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Low Gravity Pale Ale Brewing Day – Take 2

January 10, 2016 by Gilad

One of the house hold regulars is an American-style Pale Ale (APA) called “Oh Mama!” that has always been my wife’s favourite, but since she got pregnant with our second she can only “steal” sips from my beer so I wanted to make her a very low alcohol version; that way she can have a full glass while still only getting one unit of alcohol (not that she even finishes that one!). So a few months ago, I made a Light APA (“Pregnant Oh Mama!”) that was extremely bitter, and I learned not too long ago that I got all my bittering wrong, so I made the Pregnant Oh Mama! again, and this time it came out prefect. A light, refreshing, hoppy beer with the right balance of bitterness and sweetness – excellent Pale Ale. This is the corrected breakdown:

Beautiful active mash on the pale malt grains
Beautiful active mash on the pale malt grains

Mash

Post mash gravity at 1050
Post mash gravity at 1050

1kg of Crushed Pale Malt

5 litres of boiled Brita filtered London tap water, start temp before grains: 72°c, after grains addition: 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 61°c.

Roughly 4l mash was left with 1050 gravity at 58°c.

Yeast

The yeast is alive!
The yeast is alive!

5g Safale US-05 dissolved in 500ml Brita filtered London water (22°c) and 5g dextrose

Left to activate from the beginning of the boil, about 2 hours.

Wort (boil)

4l mash water brought to an immediate boil on a very high flame and another 1L boiled Brita water added

60 minutes: 10g Target hops (12.7%)

15 minutes: 10g Challenger hops (5.99%), 10g Marynka hops (9.3%)

0 minutes: in the ice bath with 10g Citra hops (12.5%)

Wort was a total of 3.5l with a gravity of 1061 at 25°c

An international collection of hops to make my version of a pale ale
An international collection of hops to make my version of a pale ale

Fermentation

3.5L of the cooled wort was added to 4L Brita filtered London tap water and the yeast mix

Total of 8L with OG=1028 at 22°c.

Drinking while making

IPA

Dry hop (a week after brewing)

Added 25g Citra hops and 5g Celesia hops

Dry hopping is vital for a good American style pale ale
Dry hopping is vital for a good American style pale ale

Bottling (2 weeks after brewing)

FG=1008 at 22°c, making it a 2.7% ABV beer.

Total of 8L

50g dextrose added for priming to achieve a CO2 volumes of 2.3.

Tasting notes

First, I need to say again that this a beer made for my wife – my pregnant wife. The idea is that she will be able to have a whole beer (~500ml) with consuming too much alcohol – about 1 unit. The beer ended up to be 2.7% ABV, which means that a full glass makes for a 1.35 units of alcohol, excellent result for our goal. My wife rarely actually drinks more than half a glass, but I think the fact she had the option made all the difference. To the tasting:

Tasting the Pregnant oh Mama!
Tasting the Pregnant oh Mama!

Very pale colour, almost like frosty straw with a murky haze. Head is white and foamy but disappears quickly.

Flowery aroma with a strong red grapefruit edge. Very juicy on the nose, the kind that makes the mouth water, and citrus-y.

Dry, crisp and refreshing taste that is not bitter. A little watery and thin without too much grain presence; you can feel it is a low alcohol beer. Despite being a “light” beer it is interesting enough to drink and enjoy, mainly due to the excellent flowery and citrus-y aroma.

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Related

Filed Under: Brewing day Tagged With: Challenger hops, Citra hops, crushed pale malt, Marynka hops, Oh Mama, Pale Ale, Safale US-05, Target Hops

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