Amarillo...

Tasting Notes:

Color:  Pretty much the same as the Mosaic beer.  Orange hue.  Hazy.  White head.

Aroma:  I thought this beer would be an aroma bomb but not really.  It had that sort of peach/apricot thing going on with some citrus in the background.  Good enough but not amazing.

Mouthfeel:  This malt bill felt a little thinner and the yeast brought it down to 1.009 so that must have had something to do with it.  Dry on the finish.  Good carbonation.

Flavor:  This is where this beer shined.  I really enjoyed it once it sat for a week on gas.  It WAS all citrus like; hints of oranges and tangerines.  The drying finish helped it to appear to taste like oranges with a slight bit of pithy finish.  Going to brew this again.

Overall:  The Conan yeast didn't seem to make a big impact on this beer.  The next time I brew it I'll just use 007 or 1318.

Amarillo...

Ready for a swim.

There's so much talk about hops like Mosaic, Galaxy and Citra but Amarillo has this sort of quiet fervor about it.  It plays well with so many hops but there aren't as many single hopped pale ales made with Amarillo as the other hops mentioned above.  Not sure why.

For this batch I was able to try out my new Torpedo keg.  I'd have to say not the best quality.  The quick disconnects are tight and the gas poppet sticks sometimes when disconnecting the fitting.  I've seen reviews that the lid doesn't close properly unless putting it to high pressure.  This hasn't been a problem for me since I have made a habit of turning the pressure up when sealing keg lids.  Although the edge of the metal rim the lid sits against is pretty rough and has small bends or dents in it....it's just not smooth and I could see someone having trouble getting it to seal.

Anyone have any crackers?

On brew day, man the Amarillo smelled good in the whirlpool!  The orange and grapefruit aroma just wafting up with the steam was amazing.  It will be interesting the see how the GY054 pairs with this hop.


AMARILLO IPA

2.5 Gallons
O.G. 1.060
F.G. 1.009

Mash:
2-Row        80% (5 lbs. 9.7 oz.)
Marris Otter 10% (11.2 oz.)
White Wheat  10% (11.2 oz.)

Mash at 152 F for 60 min

BOIL:
Warrior @60 min for 60 IBUs     

WHIRLPOOL:
2.00 oz. Amarillo for 10 min     

FERMENTATION:
1.0 pkg. of GY054           

DRY HOPS:
1.50 oz. Amarillo for 5.0 Days     
1.50 oz. Amarillo in serving keg

Mosaic Once Again...

Tasting Notes:

Color:  Orange.  Opaque.  Nice white head.

Aroma:   I get the fruity/blueberry up front, the bubble gum, then a slight hint of dry grass.  The grass aroma could also be described as grain like...something I get from Mosaic not from the malt.  In a fresh bag of pellets this aroma is there....I may not be describing it right but it's there.

Mouthfeel:   This beer is soft.  Drinks easy and finishes dry.  The carbonation pops at the end.  This beer really does it for me.  For me these type of beers drink best with a little higher carbonation...the perceived sweetness blends better.

Flavor:   I get a mix of berry fruits.  The bubblegum and dry grass/grain like flavor seem to both come at once as it finishes with the soft bitterness accentuated by the carbonation.

Overall:   This beer came out good and I enjoy it.  I feel it represents Mosaic's aroma and flavor.  Having had this side by side with the previous Citra beer, I can say I like this beer better.  The aroma is not as strong as Citra but more pleasant to me; the flavor rounded and accessible.  The Citra harsher and lingering.  My previous attempts at a Mosaic beer didn't come out this nice.

Citra EPA...

Less hazy but I like the color.

Tasting notes:

Color:  Golden yellow to yellow at times depending on the light.  It's hazy and opaque but just a shadow of a finger shows through.  Creamy white head.  Nice looking beer.  I like the color better on this batch than previous ones.  A little richer and less opaque maybe due to the new malt?

Aroma:  Fresh out of the bag Citra hops...slightly muted but Citra.  Candy like juice aroma.  Pineapple.  Stone fruit.  Slight dankness in the background.  Lime zest/lemon zest.  Pleasant aroma.

Mouthfeel:  Carbonation is a huge contributor to this beer.  If it's too low then there is a syrupy sweetness that just annoys me.  An astringency gets pushed to the background or goes away with the right amount of carbonation.  But the mouthfeel is soft and coating and is where I want it when the beers drinking it's best.  It's easy to drink it fast.

