Citra++

The second in the brew++ series.

Grain Bill / Fermentables

  • 4 lbs 2 Row Pale Malt
  • 3 lb Pilsner Malt
  • 2 lb Munich Malt
  • 1 lb Crystal 20
  • 1 lb Honey Malt

Hops

  • 0.5 oz Magnum (12.8 AAU)
  • 7 oz Citra (13.3 AAU)

Yeast Blend

  • Mangrove Jack M36 Liberty Bell Ale
  • BRY-97 American West Coast Ale Yeast

Target Stats

  • 5.5 Gallons
  • OG 1.054
  • FG 1.010
  • ABV 5.78%
  • IBU 111.78
  • SRM 8.46

Prior to Brew Day

Make a yeast starter.  🙂

Brew Day

Heat 5 gallons of water to 160°. (2 gallons filtered Dover city water and 3 gallons of distilled water to reduce sulfates.)

Gently dough in grains until all grain is covered by water and adjust ph.

Mash grains at 152° and take a ph reading. Continue for 1 hour.

Remove “grain bag” and allow grains to drain.

Bring wort to a boil and add 0.5 oz Magnum hops and continue boil for another 30 minutes.

Add 0.5 oz Citra hops and continue boil for 15 minutes.

Add 0.5 oz Citra hops and continue boil for 10 minutes. (This is a good time to drop in the wort chiller.)

Add 2 oz Citra hops and continue boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat source, drop wort temperature to 160 and add 2 oz Citra hops. Cover and reduce wort temperature to 68° and take OG reading.

Sufficiently aerate and transfer to primary fermenter, pitching directly onto existing yeast cake.

Allow beer 2 weeks in the primary, adding 1 oz Citra at high krausen.

Transfer to keg and added 1oz Citra.

Enjoy!

Notes:

  • 2017-08-05, Brew Day
    • M36 starter didn’t appear to be ramping up as quickly as needed after 24 hours, so I added a container of harvested BRY-97 to the mix and created a yeast blend.
    • Adjusted mash pH to 5.10 using 1/4 tsp citric acid, which is a bit lower than I would have preferred.
    • Added 1/4 tsp of epsom salt and 1/4 tsp gypsum.
  • 12 hours, airlock is bubbling away nicely.
  • 22 hours, entire room smells of Citra hops. 🙂 Added 1oz Citra pellets.
  • 28 hours, producing excessive sulfur smell.
  • Kegged at just over 2 weeks, dry hopping in the keg.
  • This beer is dank and nearly undrinkable at 5 days in the keg. I’m hoping it improves with age.