It was time to get another beer going for me, and I wanted to use up some loose hops and work with the Mapuche again.

Brewer’s Notes

After the Mapuche Pale Ale, which was a bit of a disappointment, I wanted to try another recipe I was pretty comfortable with and use some of these special hops. Since I didn’t want to use all of them, I supplemented the Mapuche with Ahtanum, a US hop I hadn’t used before, but should have a fairly similar flavor profile. The follow-on beer to this will heavily use Ahtanum, so I’ll have a base to compare it to. The Hurricane Kitty recipe has a fairly simple malt bill that adds some complexity, and uses Columbus for bittering to add some additional depth.

Brew day didn’t go well. We lost some DME to spillage, about 4-6oz. This was reflected in the OG. The mash held +/- 5F, so that was normal. The hop schedule proceeded normally. Wort was well-balanced, with cereal characteristics in the malt and bitterness. Lasting bitterness on finish, but ended clean. Mild citrus, but nothing distinct. Very mild pink grapefruit flavor noted.

OG: 1.060 @ ~80F, target 1.070
FG: 1.018 @ ~70F, target 1.018

Fermenting Notes

Primary

Target Temperature range: 67F

Average: 73.21F
Standard Deviation: 3.37

Hurricane_Kitty_5_primary

9.3.2014 – 1.020 @ 70F – Racked the beer to secondary and added 1.75oz Mapuche. Beer tastes over-bittered, with some astringency. There is a significant burn on the back of the throat, but that may be attributed to the chips I ate before tasting? Flavor is reasonably full with some maltiness and body, but not a lot. Would like to replace the 2-row with Maris Otter and see what happens. Clean finish, leave palette quickly. I’m worried that the malts are going to overpower the hops, perhaps a pale ale w/ Vienna malts would be a better balance with these hops.

Secondary

Target Temperature range: 70F

Average: 70.34F
Standard Deviation: 0.39

Hurricane_Kitty_5_secondary

9.12.2014 – 1.018 @ 70F – Racked to keg out of secondary. Not much aroma, malt quickly fades to grapefruit finish. Sharp bitterness. Still have some burn, but not like it was before, and fades quickly. Don’t eat chips before tasting beer. Body seems too thin, would help to have some carbonation to back it up. Carbed at 14psi for about 2.5 vols. This is high for the style.

Tasting Notes

9.15.2014 – Poured a small pitcher. The extra time and carbonation has helped, the beer has a nice malt flavor, but is one-dimensional with the hops. Not a strong aroma or hop flavor.

10.27.2014 – There is about 2gal left in the keg, it has been in and out of the fridge to make room for the Oktoberfest lagering, and that has an impact on the beer.  We need to invest in some space and a cold storage.  The Mapuche needs a beer with a very light body, and a heavier hop to take away some of the sharpness – Ahtanum is highlighting it, which doesn’t work for this style.

11.8.2014 – Keg empty.

Recipe