Flavor:  It seems with every batch this beer takes a few days to settle in and find a happy place for me.  Maybe it's the lychee (described as grapes, strawberries and watermelon) and melon flavors I'm not partial to with Citra.  When it's tasting right to me it's got what I perceive to be a passion fruit and pineapple thing going on along with a little dankness and then finishes crisp with a bit of lime.  When it's not tasting right, I get that hint of an astringency and sweetness in the finish and it lingers.  Annoying.

Overall:  The tab on the keg lid really allowed me to agitate the increased amount of  hops and it shows with this beer.  The aroma is much better than previous batches.  The hop flavor more prominent.  I'll keep making this beer.  But I'll be messing with the recipe. 

Mosaic Once Again...

75%, 20%, and 5%

I've brewed three Mosaic pale ales so far.  This is the fourth attempt.  Two-row, flaked oats and Munich malt made up the first and third recipes while the second was just two-row and flaked oats.  The taste of the oats seems to have a sweetness that hits the sides of my palette the wrong way; cloying.  Not convinced I like oats, I've moved on the use white wheat.  Two of the previous versions included some sugar to help dry them out, but with this one I've omitted it.

Left: new bag.  Right: old bag.

For this batch I had an older vacuum sealed bag of Mosaic I was going to use up and then supplement with some pellets from a new bag.  Well, the difference between the two was apparent.  The aroma of the vacuum sealed pellets were tame compare to the new bag.  The old bag of pellets were darker but this may be from the pelletizing process.  Not sure if this is oxidation, age or processing.  Either way those old hops got dumped.

With recent batches of beer I've also started adding the Epsom salt and table salt needed to match the water profile I prefer.  Before, I would just use the gypsum and calcium to hit the sulfate and chloride targets.  At times my beers seemed thin.  Whether or not it's the water, with further batches I plan to play around with the "other" salt additions.


MOSAIC ONCE AGAIN

2.50 gallons
O.G. 1.060
F.G.  1.010

MASH:

Rahr 2-Row     75.0 % (5 lbs. 4.9 oz.)

White Wheat    20.0 % (1 lb 6.6 oz.)

Crystal 20      5.0 % (5.7 oz.)

Mash at 152 F for 60 min       

BOIL:
Warrior @60 min for 60 IBUs     

WHIRLPOOL:
2.00 oz. Mosaic for 10 min     

FERMENTATION:
1.0 pkg. of WLP1318           

DRY HOPS:
1.50 oz. Mosaic for 5.0 Days     
1.50 oz. Mosaic for 2.0 Days 

Citra EPA...

While this beer has been good enough to brew multiple times, I can't help but fool with the recipe.  The mouth feel is fine with the wheat, the bitterness ok at 40 IBU's but a little more aroma out of the Citra would be nice.  This last brew day I upped the whirlpool and the keg dry hop by 1/2 oz.

I can throw that keg all around the room now!

A friend silver soldered a tab on the underneath of my keg lid in order to secure my hop bag.  The dental floss around the keg handle through the lid trick always worried me and I've broken one once while shaking the hell out of my keg.  Now I can use butchers twine and really agitate those hops.

Headed for the compost.

The Breiss 2-Row I'd been using with this recipe was stale.  In previous batches it took until the bitter end of the mash to get near my pre-boil gravity.  The new Rahr was just shy of my target by 30 minutes and at the end of my typical 60 min mash I didn't have to give it more time to sort itself out.


CITRA EXTRA PALE ALE

2.50 gallons
O.G. 1.060
F.G.  1.010

MASH:
Rahr 2-Row     85.0 % (6 lbs.)
White Wheat    15.0 % (1 lb .8 oz.)     

Mash at 152 F for 60 min       

BOIL:
Warrior @60 min for 40 IBUs     

WHIRLPOOL:
2.00 oz. Citra for 10 min     

FERMENTATION:
1.0 pkg. of WLP007            

DRY HOPS:
1.50 oz. Citra for 5.0 Days     
1.50 oz. Citra for 2.0 Days     


I do store my grain in closed plastic bags inside 5 gallon buckets with the lid on.  This last bag of Breiss was left out in the basement too long before I went to repackage it.  The Breiss was chewy compared to the crunchy Rahr. Although, previous bags of the same grain (stored promptly and properly) converted slow.  Bad storage at the brew shop or distributor maybe?  Brand related?

It will be curious to see if there is any flavor difference with the extra hops, manhandling of the keg, and the new malt.