Brewed 27 Dec 2016 | Kegged 7 Jan 2017 | Yield 18 L / 5.1% (11.7°P → 2.1°P)

This was a tiny tweak to Sheepgoat Rev. B for experimental purposes: I modified the mash program to add a short, warm protein rest and a short dextrose rest. Efficiency was a bit better… but still not great.

Grain Bill

• 3900g Pale Ale malt (7 EBC)
• 350g Light Wheat malt (4 EBC)
• 270g Caramünch 2 (120 EBC)
• 100g Carapils (5 EBC)
• 80g Acid Malt (5 EBC)

Mash

I mashed in 23L water at 57°C, and ran a simple three-rest mash program:

• 10 min @ 57°C
• 60 min @ 63°C
• 15 min @ 67°C

I then sparged with 8L water at 78°C. In contrast to previous brews, sparging only took 25 minutes to complete.

Boil

I boiled the wort for five minutes before adding the first hops, then added hops as follows:

• Bittering: 60 min 27g 13.3% Pacific Jade
• Flavor: 30 min 10g 13.2% Citra
• Flavor: 30 min 12g 11.9% Chinook
• Aroma: 2 min 20g 13.2% Citra
• Aroma: 2 min 10g 11.9% Chinook
• Aroma: 2 min 10g 13.3% Pacific Jade

Pitching and Fermentation

Cooling to 19°C with an immersion cooler took 26 minutes: colder tap water in winter made this significantly faster than the last brew. Initial gravity was 11.7°P. I pitched Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale; enthusiastic fermentation started after about 12 hours, and lasted six days. Slow fermentation continued a further three days. Final gravity was 2.1°P, for 5.1% ABV.

Kegging

I added 95g of light DME to 250mL of water, boiled and cooled, put it in an 18L Cornelius keg, then added 17.75L of beer from the fermenter to the keg. I pressurized to 250 hPa to make sure the seals held. I’m currently holding the keg at 22°C for secondary fermentation, and moved it down to the cellar after two weeks for a month or two at around 15°C.

How is it, then?

The tweak to the mash program added a barely perceptible body to the beer. This is a solid, not-too-hoppy pale ale, and the one I’ll keep brewing as my “I want a beer” beer.