Quarter Life Crisis Hoppy Red Ale
Brewed: 02/07/2021 Kegged: 02/16/2021
 For my
40th birthday, I got
Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's book Brewing Classic Styles
from the
SheppyBrew Beer Model. My sister also got me some cool
customized bottle caps. So, I wanted to use both those gifts to
brew a beer. The name I thought of was quarter life crisis as now
that I am 40, I figure my life is probably about 1/4 of the way
through.
Of course, it would have to be a pretty big beer with lots of
hoppyness,
and I came across the recipe "West Coast Blaster", which is Jamil's
interpretation of a "West Coast" American Amber ale.
I scaled the recipe down for my 2.4 gallon batches and tinkered
with
the ingredients based on what is easiest for me to find and my overall
preferences. I scaled back a bit on the hops because I am (after
all) not having a mid-life crisis or anything. I guess I'm just
not really a west-coast kind of hop-head.
But, this is well over the OG, ABV and hoppy bitterness of a normal
American
Amber Ale. This is still a pretty bold ale. It turned out to be a new favorite. Batch 2 is exactly the same recipe except it uses an ounce of chocolate malt instead of 2 ounces of pale chocolate. (the LHBS did not have pale) Batch 3 is my all-grain version. Because all-grain always is lighter in color than my extract brews, I added more dark malts the compensate. Plus, I used Columbus for bittering at a higher alpha acid than the Nugget I had used previously. It is also a larger batch. Batch 4 got modified a bit for more and higher alpha hops. I am hoping to brew this on my 43rd birthday. I added in some Chinook, which surprisingly is a hop I have not used previously.
Batch 5 was brewed shortly after my 51st birthday. I reduced the crystal malts. Other than that, the recipe was basically the same as batch 4 other than being brewed on my Anvil Foundry. If you would like to read about QLC on my blog, follow this link.
| Quarter Life Crisis --- Batch 5 |
| Style |
|
Red IPA |
|
Batch Size |
|
5.50 gal |
| Type |
|
All Grain |
|
Boil Size |
|
6.57 gal |
| Brewhouse Efficiency |
|
68.00 |
|
Boil Time |
|
60 minutes | Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity |
|
1.065 SG |
|
Estimated FG |
|
1.010 SG |
| Recipe Bitterness |
|
59.9 IBUs (Rager) |
|
Alcohol by Volume |
|
7.4 % |
| BU : GU |
|
0.919 |
|
|
|
|
| Recipe Color |
|
16.6 SRM |
|
|
|
|
| Measured OG: |
|
1.065 |
|
Measured FG: |
|
1.010 |
| ADF: |
|
84 |
|
Measured ABV: |
|
7.3 | Ingredients
Ingredients
| Amt |
Name |
Type |
# |
%/IBU |
Volume |
| 7.61 gal |
Denver, Colorado |
Water |
1 |
- |
- |
| 10.00 g |
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) |
Water Agent |
2 |
- |
- |
| 12 lbs |
Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) |
Grain |
3 |
83.1 % |
0.94 gal |
| 1 lbs |
Munich Malt - 10L (11.0 SRM) |
Grain |
4 |
6.9 % |
0.08 gal |
| 8.0 oz |
Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) |
Grain |
5 |
3.5 % |
0.04 gal |
| 4.0 oz |
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) |
Grain |
6 |
1.7 % |
0.02 gal |
| 4.0 oz |
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) |
Grain |
7 |
1.7 % |
0.02 gal |
| 3.0 oz |
Midnight Wheat Malt (550.0 SRM) |
Grain |
8 |
1.3 % |
0.01 gal |
| 0.500 oz |
Columbus [16.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 min |
Hop |
9 |
36.9 IBUs |
- |
| 4.0 oz |
Sugar, Table (Sucrose) [Boil] (1.0 SRM) |
Sugar |
10 |
1.7 % |
0.02 gal |
| 1.00 Items |
Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) |
Fining |
11 |
- |
- |
| 0.50 tsp |
Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) |
Other |
12 |
- |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Cascade [5.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
13 |
3.5 IBUs |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Centennial [9.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
14 |
6.1 IBUs |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Chinook [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
15 |
7.8 IBUs |
- |
| 0.500 oz |
Columbus (Tomahawk) [16.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min |
Hop |
16 |
5.6 IBUs |
- |
| 1.0 pkg |
San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP090) [35.49 ml] |
Yeast |
17 |
- |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Cascade [5.20 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days |
Hop |
18 |
0.0 IBUs |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Centennial [9.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days |
Hop |
19 |
0.0 IBUs |
- |
| 1.000 oz |
Chinook [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days |
Hop |
20 |
0.0 IBUs |
- |
Mash Profile
Mash Steps
| Name |
Description |
Step Temperature |
Step Time |
| Saccharification |
Add 30.45 qt of water at 157.9 F |
150.0 F |
45 min |
| Heat |
Heat to 156.0 F over 10 min |
156.0 F |
20 min |
If steeping, remove grains,
and prepare to boil wort
Recipe Notes
Started as West Coast
Blaster from Brewing Classic Styles. Modified for my system and available
ingredients.
Make a decent sized
starter.
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp090.html
From Denver
water, water salts put my water
at:
Ca=112,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=244,Cl=23,HCO3=104
Start Ferment as close to 60
as possible and let it rise to 65ish until heavy fermentation is done. Then, let
temperature go to wherever room temp is (68 or 70).
Dry hop straight into
fermentor at beginning of fermentation.
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: |
|
|
|
Strike Temp: |
|
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| Mash Temps: |
|
|
| Pre-boil OG |
|
(1.058 SG) |
|
Pre-boil Vol |
|
(6.57 gal) |
| Actual Mash Efficiency |
|
|
|
Pitch Temp |
|
|
| Fermentation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Day 1: |
| Day ... |
| Day ... |
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