20 January 2016

Adventures in All-Grain: Episode 3 - Citra Otter

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For this SMASH I used 2lb Maris Otter, .5oz total of citra, and half the pack of US-05.
Using Beersmith,  I tweaked the recipe until I had it in the realm of an American Pale Ale. What follows is my brew day of the "Citra Otter." (See what I did there?)


  • Realizing the mistake I made in the previous post, I started with about 1.5 gal of water figuring for absorption and evaporation and got it up to 162° F. 
  • Mashed 2lb of malt for 60 minutes. Turned off the heating element and the mash stabilized at 152° F. Dipped to 150° after about 40 min so I kicked the burner back on low and kept it between 152 and 155. 
  • Pulled the grains and set them on a strainer to drain over the pot. Kicked the burner to max. *Checked the wort level and it was just at 1 gallon so I did my make shift sparge.
  • Nuked some distilled water to 160° and rinsed the grains slowly while bringing the wort to a boil and the level up to 1.5 gal.
  • Boil achieved and started the timer for 60 minutes. Time for hops!
    • 40 min: 0.15 oz Citra
    • 15 min: 0.15 oz Citra
    • 05 min: 0.20 oz Citra
  • After 60 min it was into the ice bath to cool down to 72° F
  • Into the fermenter with half a pack of US-05 and into the closet (which is a steady 66° this time of year)
Some notes. While the style matches an APA (according to beersmith) the color is barely in the realm. I think that's due to it being a SMASH as maris otter isn't a very dark malt. I'm doing a
single stage of fermentation so it won't be super clear but hopefully it turns out well.
This one should be a bit hoppier than the Amarillo but it will be interesting to compare side by side the hops only difference. 
Started to see activity in the fermenter after a few hours and by the next morning it was bubbling nicely. This one got going a bit quicker than the Amarillo. Wondering if it is due to the hops as that is the only noted difference.
I've decided I will come back with a side by side comparison post with pics and maybe a video.

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