10L - 1.7kg APA / Cerveza suggestions

[DavidP38]

hi, i have been given a few 1.7 cans of APA and Cerveza but only have the craft 10L fermenter at the moment.

adding a full can of APA - (or cerveza) what would be complimentary hops? would you recommend kit yeast or using US-05?

[Norris!]

The cerveza is like a blank slate for me, at 21l or higher. At 10l it will make it around 38  or more IBUS, I think, so  depending on how bitter you like your brews, I would probably just dry hop it to get a nice clean beer that showcases the hops or do a fair size flameout addition that I would cool right away to below 80c. I would use any hop that you want try out really, but an orange citrus hop would go well this brew. Amarillo, citra, or something along those lines.

For the APA, I don't know, I never brewed with it.

[Lab Cat]

APA - any of the pale ale style hops, Cascade, Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, Centennial, Simcoe, it's a big list. I've made the Caribbean Siesta recipe twice with the Cerveza, they suggest Calypso which I can't get locally, so used lemondrop which is a nice hop with this kit.

[DavidP38]

cool, thank you both - appreciate the replies. and would you use the kit yeast or use US-05 for it? 

[Lab Cat]

Kit with the APA. I can't remember if the Cerveza has a ale/lager mix yeast, so US05 with that probably.

[DavidP38]

37 minutes ago, Lab Rat said:

Kit with the APA. I can't remember if the Cerveza has a ale/lager mix yeast, so US05 with that probably.

for 10L , using a full 1.7kg can. do i still use the 1kg bag of BE2? or not needed due to concentration 

[Lab Cat]

Probably not needed. The recipes that use the craft fermenter and aim for around 5% abv, don't add any extra fermentables. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Lab Rat

[Instigator]

I bottled this a week ago: 1.7kg APA can + kit yeast made to 10L, and a 25g Galaxy dry hop. Should work out around 5.5%ABV in the bottle. The IanH spreadsheet goes all green in the American Pale Ale section. Tail end of the fermenter dregs tasted great. Nice hit of bitterness but not overly so. I'm excited to try this in a week or so.

Will do something similar with the Cerveza plus hop steep next time. I'm basically going to do the "toucan" thing in the craft fermenter from now on. I'm liking the results more than the Mr Beer range.

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Instigator

[DavidP38]

20 hours ago, Instigator said:

I bottled this a week ago: 1.7kg APA can + kit yeast made to 10L, and a 25g Galaxy dry hop. Should work out around 5.5%ABV in the bottle. The IanH spreadsheet goes all green in the American Pale Ale section. Tail end of the fermenter dregs tasted great. Nice hit of bitterness but not overly so. I'm excited to try this in a week or so.

Will do something similar with the Cerveza plus hop steep next time. I'm basically going to do the "toucan" thing in the craft fermenter from now on. I'm liking the results more than the Mr Beer range.

 

Thanks, what temp did you ferment at and when did you dry hop? 

I pitched @ 23  mine and have it fermenting at 21C currently

[Instigator]

I usually brew to a three week schedule. Initial mix and yeast pitch. Week later is the dry hop. Pull them out a week later when I start the cold crash to 1C. Bottle a week later. I normally brew at 18C and may do two or three days at 22C prior to cold crashing if I remember. The other guys would have a better process than I do, but this works in with my personal schedule. I don't drink copious amounts so I'm not trying to keep a supply chain going.

[DavidP38]

50 minutes ago, Instigator said:

I usually brew to a three week schedule. Initial mix and yeast pitch. Week later is the dry hop. Pull them out a week later when I start the cold crash to 1C. Bottle a week later. I normally brew at 18C and may do two or three days at 22C prior to cold crashing if I remember. The other guys would have a better process than I do, but this works in with my personal schedule. I don't drink copious amounts so I'm not trying to keep a supply chain going.

Cool, thanks. I have had some real shit batches from the 10L so far. All way too sweet, OG too high and I have been underpitching. So, I think going simple, getting that repeatable baseline and building upon it is the way. 

[Instigator]

On 2/24/2020 at 9:12 PM, Instigator said:

I bottled this a week ago: 1.7kg APA can + kit yeast made to 10L, and a 25g Galaxy dry hop. Should work out around 5.5%ABV in the bottle. The IanH spreadsheet goes all green in the American Pale Ale section. Tail end of the fermenter dregs tasted great. Nice hit of bitterness but not overly so. I'm excited to try this in a week or so.

The results:

I'm quite happy overall. I don't think the 25g Galaxy dry hop added much. I could either change hop, go with 50g, or just leave it out next time.

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, Instigator said:

I'm quite happy overall. I don't think the 25g Galaxy dry hop added much. I could either change hop, go with 50g, or just leave it out next time.

Looks great.

There was a link a few days back (from @ChristinaS1 I think) that discussed temps to dry hop - the suggestion was to lower the temp after diacetyl rest to (from memory) about 14° and dry hop, then remove the hops & CC after a couple of days. It apparently gives a stronger hop presence. I'm going to give it a try my next couple of brews and see - I'd rather be more effective with hops than double the dose - easier on my limited budget.  

[Cassius]

13 hours ago, Instigator said:

I'm quite happy overall. I don't think the 25g Galaxy dry hop added much. I could either change hop, go with 50g, or just leave it out next time.

FWIW my most recent Pacific ale had a 50g dry hop (25g Citra/25g Galaxy) in a 23L batch and the aroma was out of this world. I dry hop for 3-5 days and go straight to bottling with no cold crash. If you're not getting much from a 25g dry hop in a 10L batch I think something else is at play; you really shouldn't need 50g in a 10L batch. I know nothing about cold crash/diacetyl rest w.r.t dry hopping so the only thing I can add is maybe the hops were old and had lost some aroma?

[Instigator]

I read that post recently about dry hopping shouldn't go longer than 3 days. Could also be not a good pairing, old hops, or...? Dunno, but they just don't stand out in this brew. The Simcoe I added to my Red IPA came out nicely (50g/23L) and were added at the same time.

[BlackSands]

On 3/4/2020 at 12:19 PM, Journeyman said:

There was a link a few days back (from @ChristinaS1 I think) that discussed temps to dry hop - the suggestion was to lower the temp after diacetyl rest to (from memory) about 14° and dry hop, then remove the hops & CC after a couple of days. It apparently gives a stronger hop presence. I'm going to give it a try my next couple of brews and see - I'd rather be more effective with hops than double the dose - easier on my limited budget.  

This has been my approach more recently, though I don't remove the hops during CC, but then my CC's are usually only a few days.  

 

On 3/4/2020 at 12:29 PM, Cassius said:

...so the only thing I can add is maybe the hops were old and had lost some aroma?

This is a definite possibility.  I had a recent batch where the hop presence was very subdued compared to what I would normally expect from the dosage used.  I had a hunch one of the two hops used in that particular brew were quite old when I first opened the packet - I didn't get the usual aromatic hit even with a close up sniff!   And, the colour of the pellets looked kinda dull too.  I don't buy hops from that store anymore because I know their stock is stored in bulk, at fridge temp in a sealed plastic box!  And less popular hops like the one I used are likely to be well past their best.