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Monday, September 1, 2008

Crack-It-Back Ale

Redmond's Mac and Jack's Brewery makes one of the finest examples of highly-hopped Northwest pale/amber ales, so I endeavored to clone their example with this effort. Success! Dry-hopped with Cascade, the nose is Juicy-Fruit, floral, and not overpoweringly bitter like most pungent Seattle brews. I love the smell of hops, but in an ale they should be in balance with the fruity character of the yeast.

-1 oz. Munich
-1/2 lb. Crystal 80L
-1/2 lb. Carapils
- 3 lbs. Briess DME
-3.3 lbs. light Coopers LME
-1/2 oz. Columbus leaf hop (substituted for unavailable Centennial) (bittering)
-1 tsp. Irish moss
- 1.25 oz. Cascade pellet hops (aroma) at 2 min. left
-WLP 005 British Ale Yeast (fermented at 68 degrees)
-dry hopped with 1/2 oz. Cascade pellets for 14 days

Beautiful amber color, terrific floral hop aroma, nice mouth feel -- a perfect Northwest amber ale. My Father-in-Law calls the hop flavor "Ju-Ju-Bee", which is exactly the fruit character I wanted from the dry hopping. Used an old fridge with a digital temperature control to keep the wort at 68 -- controlled ferment seems to have made a huge difference in yeast flavor. Would definitely brew again -- a new favorite. Brewed March 2008.

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