There is something that I like in adding some kind of a fruity finish to a beer, but I have found that most companies tend to make them too sweet, too fruity and with not enough beer taste. Picking up from my Cranberry Ale (which was a great success on Thanksgiving), I decided to try another go on the same concept – Apricot Pale Ale.
I had heard about Apricot Pale Ale without ever actually drinking one, so I didn’t have a reference point for the beer, but I knew I wanted a light, spicy and sour beer with the apricot under tone. I love getting the fruit as a hint but tasting my beverage as a beer.
Mash
500g of Crushed Pale Malt
500g Crushed Pilsner Malt
150g Crystal malt
4 litres of boiled Brita filtered London tap water, start temp before grains: 72°c, after grains addition: 64°c, another 500ml of boiled Brita water added, temp now 69°c
The mash was kept in an insulated pot (covered my boiling pot with a towel)
Grains taken out and drained (+ squeezed) after 90 minutes total at 62°c.
Roughly 3.5 L mash was left with 1064 gravity at 55°c, or 1067 adjusted.
Yeast
5g Mangrove Jack’s M44 West Coast Yeast dissolved in 500ml Brita filtered London water (22°c) and 10g dextrose
Left to activate from the beginning of the boil, about an hour and a half.
Wort (boil)
3.5 L mash water with 200g Light Spraymalt and another 1 L boiled Brita water (1055 gravity @ 55°c). Brought to an immediate boil on a very high flame.
60 minutes: 10g Target hops (12.17%) and 100g whole dried apricots (Tesco own brand, sticky apricots)
15 minutes: 4g Simcoe hops (12.3%), 4g Citra hops (12.7%) and 100g whole dried apricots
0 minutes: in the ice bath with 9g Citra hops (12.7%)
After 30 minutes the wort reached 22°c and was filtered into the fermenter, 3 litres left after the boil, Gravity=1091@21°c.
Fermentation
3L of the cooled wort was added to 2.5L Brita filtered London tap water and the yeast mix
Total of 6L with OG=1050 at 22°c.
Drinking while making
3 days after brewing
The beer has been showing no signs of fermentation and has a strong smell of acetone. I moved it to a clean, new bucket without the sediment and 5g of Mangrove Jack’s M44 yeast were pitched again and raked.
Dry hop (a week after brewing)
Beer has recovered, gravity=1010.
5g Marynka hops, 10g Citra hops and 100g whole dried apricots.
Bottling (2 weeks after brewing)
FG=1011, making it a 5.22% ABV beer.
Total of 6L, or 12x500ml bottles
33g dextrose added for priming to achieve a CO2 volume of 2.1.
Tasting notes
Orange and cloudy beer, which pours with a light white head that reduces quickly but persists and presents orange specs (apricots?). The aroma has the ruby ale base with a fruity and fresh feel. You can smell the Simcoe and Citra hops but in a fruity and spicy way rather than mainly citrus. The aroma has a slight sour feel to it, but not in a bad way.
When drinking you immediately get hit with the apricot taste, that is quickly replaced by the ale taste. The taste ends with a fruity bitter, sour and spice. All and all the Apricot Pale Ale is very delicate, refreshing and pleasant to drink and presents some kind of creaminess from the apricots.