrower or Butt Twister.


Obviously, from my commentary above I am looking for smoked Chile flavor without the kick. Jeff B had success with "dry-Chiling" his beer after fermentation. The seeds and stems were removed to decrease the amount of Capsaicin that makes it into the beer (According to wiki - "Capsaicin is present in the placental tissue (which holds the seeds), the internal membranes .. the seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin, although the highest concentration of capsaicin can be found in the white pith around the seeds"). This is one way to reduce the amount of spice/heat in your beer, the other way is to choose a Chile that is low in capsaicin. See below for two good resources that Jeff B recommended.



http://www.foodsubs.com/Chiledry.html
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/chiles-kennedy/sidebars/4

I decided on Ancho Chiles partly because Jeff B had good success plus I liked the explanation on their flavor. In the future I may try a few different varieties. The Ancho chile was just put in the keg and a gallon of wort was racked on top. The beer was kept cold at 42F and carbonated. I tasted the beer every 2 days until I was really happy with the flavor. The flavor was right where I liked it around Day 10. It was then bottled and should be ready for a tasting soon.

Session Series: San Diego Session Saison

The idea for this beer came to me at the Stone Brewing AHA Rally a couple of months ago. It was a warm day and we were consuming a good amount of beverages and a lot of those beers were just big beers. I am very much a weather or situational drinker. (Just like I think it is gross for people to drink Milk at breakfast, it's a dinner drink). For me when the weather is warm I want a dry beer with a decent amount of carbonation. It needs to be thrist quenching. Which I completely associate with Belgian Saisons. They hit you with all this great flavor, but the best ones are nice and dry so they don't stay on your tongue too long and the high carbonation flushes your mouth for the next gulp.




With that thought in mind, I wanted to tailor this beer to have local influences. Considering I live 20 miles from the Mexican border. I thought I would try to use some traditional Mexican ingredients. The difficult part with this is trying to translate food flavors to beer flavors and still maintain the light refreshing beverage I was hoping for. I started thinking of some of my favorite Mexican dishes, like Mole, Chile Verde and fresh Tamales. A Mole beer sounds pretty amazing actually, but I don't see that relating well to a session style (For my Dark Saison coming up, this may work out nicely). The next one that hit me was the maize from the Tamales. As a brewer I can easily use flaked corn (though I may try maize next time), Plus the flaked corn will really help to lighten the body and help me achieve that easy drinking, warm weather beer. A few other ingredients I will experiment with in small secondary batches include Ancho chiles (Jeff B's idea at 1227 Brewing), cilantro, and  lime only seems logical.


Saisons also traditionally have some simple sugars added to help them dry out. I probably don't need to add the simple sugar because this beer should dry out due to the yeast I selected (Wyeast 3711). But for this beer the sugar addition will allow me to add another traditional Mexican ingredient and another layer of flavor. I will be using piloncillo, which is basically mexican brown sugar and is used in traditional beverages like tepache.







The final decision for this beer comes down to yeast selection. I think more than any other style the yeast for a Saison is crucial. The flavors for this style are almost all yeast driven. I did a fair amount of reading on BabbleBelt about Saisons. I finally decided on the Wyeast 3711: French Saison it got some great reviews, finished quickly and only needed to be brewed in the 70s. The temperature was a big key on this one because I am doing my first 10 gal batch. The larger batch meant I needed another fermenter so I am trying another first, fermenting in a keg (it worked great and I might be a convert once I have a bigger fridge).

 

Recipe: San Diego Session Saison
O.G.-1.044  F.G.-1.006   IBU-21 Size -10 gal
SRM-3   ABV-4.8%  

Grain Bill (76% Efficiency):
12 lb Belgian Pilsner (80%)
2 lbs Flaked Corn (13%)
1 lb Piloncillo Sugar (7%) - added to Boil

Hops:
.8 oz Amarillo, 9.5%, pellet, 60 min, 17.6 IBU
2 oz Saaz, 3.2%, pellet, 10 min 3.2 IBU

Yeast:
Made 1.5 L starter divided equally of Wyeast 3711: French Saison

Brew Day:
Brewed: 4/3/11
Kegged: 4/16/11

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet for 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3.5 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 148F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 161F
Sparge Volume: 9 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 11 gal
Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 10 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.044
Ferment Temp: 65-67F(carboy version)
Ferment Temp: 72-76F (keg version)
Primary Length: 10 days

This yeast performed just like all the reports I read. It took off quite quickly and it appeared most of the fermentation was done in a few days. I didn't measure the gravity at that time. The keg fermented version was transferred, force carbonated and drank at my friend's bachelor party all within 2 weeks of being brewed.

I will follow-up with a side by side tasting of the 2 versions.





