Willamette APA

For lucky brew number thirteen I decided to tackle a more experimental recipe. I had a bunch of Willamette hops laying around after my Guinness clone brew. Since the aroma and flavor isn't really detectable in a stout I decided to brew a Willamette-forward beer to get a sense of what these little buggers can do. You don't see a lot of all-Willamette beers out there and there may be a reason for it. We're about to find out. I emphasize "experimental."

I was also able to test the limits of my wort chiller with this brew day. I somehow decided it would be a good idea to start brewing outdoors at 2pm in 90 degree heat. After a very hot but enjoyable brew session my wort chiller was not able to bring temperatures down below 82. After pumping 10 gallons of cold water through the chiller I decided to give up and bring the show inside. The yeast was pitched after wort temp fell below 80. All the plants in the yard got a few large drinks of water after distributing all the hose water pumped through the chiller.

Brew Recipe
Brew Date: 6/1/2013
Style: American Pale
Batch Volume: 4.0 gal.
Type: All Grain
Color: 7.4 SRM
Target Bitterness: 39.2 IBU
Target OG: 1.045
Estimated FG: 1.011

Grist
5.5 lb. American Two-Row Malt
1.0 lb. Pilsner Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 60L Malt

1.0 oz. Willamette Pellet Hops (60 min.)
1.0 oz. Willamette Pellet Hops (15 min.)
1.0 oz. Willamette Pellet Hops (5 min.)
1.0 oz. Willamette Pellet Hops (1 min.)

1 pkg. Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Brew Notes

Mash Temp: 154 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Pre-Mash Volume: 5.5 gal.
Post-Boil Volume: 4.5 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 71.4%
Measured OG: 1.041
Measured FG: 1.005
ABV: 4.7%
Calories: 132

Update 6/10/13 - Racked to secondary today with Julie. Julie had her first successful 1 gal. rack. It went by so fast! Pulled a gravity sample - 1.006. She's gonna be an easy drinker. Sitting at 4.7% ABV right now. It smells a little pungent so I don't think I'm a huge fan of the Willamette aroma but it tastes pretty good. May or may not dry hop with 1 oz. Willamette a few days before bottling.

Update 6/29/13 - Decided to pass on the dry hopping. Last couple of brews were hop monsters so I decided to settle things down a bit. Julie and I pulled off a joint bottling day with her first one-gallon batch yielding nine bottles and this batch yielding 37. FG was a low 1.005 so we should the crisp finish I'm looking for.