Citra Pale Ale

Citra hops have intrigued me for a while, but this is the first time I’ve brewed with them. I took my standard American Pale Ale recipe, scaled it up for 8 gallons so that I could ferment a portion with Brett (more on that in another post) and changed the flavor and aroma hops to Citra. I’m looking forward to comparing the flavor and aroma contributions of the Citra to my standard Amarillo.

I added a protein rest in an attempt to improve head retention. I did protein rests for my Berliner Weiss and Bohemian Pilsner and they both have outstanding head retention. I also did a decoction on those, so I’ll have to see if the protein rest without the decoction makes a difference.

Brew Date: 2/3/2012
Beer Number: B23-A
Beer Name: “Citra Pale Ale”
Type: American Pale Ale
Primary Fermenter: 6 1/2 gallon glass (? Days)
Secondary Fermenter: TBD
Volume: @6.0 gallons in fermenter
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.013
Expected IBU: 59
Expected SRM: 8
Expected Alcohol %: 5.1%


Ingredients:
14 lbs. American 2-row malt
1 ½ lbs. White Wheat Malt
¾ lbs. Crystal 60L
3/4 lbs. Crystal 40L
20g (0.7 oz.) Citra pellet hops (13.4%AA) FWH
24g (0.84 oz.) Warrior pellet hops (15.8% AA) 60 min.
20g (0.7 oz.) Citra pellet hops (13.4%AA) 15 min.
20g (0.7 oz.) Citra pellet hops (13.4%AA) 5 min.
20g (0.7 oz.) Citra pellet hops (13.4%AA) 0 min.

Step by Step Process:
WLP 001 Yeast Starter (2/3/12)
1. Collected @ 1.5L 2nd runnings from B-23 and boiled for 15 minutes down to @ 1L
2. Cooled in a water bath to @ 74F
3. Pitched tube of WLP001
4. stirred vigorously when walking by for approximately 1 ½ hours
Wort
5. Crushed grain in Barley Crusher/ double-crushing wheat
6. Heated 15.5 qts. strike water to @142F and poured into mash tun
7. Waited for mash tun temp to drop to 137F
8. Added grains to tun and stirred – temp. settled at @133F mashed @ 21 min. with top open (temp dropped to 132)
9. Added 13.75 qts. @190F water; temp settled at 150F and mashed for 35 min.
10. Added @ 2 qts boiling water to mash tun to bring temp to 152F
11. Recirculated @ 4 qts. and returned to tun
12. Opened valve slowly and then wide open and drained into kettle collecting @ 5.25 gal.
13. Pre-boil gravity 1.044
14. While draining, fired burner and set heat on med. and added 20 g. Citra pellets
15. When empty, filled with @26 qts. of @ 195F water bringing temp. to @175
16. Stirred well Recirculated and drained collecting another @7.25 gal.
17. Brought to a boil and after 5 minutes added 24g. Warrior pellets for 60 min.
18. Followed hopping schedule per above
19. Placed wort chiller in kettle and boiled for @6 minutes
20. Began chilling immediately after knockout and 1 minute addition; cooled to @64F in 25 minutes
21. Transferred through syphon (splashing as much as possible)
22. Transferred @ 5.75 gallons into 6 ½ gallon glass carboy and 2.25 gallons into 3 gallon glass carboy

23. Shook carboy as much as practical (carboy was pretty full)
24. Pitched entire 1L starter into carboy
25. Placed on fermentation room floor (temp. 63F)
26. After 1 hour, no activity, temp 61F
27. @ 7 hours, no activity, temp was 57F
28. @ 36 hours, small signs of activity on surface, temp 55F
29. At @ 48 hours, krausen had risen into the airlock; removed airlock and stopper and replaced with sanitized stopper and blow-off tube.
30. @ 5 ½ days – krausen has fallen and frequent bubbles are heard in the blow-off catch container temp 55F
31. Replaced blow-off tube with sanitized stopper and airlock

Kegging
32. Cleaned and sanitized keg and filled with CO2
33. Used large auto siphon to transfer from carbon to keg
34. Lubed bail o-ring and sealed keg
35. Charged with 25 psi CO2 to ensure no leaks

Notes:
Did a protein rest (albeit a little hot, was aiming for 127F and hit 132F) in order to help head retention
Batch sparge may have been too hot – will need to assess if presence of tannins