Tasting 6-6-11

Homebrew Tasting: Scottish 60/-

Appearance: Brilliant. I used my gelatin procedure. The color is dead on.

Aroma: Malty as expected for a Scottish ale. I would like a bit more of that sweet honey/caramel smell but on a low gravity beer it is about where it can be expected.

Taste: The taste starts out fantastically with rich sweet malt. I was very pleased with the amount of flavor and caramel flavor. But then the taste finished with a bit of chalk or mineral taste. Maybe salty, but felt more "minerally". See my thoughts on my water profile below. This taste was fading over the course of a week until Diacetyl hit, I would have loved to see where this beer was going. (see my homebrewtalk thread for more info)

Mouthfeel: Medium-light. I think this is where it should be. The low carbonation helps give it a touch more body. These small beers are tough because they are not the norm. Everyone that tried it thought it was easy to drink.

Drinkability: To me this is by far one of the easiest to drink beers. And I believe this is also one of those "Universal" beers. What this means is when I served this beer to a group of people (they had very different tastes) everyone liked this beer enough that their glass was empty in less than 5 minutes. This beer went quickly.

Notes: 
1. I think this beer is getting very close. Using the Scottish yeast did provide a bit of an earthy or almost smoky taste, but for the most part was very clean. It really let the malt shine through.
2. I will next time not use gelatin and let the beer sit in the keg a bit longer. I may even change over to priming in the keg then pushing to smaller kegs for the fridge.
3. For my water profile, I will dilute even more with distilled water to really get some soft water and then I will add my chloride salts after fermentation.

Brew Session

Dreg Series: Mikkeller It's Alright Scottish Ale

This is tough to admit, but I have had a couple batches of beer go bad. Good beer, too. And when I mean bad they some how turned into Diacetyl bombs. I have yet to figure it out, but I believe it is somehow related to my gelatin procedure. I have posted in HomeBrewTalk thread to get to the bottom of it.






Well, in an attempt to salvage my Scottish 60/- (which turned out pretty nice for the 1 week before it went to the Diacetyl side) I decided to add some Brett. I know that Brett can break down diacetyl. This is a very important point in Lambics and other wild beers that contain Pedio because Pedio likes to produce diacetyl. So unless you want a sour buttery beer than you need to have both present.

I have been holding onto this bottle of Mikkeller It's Alright. I haven't read the greatest things about the beer, but I've read it described as basically a Session Orval. To me the nose was tart with a touch of funk. But the taste hardly followed the nose, it had a crisp breadiness to it. The mouthfeel was light (I'm sure due to the Brett eating everything) even with the high carbonation. This beer was very easy to drink and would be a great gateway beer for people new to Brett beers.






I added the Scottish 60/- to a gallon container and had to keep shaking to get the CO2 out of solution. Eventually, the beer was up to room temperature and most of the CO2 had off-gassed. The bottle had a good amount of yeast and it looked pretty fluffy. The Scottish 60 finished at 1.010, so I'm not sure how much the Brett will have to feed on.





Day 2 Update

Day 10 Update

Session Series: 2011 Scottish 60/-

This was a first on a few levels. And not the beer or recipe. This beer is a staple of mine every year because it is just such an easy drinking malty beer. I still don't think I'm all that close to perfecting it, but I really like trying. It is also a great beer to use as a starter to build up some yeast because 5 gals can be pitched with 1 White Labs vial.

So the firsts are:
1) First time messing with my brewing water
2) First time using WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast
3) First time trying to get some kettle carmelization
4) Full on Time Lapse Video of the brew day...enjoy (thanks Dan)


BREW KNEW from Dan Olson on Vimeo.

I know you are not supposed to change more than 1 variable at a time, but I did. And it may have bitten me a because of it. Stay tuned for the Tasting Notes.

First, brewing water, I have read several articles and listened to several podcasts on Brew Strong on the Brewing Network. But up until now I just didn't try it. I thought this beer was a great candidate because I can never get this beer quite as malty as I want. I think part of this is due to the hard and high sulfate water in San Diego that lends itself much better to hoppy, bitter beers. I looked through several online calculators and spreadsheets. I really liked the simplicity and completeness of the EZ Water Calculator. I used the latest water report for San Diego (2009) I could get. It is very simple to read off the chart and enter the water profile. I used the average numbers from Alvarado since that is the plant that supplies Downtown San Diego. Looking at the chart shown below I figured out that I could dilute with some distilled water and add some salt (non-iodized) to get the right Chloride to Sulfate ratio and still remain in the acceptable ranges.

In the past, I have used California Ale yeast for my Scottish Ales as Jamil suggests. But I was really curious how the beer could be with the traditional yeast. And looking through the stats and reviews on the White Lab site it seemed very similar to WLP001 but with a few more esters which I would prefer in this style.

