Brotherly Love to Baltimore Pale Ale (w/ orange peel)

Brew date: July 12, 2014
#29 - 6 gal

After a few years in Philadelphia, my brother is heading to Baltimore for a new gig. What better way to send him off (and not give him any of the finished product) than by brewing something to commemorate the journey.


I settled on a mid-summer American pale ale emphasizing the citrus note with a late boil addition of bitter orange peel and some cascade first wort hopping. An additional dry hopping with more cascade and chinook is also in store.

It's always fun to show people how their beer gets made: the raw ingredients, the smell of freshly milled grain, how mashing works, why we vorlauf, the variety of hops, the ridiculous amount of cleaning and sanitizing necessary. It's also fun to share war stories of past brews. I know I like to describe homebrewing as boredom punctuated by moments of terror.

While there was no real terror this session (no loose hoses spraying boiling hot wort, etc) there was a fair amount of waiting around. Especially while chilling the wort. I've got to find a better system for this. It takes forever. And my pump just will not stay primed for whirlpooling the wort around the immersion chiller. I may just need to suck it up and buy a counterflow chiller... Can anyone spare a dime (or $200)?

Until I figure out a better system, I need to be more mindful of the time involved. Always estimate 5 hours. This session's total brew day: 10 am - 3 pm.

Ingredients:

• 7.25 lb 2-row (Briess)
• 4.25 lb 6-row (Briess)
• 0.75 lb Vienna (Briess)
• 0.75 lb Munich 20L (Briess)
• 0.5 lb Caramel 40L (Briess)
• 0.5 lb Wheat flakes
• 1 oz Cascade (7.8%, pellet) (FWH)
• 1 oz Centennial (9.5%, pellet) (60 min)
• 0.5 oz Chinook (11.6%, pellet) (20 min)
• 1 t Irish Moss (15 min)
• 0.5 oz Orange peel (dried, bitter) (5 min)
• 0.5 oz Cascade (7.8%, pellet) (KO)
• 1 L Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast starter (7/8/14)
• 0.5 oz Cascade (2nd)
• 0.5 oz Chinook (2nd)

Target OG: 1.056

Target FG: 1.014

Target ABV: 5.5%

Target IBU: 40

Target Efficiency: 75%

Schedule:

• Mash in 6 gal of 50/50 filtered/RO water @ 162F
• Rest @ 152F (60 min)
• Mash out (10 min)
• Batch sparge 3.5 gal 50/50 filtered/RO water (10 min)
• Boil 60 min
• Chill to 72F and pitch
• Ferment @ 68F (66-72F) (10 days)
• Secondary (2 wks)

Observations:

• First runnings: 4.3 gal @ 1.070
• Second runnings: 3.6 gal @ 1.028
• Pre-boil: 8 gal @ 1.050
• OG: 6 gal @ 1.064
• Efficiency: 93%