A Tale of Two Pales

These are actually the same beer. Same malt bill, same process other than a slightly longer mash on the darker one, different hops in the same quantity, and different carbonation levels. The left beer was hopped with Pacific Gem (13.2% alpha) and Australian Galaxy (13%) and the right was Columbus (13.9%) and Simcoe (13%). Never mind the shitty picture quality - you can still get the point.)

They're all small differences, but this is one of those one of those experiences that continues to blow my mind and preconceived notions about what matters in brewing.

I'm not sure where the dramatic difference stems from, but here are a few possibilities:

• There are a few episodes of Can You Brew It where Jamil talks about how particulate still in solution in the beer can actually make it appear lighter. 
• The actual oil levels in the hop combinations were different. I know that hops and yeast tend to do a little chemical dance at different points of fermentation, so it's possible that the beer on the right flocculated out better because of this.
• The dissolved volumes of CO2 were different (I carbonated the left and Jeremy did the right), which again could affect color
• One of the two beers (I didn't take great notes on the order we brewed them in) was mashed about 15 minutes longer than the other. I don't think that would have a significant impact, but in this case I can't rule it out.

So ultimately I don't really know how two beers with the same malt bill ended up looking so different, but it was an eye opening experience. 

Late (Aroma) Hop Addition Experiments

Jeremy and I brewed a clone of Epic Pale Ale (recipe from The Brewing Network's Can You Brew It) a few months ago. It was awesome. You can see the recipe here. It's not a standard pale ale.

The most noteworthy and interesting part of the beer was the different ways in which the brewer talked about using hops. (All US Cascade.) The recipe calls for two flame-out additions: a big flame-out addition held for a ten minute whirlpool, and then another big addition in another ten minute whirlpool. It sounded rather odd, but some of the recent reading I'd done emphasized the importance of getting the wort below 170F as quickly as possible to preserve hop aroma. Not to mention it put the whirlpool chiller I put together over the winter to good use.

The end result was awesome. Huge hop nose and a very distinct hop flavor.

Fast forward a few weeks. I found myself listening to a podcast with Stan Hieronymus in which he talked about the volatile compounds in hops. One of the more interesting nuggets of information was that ALL of the volatile aromatics are boiling off above 170f and some volatilise as low as 80f. (There is some far more complex chemistry going on here regarding the rate of volatilization and how other compounds in wort can "grab" onto the hop aromatics, but I don't really understand all of it.)

So with some additional credibility behind this lower temperature whirlpool technique, we decided to put it to the test. One of the brews we had slated for the summer was a pale ale from Brewing Classic Styles. So we tweaked the recipe a bit for this oddly timed addition and brewed two pale ales with the same malt bill but different character hops. One had Simcoe and Columbus, the other Galaxy and Pacific Gem. Both were bitterred with Horizon and each had a five minute addition, a flame-out addition whirlpooled for ten minutes, a 170F ten minute whirlpool addition and were finished with a dry hop addition.

Again - I am sure there is a lot of complicated chemistry at work, but there is absolutely something to this temperature stuff. These beers finished with massive hop aroma and flavor and definitely more so than we've gotten out of just dry hopping. I kept the Pacific batch and am really interested in brewing with both of these hop varieties again. There's a distinct melon / tropical fruit / berry / spice aroma to it

The only thing I'd go back and change is to tone down the bitterness a few IBU's. Rager calculated out in the thirties, bit that seems low for how much bitterness I pick up in the beer. If / when I re-brew I'll drop the horizon down to 14g.

Recipe(s):
5.126kg US 2 Row
340g Victory
340g Munich 10L
227g White Wheat

Mash at 152 for 60m.

27g Horizon @ 60

7g CTZ @ 5m
7g Simcoe @ 5m

7g CTZ @0m / 10m whirlpool
7g Simcoe @0m / 10m whirlpool

7g CTZ @170F / 10m whirpool
7g Simcoe @170F / 10m whirlpool

28g CTZ Dry Hop
28g Simcoe Dry Hop

(We used Galaxy and Pacific Gem in the same amounts.)