El Doredo (AF)

First attempt at making a hoppy red ale. This beer will be poured at NHC 2015 Club Night in San Diego.


Brewed 5.0 gallons on 2015-05-17

Preboil gravity: 1.049

Original gravity: 1.053

Final gravity: 1.006

ABV: 6.2%

Apparent Attenuation: 88.7%


Process notes

2015-05-18
Temp went down to 66° overnight.
2015-05-19
Temp raised up to 69° by second day.
2015-05-31
Kegged. This has been fermenting ~70°.

From the hydrometer tasting: Copper colored, very murky. Darker than expected; hopefully it cleans up. Aroma is of fresh hops that are difficult to describe. Some caramel aroma as well. Not getting the strawberry/cherry/candy thing I was hoping for, but it might just need carbonation. Kind of a clove/pine aroma.

Boil for 90 minutes

At 60 minutes
0.75 ounces of 15.3% Alpha Acid El Dorado pellets
At 15 minutes
At 10 minutes
1 ounce of 15.3% Alpha Acid El Dorado pellets
While cooling
1.25 ounces of 15.3% Alpha Acid El Dorado pellets (Threw these in when temp got to 170°.)

Mash

[81.22%] 10 pounds of California Select (Pure California) 2-Row (GreatWesternMalting)

[5.08%] 10 ounces of Caramel 40L (Briess)

[4.06%] 8 ounces of Flaked Oats (Briess)

[4.06%] 8 ounces of CaraRed (Weyermann)

[2.54%] 5 ounces of Caramel 120L (Briess)

[2.03%] 4 ounces of CaraFoam (Weyermann)

[1.02%] 2 ounces of Black (Patent) (Briess)

Single infusion mash. Mashed with 4.5 gallons (1.46 quarts per pound) of tap water for 90 minutes. 12lb 5oz of grain was used in the mash. (Final temp was 146 degrees.)

Strike water temp: (0.2/1.46) * (150 - 68) + 150 = 161.2

Sparge

Sparged for 45 minutes with 4 gallons of 170° tap water.

Yeast

2015-05-17
Pitch 1 pack of 1272 American Ale II (Wyeast) at 70°.

Dry additions

2015-05-26
1 ounce of 15.3% Alpha Acid El Dorado pellets.

Tasting notes (6.00/10; 1 rating)

2015-06-15
[6/10] No real note since this all went to NHC club night. Sudzers meeting said they got lemon/citrus peel, and suggested not to use black patent + maybe more 120 to boost red color. (Steve C.'s suggestion)