HB#1 - English Pale Ale (Ordinary Bitter)

General Information
Style: English Pale Ale
SubStyle: Ordinary Bitter
Brew Date: 1/6/2007
Vendor: Northern Brewer - Kit#1001

Recipe:
Specialty Grains
* 0.5 lbs. Simpsons CaraMalt
Fermentables
* 3.3 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
* 1 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
Boil Additions
* 1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
* 1 oz. Kent Goldings (1 min)
Yeast
* Wyeast #1098 British Ale Yeast. From Whitbread. Ferments dry and crisp, slightly tart, fruity and well-balanced. Ferments well down to 65° F. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 68-72%. Optimum temperature: 64-75.

Estimation Report from the HBD Beer Recipinator

Brewer:	Craig Gomulka
Beer:	English Bitter		Style:	English Ordinary Bitter
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	14 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	31 IBU
OG:	1.034		FG:	1.008
Alcohol:	3.3% v/v (2.6% w/w)
Grain:	8 oz. British Carastan (subsituted)
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.056	3 gallons
	3 lb. 2.4 oz. Amber malt extract 1 lb. Light dry malt extract
Hops:	1 oz. Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 1 min.)

Brewing Day
Brew Type: Extract
Technique: Partial Boil
Boil Water: Home tap water
Topoff Water: Home tap water
Originial Gravity: 1.035 (did not take this reading, target reading from the kit)
Yeast Starter?: No
Boil Notes: Followed brewing instructions on kit. Steeped pre-cracked grains 15 mins per recipe in muslin grain bag, water temp 160-170F. Hops were added to the boil loose, no bag.
Wort Cooling: Ice bath, took 20 minutes
Aeration: Shake wort in carboy

Primary (Fermentation)
Fermentation Time: 11 days, about 1 bubble per minute in the fermentation lock
Fermentation Temp: 64F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: NA
Fermentation Notes: Used large blowoff tube, some leakage around neck of carboy (see picture below), did not seem to affect the beer. Krausen first 2 days then fell.














Secondary
Secondary Used?: Yes
Racking Date: 1/17/07
Secondary Time: 13 days
Secondary Temp: 62F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: NA
Secondary Notes: Made a mistake aerating the beer during the siphon by not submerging the siphon tube (splashing).

Bottling and Conditioning
Bottle Type: Cornelius Keg
Bottle Date: 1/30/2007
Conditioning Time: 3 weeks
Conditioning Temp: 60F
SG Measurement - Reading@Date: 1.005@1/30/2007
Conditioning Notes: Final gravity for this style should be about 1.008-1.013, and was estimated by the Recipinator to be 1.008. The low final gravity I have (1.005) is potentially due to adding too much water during the top off. While I did not fill all the way to the top, it was filled to about 4.8 gallons. I've read that it is wise to take SG readings while filling up to get to the recommended OG. Otherwise one can end up with beer that is too thin, lacks body and flavor. I tried my beer at this point, it has tastes decent, but is lacking on body. Just to have some fun with some arithmetic and algebra, we can calculate our yeast attenuation to be 86% [(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100 = attenuation%], which would indicate an error in the brew process, as the yeast that was pitched attenuates 68-72%. So if we then use the same formula above, we can calculate what the probable actual original gravity was (using an attenuation of 72%) at 1.018 [OG = (FG-Att %)/(1-Att %)]. The OG would indicate that I was fairly low on the OG target of 1.035, by roughly 50%! The other potential factor is that perhaps I did achieve a higher attenuation than the label say I would, but I do not know enough about yeast to know how likely that is. So using the theoretical OG of 1.018 we can calculate ABV [(OG - FG) x 131 = % ABV] to be 1.7% ABV, talk about a session brew... If we use the recipe stated OG of 1.035, we get ~4%, which is closer where it should be. Even so, both are not terribly far off from what the Recipinator estimated above. So I'll just hope I achieved a better attenuation. Lesson learned though, take the OG reading while filling the primary.

At any rate, it's amazing that the beer tastes as good as it does so far, which is all that matters in the end. Below are some pics in the secondary and the sediment left behind in the carboy after kegging.


























Tasting Notes
To come