Fall is here, so it’s time to get away from all of the hops and make something a bit more mellow.

Brewer’s Notes

We received about 4oz of whole-leaf Amarillo hops from the homebrew club meeting, and needed some come up with something interesting to use them on.  The San Francisco folks have been asking for something less hoppy, so I found a recipe online for a Red Ale using Amarillo.  It seemed like a fairly easy batch to bang out, so here we are!

The brew was uneventful, mash was 155F +- 5F.  Added about 2.25gal after the boil for fermenting volume of 5.125gal.  Final wort is fairly light with a high amount of suspended solids.  Since we were using up the last of a couple open bags of hops, there was a lot of hop dust that was used in the boil.  It tastes quite watery compared to the 1.060+ beers we have been brewing lately.  Malt-forward moving to a soft bitterness, not harsh like the Ahtanum beers.  Hoping some of the hop flavors drop out and it becomes more malty.  Crystal malts are very present.

OG:1.050 @ 80F, target 1.056
FG: 1.014@ 67F, target 1.013

Fermenting Notes

Primary

Target Temperature range: 70F

Average: 72.20F
Standard Deviation: 3.23

amarillo_red_primary
10.27.2014 – 1.015 @ 67F – Racked to secondary.  Sample taken after racking to secondary.  Light amber color with suspended solids. Very cloudy. Fairly hoppy beer with a good balance up front but strong hops near finish. Ends clean with lager-like aftertaste.  Yeast dropping out should mellow it further, but beer is over bittered.  Light, malty aroma – crystal is present. Flavor is still thin on body, needs brought up a bit. Generally a clean beer, looking forward it it finishing out, hopefully will drop some hops.

Secondary

Target Temperature range: 70F
Average: 70.08F
Standard Deviation: 0.20

amarillo_red_secondary

11.8.2014 – 1.014 @ 67F – Racked to keg.  SRM is good.  Sweet aroma, malty. Fairly clear, but not crystal, hoping it will settle out a bit more in the keg.  Red apple, grapefruit / citrus from the Mosaic.  Good balance between malt and hops, but feels like it’s over bittered on the finish. Some pine at the end, “lager” aftertaste is gone.  Can pick out the mosaic hops, but not the amarillo.  Should be good when cold & bubbly.  Force-carbonate at 20PSI for a day, then down to 15psi for 2.5 Vols CO2.

Tasting Notes

1.6.2015 – On tap at SF office.  It is more bitter than I’d like, but the folks seem to like it.  I don’t feel that it is balanced, with a sharp bitterness that doesn’t work with the malts – not sure where this has come from.  It is aging fairly well, and I expect the keg to empty soon.

Recipe