Following on from trial batch #1, I decided to give the SmashOff competition brew another try. I was only a few weeks away from needing to send it off, so this would have to be done quickly. The base recipe was pretty much the same, but I’d be increasing the hops in the whirlpool for a more aromatic punch.
Recipe
SG: 1.047
IBU: 28
SRM: 4
FG: 1.008
ABV: 5%
Batch size: 14L
3kg Golden Promise
10g Mandarina Bavaria 8.9%AA @ FWH 60 mins
20g Mandarina Bavaria 8.9%AA @ 10 mins
40g Mandarina Bavaria 8.9%AA @ 15 mins Whirlpool
Mash @ 66C for 60 mins
Wyeast 3522 Ardennes
This time I hit the numbers spot on, with the beer finishing bang on 5%. The whirlpool addition definitely had the desired effect, as the hops were much more pronounced. Still quite subtle compared to US or New World fruity hops, but that tangerine aroma was in the mix. The yeast was still the star of the show though.
I made one fatal flaw with this beer though that I wouldn’t know about until it was too late. Having had problems getting even carbonation when using a bottling bucket, I decided to give Coopers drops a go, using a single drop per 500ml bottle. Either this was too much, or there was still some residual sugars left in the beer (at 1.008 I find it hard to believe, and it had been stable for 3 days). In any case, the beer was over-carbonated, and that meant when opened it roused a lot of sediment up and clouded the beer.
Still, I entered the beer in the competition and ended up coming 5th out of 16. I was happy with that, my first competition and a beer that people seemed to enjoy.