Also I setup my recipe to be a bit lighter than previous versions because I wanted to see if I could do a bit of kettle carmelization. I was hopping it would add some depth to the carmel notes but I didn't want to get any butterscotch notes I have read about from over doing this method.



Recipe: Scottish Ale 60/-
O.G.-1.035  F.G.-TBD   IBU-13  
SRM-11   ABV-3.3   Cal-116

Grain Bill (77% Efficiency):
5 lb Maris Otter (78%)
8 oz Crystal 40L (8%)
8 oz Honey Malt (8%) 
4 oz Crystal 120L (4%) 
2 oz Brown Malt (2%)

Hops:
.5 oz East Kent Goldings, 5%, pellet, 90 min 13 IBU


Yeast:
1 vial of White Labs WLP028

Brew Day:
Brewed: 01/29/11
Kegged: 02/13/11

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1 campden tablet for 5 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.85 qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 158F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 168F
Sparge Volume: 5.5 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 168F

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 7 gal

Boil Time: 90min (I did boil 1 gal of first runnings to .5 gal)
Post Boil Volume: 5.25 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.035
Ferment Temp: 66-68F
Length: 10 days
F.G.: TBD



Tasting Notes

Session Beer Series: The Best Bitter

This is one of my favorite styles of beers. But it is very difficult to find a good version in the US. The bottled Bitters really just don't do a lot for me. They are often too carbonated and lack that great smooth creaminess that only beer on cask can achieve. But most importantly they miss the fresh hop aroma that I believe is only achieved by serving this from a dry hopped cask or mini keg for me.

I have been working on my recipe for a couple years and it is getting closer (Last year's Best Bitter). I started with Jamil's recipe for a Best/Special Bitter and tweaked it for my tastes. I wanted more of the full carmel flavor than the slight fruit taste so I used more Special Roast than Crystal 120. I am also a big fan of the bready taste in English beers. I used Maris Otter but to elevate the bread, biscuit, toast flavors I added some Victory (or American Biscuit Malt). For the hops, I really like a big floral hop taste ( I'm thinking the hop aroma from Samuel Smith's Organic Ale). I also brewed this at the top end of the gravity range because supposedly that helps you stand out in competitions. And I think I'll enter this beer in a few this spring.


I am also very proud of myself for listening to lesson I learned last year. ALWAYS HAVE DRY YEAST ON HAND in case something happens to a batch you wanted to re-pitch from. Well, I was going to re-pitch the WLP005 yeast from the my Brown Ale, but the second half of that batch that was going to get some maple syrup got a Brett infection. ( I decided to transfer that Brown Ale onto the figs and dates after I kegged the Dubbel).








Recipe: The Best Bitter
O.G.-1.048   F.G.-1.012   IBU-30 
SRM-11   ABV-4.7%  5.5 Gallon

Grain Bill (75% Efficiency):
7.5 lb Maris Otter (81.1%) 
1 lb Victory (10.8%)
8 oz Special Roast (5.4%)
4 oz Crystal 120L (2.7%)


Hops:
.5 oz Goldings, 4.9%, pellet, First Wort Hopping 10.3 IBU
.75 oz Fuggles, 4.75%, pellet, 60 min 16.6 IBU
.5 oz Goldings, 4.9%, pellet, 20 min 3.9 IBU
.25 oz Goldings, 4.9%, pellet, once wort is at 140C 1.2 IBU
.5 oz East Kent Goldings, 4.9%, pellet, Dry Hop in Keg


Yeast:
1 Packet of S-04

Brew Day:
Brewed: 12/19/10
Kegged: 12/29/10

Water:
San Diego (Alvarado) Tap Water
1.5 campden tablet for 8 gal.

Mash Details:
H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.3qt/lb
Mash Volume: 3 gal
Sacc Rest. Temp/Time: 154F @ 60min
Strike Temp: 167
Batch Sparge Volume: 5 gal
Sparge Temp/Time: 170F

Boil Details:
Boil Volume: 6.5 gal

Boil Time: 60min
Post Boil Volume: 5.5 gal

Ferment Details:
O.G.: 1.049
Ferment Temp: 66-68F
Length: 10 days
F.G.: 1.012



Tasting
I did not do a formal tasting for this beer so just see below for my judge comments from the Club Only Contest.

From what I remember they are dead on. And if you read my description above on what I wanted with huge floral hops you can see I nailed it. It was a bit over-the-top for the style so the score is not that good. The tip about using high alpha hops is a good one that I have started to use in all styles I brew. I also think what contributed to the big floral notes is because I had to use dry yeast. I have read about this yeast producing some huge esters, so next year I'll use a more tame English yeast.