Need a batch for Oaktoberfest. Want something easy to drink and able to brew outside

Brewer’s Notes

I wanted to use some hops that had been mailed to me from a friend in New York, and yeast purchased for a style competition I ran out of time to enter. Had some problems creating the recipe in Beersmith, resulting in a wort that was way too low in gravity. I had some wheat DME lying around, and was able to bump up the gravity a bit, but expect this beer to be a bit overly bitter due to this issue. Recipe attached reflects the on-the-fly changes.

Quite a lot of suspended solids in the wort, and a very light color. Most of the color seems to come from the suspension. Deep gold, very hoppy flavor, likely due to low OG. Strong bitterness on finish lingers. Sweet citrus start, grassy, pine, and melon. Aroma is light melon and grass, but no citrus. Target ferment temp was 68F.

OG: 1.054 @ 79F, 4 gal
FG: 1.014 @ 54F, target 1.013

Fermenting Notes

This brew ran pretty late. mash ended about 830pm, and boil started at 9p. A timing error meant that the mash was ending while making dinner, and forgetting to start sparge water meant that mash ran much longer than intended. Sparged with 8 gallons of water, making pre-boil volume 12gal. Pre-boil gravity was 1..042 @ 115F, coming to around 1.050. Post-boil volume was just under 10 gal, and about 1gal left in kettle. Inoculated with starter and did not oxygenate. Beer is light amber, fair amount of solids tastes fairly well balanced. Earthy from goldings hops. Crisp finish, malt is not complex. If fermentation is clean, this should be a good beer. Cleaned and done at 1115p

Tasting Notes

Chloramine again, soapy. Color is amber, very cloudy. Did not move to secondary due to lack of space, so larger amount of yeast suspended during racking. Mild apple aroma, fruity light body, dry finish. Very drinkable beer past the flaws. Would like darker, ESB style. This is a but one-dimensional.

Provided the 2 kegs to Oaktoberfest. one was flawed and not served, the other was good enough. Will start to use filtered water for brewing and campden tablets.

Recipe