Verkenbrau 3.0

Verkenbrau 3.0
American Pale Ale recipe from Tastybrew.com
5 gallons
OG 1.045
FG 1.012
Ingredients used:
7.0 pounds light malt extract (bulk from Main Street)
0.50 lb American crystal malt 10L
2 oz (boil) Cascade hops
1 oz (finishing) Cascade hops
1 package Wyeast #1056 American Ale yeast (liquid) – Recipe called for Wyeast 1272 but Main Street did not carry it.
2 tsp Irish Moss (last 15 min of boil)

3/22/09 -- Back to Main Street for the ingredients. It’s a drive but I like it out there. The cost was $2.15 per pound for the extract. Also bought some DME for next time to do the starter yeast, as well as 3 cascade hops rhizomes and some green & yellow caps. Pulled yeast out & smacked it to get it started about 9:00 AM. Cracked the grains & steeped in 3 ½ gallons of water while bringing to boil. Once boiling I added the extract & brought back to a boil. For the first time it didn’t boil over…interesting. Added 2 oz Cascade hops & boiled for 1 hr. Last 15 min of boil added 1 oz. Cascade hops & 2 tsp of Irish moss. At the hour point I poured into the fermenter where two 1-gallon frozen Fred Meyer Spring Water bottles were emptied. Filled to the 5.5 gallon mark & shook to aerate & cool. Waited for wort to cool approximately 11 hours. Unfortunately the spring water didn’t sit in the freezer long enough and wasn’t frozen solid. At the 9th hour the yeast package was bursting & I had to cut a small hole in the package to relieve some pressure. Hope it didn’t negatively affect the yeast.

3/23/09 – 5 pm, (15 hours after pitching yeast) very little activity, but some.

3/24/09 – 6 am yeast has taken off, bubbling readily thank goodness. Going to let ferment in the primary for 7 days & then to secondary.

4/4/09 – transferred from primary to secondary, had about a quart left, which I drank. Very light, flowery tones of the hops come through nicely. This is going to be a very nice, light beer. I can’t wait.

4/12/09 – bottled the beer in 40 12 oz bottles, 2 22 oz bottles & 4 apple-cider bottles (26 oz?) with a cup of corn sugar. The cider bottles don’t take the caps really well, the necks are a little thick. Two 12 oz bottles cracked at the neck, I separated them and will open them first. Put bottles in upstairs bedroom to ferment for two weeks before La Grande. Took a hydrometer reading of 1.012.

4/18/09 – Opened one of the cracked bottles to sneak a taste. It’s very light, but a little hoppy. It is a little young but tastes amazing. In another week it should really, really be good.

4/24/09 – Gave the beer another taste before trip to La Grande. It is really, really good. Nice, light body, very clean & crisp, good frothy white head & good head retention. The Cascade hops are prominent but not overpowering. The yeast leaves a very clean, crisp taste, maybe a little tangy. Can’t wait to share w/ everyone in La Grande.

La Grande weekend – 4/25-4/28 Everyone really liked the beer, especially the Mexican & American Ales. The lighter the better as far as most of my friends are concerned. Alex liked the hefeweizen a lot too. I gave two bottles of Mexican & two bottles of hefeweizen to Art & Carrol to try. We drank all but a few hefeweizen’s. Rob drank his with ouzo. Going to share a hefe with Patty C. & Jan from work. I really like the American Ale. Drank so much of it I’m down to a few bottles. Version 4 will be another American Ale.