AG - Centennial Pale Ale

[willabur]

Hey Guys,

Picked a simple enough recipe for my First spin on my new brewing set up.

4.5kg Maris Otter
.5kg Crystal 30
1kg Vienna Malt
0.2kg Flaked Oats

mashed at 65 degrees

30g Centennial 60 mins
30g Centennial 10 mins
40g Centennial 0 mins

US Safale 05

OG 1065
FG 1010 (ish)

I have 18 litres in the fermenter so my efficiency is miles off. Target was to get 22 litres at 1060. I'm happy enough with that tho.

Couple of problems on brew day

1: The boil cut off a couple of times. So for about 10 mins or so I the boil was off, the wort was still hot of course but wasn't rolling. Fixed this for the last 20 mins of the boil so hopefully that was okay.
2: I opened the ball valve on the MT too quickly and the rate of flow was tricklesome. Lashed in some more hot water and gave the grain bed a stir, this improved matters. Let the mash settle before opening slowly over the course of 10-15 mins this time. A funny thing happened at the end, the flow was slow but steady. All of sudden there was a big gush of wort into the fermenter as if a switch had been hit or more than likely something was unclogged.

Anyone experience that before?

had a taste after a week in primary. Up front was an oaty grainy flavour, bitterness from the hops didn't come through until the very end. Expecting something a little cleaner but I'm sure it will come good after a few weeks conditioning

THoughts?

[LordEoin]

i like the sound of that recipe. With the vienna and the oats it's not going to be a clean clean beer, but the balance sounds about right.
I don't have any brewing software here at the moment, but those hop additions should come in around 50IBU, right?

Is it a gas or electric setup that cut out on you?

[Qs]

55 IBU according to beersmith

[willabur]

It is an electric setup. The power cord did not fit snuggly into the socket but also I think when I put in the wort chiller to santise it during the boil that it sat on the element and caused it to short out. Once I moved it to the other side of the bucket I had no more issues with cut outs


Yep 55 Ibu is what I calculated it as.

[LordEoin]

good guess!

more likely to be the lead connection. If the chiller caused a short it would have blown a fuse or tripped a switch

[willabur]

Opened the first bottle of this last night.

Oats definitely dominate the beer. Creamy, frothy head which comes through in the mouthfeel.
Tastes like flapjacks.
Its a nice beer but having been in the bottle for just a week I hope a couple of extra weeks conditioning and carbing will dial back the impact of the oats.

[DEMPSEY]

Think you have discovered that is why oats are not used in this style of beer but sure you only have proved that you are a real man.
When my son was 10 years old he came to work with me one day. I made double glazed glass units at the time and the sealant used melts to 180c and cools within seconds after applying to the glass but my son wanted to touch it,no I said you will burn yourself , but he still went and touched it  . Before I could pluck the sealant off his finger it had already burnt it . he is 23 now and like all men 

[willabur]

ha, perhaps...

I picked up the idea on another forum or in a magazine somewhere. The result is very drinkable and enjoyable but as you say, not as per the style which wasn't so much of a strict target to begin with

[Dr Horrible]

I did something similar with a Kolsch recently.  Decided it would be a great idea to add 150-200g wheat and it ended up completely dominating the taste and appearance.  Also a decent beer in the end, just not what I was aiming for.  Don't regret it though, worth burning the fingers sometimes!