007. Hop on your Bike 2

Brew date: 06/08/2014. I hit my target OG of 1.066! The battery of my thermometer stopped working as I was about to pitch my yeast, so I can't be sure of the pitching temp. I waited at least an hour, so I'm sure it went down to room temp. I set up my swamp cooler with sanitized water and four frozen bottles. I will plan to swap out these bottles every 8 hours or so.

Yeast: US-05 is an American ale yeast for well balanced beers with low diacetyl (butter) a very crisp end palate.

Malts: Mostly light extract with some amber for colour and pronounced maltiness. Carafoam for body and head retention. Crystal 40 for slight caramel notes, colour and balance with the high IBUs. Had extra Abbey malt laying around, so I thought I would give it a whirl. Expect honey and complexity, hopefully it adds to the balance.

Hops:

Zythos (60/30/15/0/Dry Hop) Distinct tropical (pineapple) and citrus tones with slight pine and spicy characteristics. Newly developed, best for hoppy west-coast style IPAs.

Domestic Hallertau (45/15/0)


06/14: Found a crack in the lid of my primary. Checked FG and it was 1.018, so I will transfer to secondary and dry hop. Initial sample is sweet, slightly sour, not that good. Mind you, it is 930am, maybe that plays a factor. Is 1.018 too high for a FG? Perhaps there is too much sugar left, adding unneeded sweetness. The other HoYB had the same OG/FG and tasted great, so I'm not too worried.

Bottling Day: 06/24. 3.45 oz of corn sugar (3/4 cup).

An American-style India Pale Ale, dry hopped in the west-coast style with distinct tropical and citrus notes. However, it has a twist with slight pine characteristics, reminiscent of the Canadian wilderness.

Tasting notes on 07/24: Pours a good thumb of head. Colour is a deep amber, almost a brown. Not as light as I thought it would be. Mostly tropical fruit on the nose with slight grassy and piney notes. Like walking through a dewey forest early in the morning. Sharp bittering up front on the tongue. Full bodied and a very strong malt backbone. Fairly sweet and notes of caramel. It's hard to get to detect any fruit. Odd. I remember it tasting better a couple of bottles. Can the taste really change that much bottle to bottle? I'll try another one after the weekend and check.