Sunday, February 28, 2010

West Coast Pale Ale

Brewing: West Coast Pale Ale.
Features: light, clean, crisp and refreshing (3.7% abv)
Price Range: $16.00

Overall Rating: Very Good
This refill has all the ingredients needed to make a crisp, sparkling and refreshing beer. Light in color and body, the flavor is punctuated with an assertively clean finish. An extremely drinkable American beer!





West Coast Pale Ale w/Booster™
1 Can West Coast Pale Ale HME
1 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast (under lid of HME)
1 Pouch Booster™
1/2 Cup Pure Maple Syrup (optional)
1 Packet One-Step™ Sanitizing Cleanser

INGREDIENTS: MALTED TWO ROW BARLEY, HOPS, HOP EXTRACT, WATER, AND YEAST (Under Lid).

Fermentation, Carbonation And Conditioning Times:
14 days for fermentation
14 days for carbonation
02 days for cold conditioning in the fridge

Fermentation: 23-Jan-2010 to 13-Feb-2010 - (68-76F)
Carbonation : 13-Feb-2010 to 27-Feb-2010 - (68-76F)
Conditioning: none

Brewer's Comments:
"This was my first attempt at brewing beer so I wanted to get it right. The recipe produced a beer that was distinctive and drinkable, by myself and a few friends".

"The finished beer, when poured from a cold bottle onto the side of a clean glass, was clear with a light golden color and crisp with a nice head of foam".

As this was my first attempt at brewing I was anxious to see how the beer would taste. Since then I have learned that the finished beer will reach it's maximum flavor and taste by allowing more time for conditioning.

Fermentation:
The number of ingredients used in each recipe can vary greatly. From a simple 1 can malt beer mix, 1 pouch booster and some yeast. To recipes containing additional cans of malt, unhopped malt extracts, booster and different variates of pellet hops. Recipes having more ingredients require increased fermentation time, to allow the yeast to work.

Carbonation:
Just as in the fermentation process carbonation times will depend on the complexities of each recipe. As a rule of thumb recipes containing many ingredients take longer to carbonate than recipes with few ingredients.

Conditioning:
Up until this point I completely omitted the very important process of conditioning the beer. Allowing the beer's flavors to fully merge and mature in the bottle before drinking. In a basement, with a consistent year round temperature range of 50-70F, naturally brewed beer can be stored for up to 4 months. Prior to drinking the beer should be refrigerated for 24-48 hours and served cold in a clean glass.

1 comment:

  1. I would never recommend adding maple syrup to a any beer, simply because once all the sugar has been fermented the syrup then tastes bitter. It was for me a once in a lifetime idea that I tried, but honestly I have never used maple syrup i any of my beer recipes since.

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