Brew Number

57

Style

Four Hop Pilsener FHP 16/2

 Ingredients

Goldrush Pilsener kit 1.7 kg

Brewboost bag 15

200 g corn syrup

15g super alpha hops

20 g Hallertau hops 8-9%

30 g Cascade hops

30 g Saaz hops

NOTE While measuring these hops, realised that my kitchen scales are VERY inaccurate at these small weights, so all the hop amounts in the preceding recipes should be considered approximate only and mostly underestimated.

Brewing notes

Put 2 L water in pot.  Bring to boil.  Add brewbooster, corn syrup, kit.  Bring to boil.  Hop additions:  0 mins, 15 g Super Alpha in stocking bag, 30 mins 20 g Hallertau in stocking bag, 40 mins 15g Cascade and 15 g Saaz in stocking bag, 42 mins end boil.  Remove super alpha hops.  Pour into fermenter, with hallertau and cascade and saaz hops.  Make up to 22 l with cold water and ice, at 26 degrees.  OG 1.041.  Rehydrate yeast in 1/3 cup tepid water.  Stir and wait 15 mins.  Add a few spoons of wort, wait 15 mins.  Bubbling slightly, pitch at 1.30 pm 10 Feb.  11 Feb, 26 degrees, 1 bubble every 3s.  12 Feb, 25 degrees, 1 bubble every 6 s.  Sample bubbling and active, SG 1.025.  Add 15 g Saaz and 15 g Cascade in stocking bag – Another attempt at late addition aroma hops.  13 Feb, 26 degrees, 1 bubble every 6s.  14 Feb 25 degrees, 1 bubble every 15s sg1.014.  15 Feb, 25 degrees, 1 bubble every 25 s, sg 1.012.  16 Feb, 26 degrees, 1 bubble every 30 s, sg 1.010.  Decant through siphon tube, bulk prime 5 oz dextrose, bottle on 16 Feb. First use of bottle rinser?

Tasting notes

While boiling – hoppy to the point of tongue tingling and numbing.

Mid fermentation – still a bit sweet but reasonable up front and lingering bitterness, nice floral character on the nose.

End fermentation – good bitterness all the way through and good floral hop aroma.

ABV 4.7%

26 Feb - 10 days old. Reasonable gas on opening, good bubbling in glass, nice fine head, reasonable retention. Dark amber in colour. Citrus and floral hops on the nose. Lightly malty up front with a hint of toffeee, then citrusy hops kick in, becoming flowery and tangy taste, then very long pleasantly bitter aftertaste. Superb, maybe the best Pilsener so far. Still not the full aroma of Little Creatures Pale Ale, but when they charge $23 a six pack, ours starts to taste even better.

20 March - 5 weeks old. Taste test against Little Creatures Pale Ale. Very similar colour, maybe FHP a bit darker, same level of carbonation, similar head and retention, FHP generates a bit more head. PA initially floral hops on the nose, dissipating rapidly, ditto FHP. Flavours very similar. Both have floral and citrus hops up front and middle, decaying to lingering tangy bitterness. Main difference is FHP has a more bitter lingering aftertaste, while PA retains some floral tang through the aftertaste. But the tastes are so close the differences could come from FHP being not as well chilled. (If you dont chill it beforehand, it seems a glass jug makes a big difference to beer temp).

7 April, Good head, excellent flavour, very nice beer.

11 April Good carbonation, nice head, good colour. Plenty of bitterness without being overpowering, excellent flavour, boil is just right but maybe a bigger late hop addition for aroma. Lovely.

10 May 3 months old. Very nice ale, aroma not as good as it could be, and hop flavour smoothing out more now, but pretty good.

11 June Good, slightly excessive carbonation, clean, crisp, nice tangy bitterness, some aftertaste but could be more, limited aroma. Very nice beer, not really Little Creatures though.

21 July. 5 months old. Some aroma, nice carbonation head retention could be better, but it is quite lacy, nice light colour. Lovely crisp flavour, nice amount of bitterness, needs a bit more flavour and aroma hops to balance the bitterness, but a jolly fine beer.

21 August. Nice carbonation, no aroma, some head but a bit disappointing. A nice subdued flavour with reasonable bitterness. Slightly sharp almost rusty taste developing, not sure what it is but it is reasonably subdued. A nice beer, and there was a time I would have been very proud of it, but compared to recent extract and mash brews can taste a definite lack of body.

27 August. Yes, a faint taste similar to the previous one, slightly sharp, slightly rusty, not enough to ruin the beer flavour but detectable. Amazing how much the hop flavour has reduced. Good thing these are pretty much all drunk.