Brew Day: Yarmouth Special Dark Bitter

After a visit to The Blue Anchor in Delray Beach, FL, and a few pints of London Pride, I decided I must have an English pale ale/bitter style beer at home.  This recipe is essentially the Pride formula with the addition of a touch of Thomas Fawcett pale chocolate malt (200L), and a simpler hop bill (excluded Challenger, bumped up EKG's). After much success with Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Ale yeast it is always at the top of my list. The result is a browner, stronger (unintentionally, the wind boosted the evaporation rate),beer that hopefully captures the same spirit as a pint of Pride.

Yarmouth Special Dark Bitter

6 gallons 

70% efficiency (planned)

SG: Pre-boil 1.048 - 7 gallons (1.044 planned)

SG: Post-boil 1.062 (1.054 planned)

IBU: 33 Rager Formula

SRM: 11

Grist

12 lbs Marris Otter Pale Malt

0.5 lbs Simpson's Dark Crystal 70L

  3 oz  Fawcett Pale Chocolate  200L

Mashed with 4.5 gallons of 165F strike water @ 155F. Stepped up to 162F with 1.5 gallons of boiling water.

1.5 tsp of Gypsum to mash

1.5 tsp of CaCl to mash

0.5 tsp of Gypsum to boil

Sparged with 3 gallons of water at 175F.

Hops 

75 mins - 1.0 oz East Kent Goldings - 5.1 % alpha acid 

15 mins - 0.5 oz East Kent Goldings - 5.1 % alpha acid

15 mins - 1.0 oz UK Northdown - 6% alpha acid

Added 0.5 oz of East Kent Goldings  to the whirlpool after wort chilled below 100F to simulate using a hop back. 

Yeast

Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale - 1 smack pack at 50% viability ~50B cells. Pitched at 64

Fermentis US-05 American Ale Yeast - 10 g - or ~150B cells. Pitched at 64 2 hours after liquid yeast.

(rehydrated according to Zainascheff and White's procedures)

Oxygenation - filled headspace with O2 and shook for 1 minute. Two doses.

Notes: Must have ended up with around 5.5 or less gallons post boil. The wind was ripping and increased to evaporation rate. Slightly increased efficiency. Collected 7 gallons of wort at 1.048 pre-boil. 

Manchild 3.0

I last brewed for a birthday party over a year ago. Unbelievable. Time to correct that.  This time, I'm brewing for an independence day fiesta.  We're going all out.  Lechon. Whole Hog. You know what that calls for.  Manchild.  If we're roasting a pig all day, we're going to need an easy drinkin beer. This recipe is not all that similar to the last version of the Manchild II. But, I just call any ~5% pale ale type beer brewed for special occasions the same name. 

Grist:
I recently had some Monday Night Brewing Big Nose IPA.  They use marris otter as a base malt, and it is fantastic. So I've been craving some MO based beer. The rest of the grist is straight forward, a little wheat, and a little C-60.  I cut the base malt 50/50 with standard 2-row. Why not?

Hops:
I'm kind of burned out on the tropical fruit thing (amarillo, citra, mosaic, galaxy). So I wanted to go a little old school.  Cascade, Columbus, and Centennial. Grapefruity, piney dankness, with a hint of lime zest.  At least that is the goal. The homebrew shop had some simcoe that I couldn't turn down. I'll save that for dry-hopping.

Yeast: No time for a starter. US-05 to the rescue.

Manchild 3.0

Volume:  6 Gallons
Original Gravity:  1.047
Finishing Gravity: 1.010ish
IBU:  39 using rager formula
SRM: 7.2

Grist


5 lbs American 2 Row
5 lbs Marris Otter
  1 lbs Wheat
 .5 lbs Crystal 60 (US)
.25 lbs evaporated cane syrup

R.O. Water
1.5 tsp Calcium Chloride
1.5 tsp Gypsum

Mashed at 155 F. Minimal Worlauf. 

Hops

   7g Magnum   - 15.2 % AA  -  60 minutes
28 g Cascade     -  8.1% AA -    10 minutes
28 g Centennial      - 10% AA -    10 minutes
28 g Columbus (CTZ)   - 12% AA -     10 minutes

14 g Centennial - Dry Hop 7 days
14 g CTZ - Dry Hop 7 days
14 g Simcoe - Dry Hop 7 days

60 minute boil.

Yeast

US-05 rehydrated with 115 grams of water (by weight) at 90 degrees.  Fermentis recommends 80, but I'll take Jamil and Whitey's advice over fermentis. Cooled using an ice bath and stirring until it hit 68. Pitched at 68.

Cooled to 64 for fermentation. Increasing temperature controller by 1 degree every other day.