Dry Dock Breakwater Pale Ale

This is is commercial recipe that I first tried pretty successfully with the extraction kit version. My neighbor was all raves back then! Let's see if I can get a good brew using the all grain kit. The idea behind this recipe is to use the power of Chinook hops for base load and get floral notes from Citra dry hopping.

Meanwhile the beer itself has some more color and character due to the Caramel roasted malts added. I would say it is really more of an IPA than a Pale Ale, but I guess the boundary isn't really well defined anyways.


BREWING DAY: Sep 1st, 2013

BOTTLING DAY: Sep 21st, 2013

GRAIN BILL:
- 9 lbs Rahr 2-row Pale
- 0.375 lbs Briess Caramel 60L
- 0.3125 lbs Belgian Biscuit

SACCH REST: 153F for 60 minutes
MASHOUT: 168F for 10min

HOP SCHEDULE:
0.25 oz. Chinnok @ 60 min
0.25 oz. Chinnok @ 45 min
0.5 oz. Chinnok @ 30 min
0.5 oz. Chinnok @ 15 min
0.5 oz. Chinnok @ 2 min

0.5 oz. Citra for dry hopping 1 week prior to bottling (Sep 13th, 2013). That was a Friday, fingers crossed it doesn't doom my brew..

YEAST: Wyeast 1056 American Ale, 60-72F. It kind of got a little warm early September here in Los Gatos, so I had a couple of days where the fermenter was at about 74-76F. Little worried that this could have spoiled some of the IPA character by adding off flavors, but let's see. When I added the Citra hops for dry hopping it still smelled great when I opened the fermenter and there was no evident issue.

BOTTLING: For priming, I dissolved 2/3 cup of cane sugar in 1 cup of water. Boiled the sugar solution and mixed after cooling down with the beer (still in the primary fermenter). Let the yeast settle and bottled. OG before bottling: 1.0165 (4.2 brix). First tasting notes: Excellent! The Citra hops gives beautiful floral aromas, strength overall is fine, no off flavors detected. Can't wait to taste this one!

TASTE NOTES: Opened the first bottle 8 days after bottling. Amazing! I'm really proud of myself :-) this one turned out really well. Sunflower golden color, medium head, but relatively stable. Nose has floral notes, some hay and citrus, just what you expect from a dry hopped IPA. But the taste! Has so much more body than the extract kit, it's just unbelievable. Very rich maltiness and a rocking ground swell of Chinook hops just adding tons of flavor without overwhelming. Citrusy finish, just what was expected of the Citra. I think I got the extraction this time right on the money, alcohol content is somewhere around 5-6%. After the light Witbeer I made last, this one really carries home! Looking forward for relaxing weekend afternoons on the porch enjoying the redwood hills around us with a glass of Breakwater Pale Ale!

Breakwater Pale Ale