West Coastale

Like many pioneers before me, I have left the world I know for a taste of Adventure, a flavor that happens to go very well with beer.

This young man has gone west.  In a single 3,000-mile leap, I've left the beaches of South Florida for the east-bay area of Northern California.

After a little more than two months in my new Pacific Coast panorama, I withdrew my brew gear from slumber and embarked on a familiar yet excitingly new experience -- Brew Day.

Since the Thai Breaker Brew Day earlier this year, I've been holding onto a sealed bucket of mixed grains, a handful of hops, and a packet of Safale US-05.  Having left behind my heavy-duty propane double-burner, I relented to return to the electric coils of the kitchen stove.  But a Brew Day is a Brew Day, and I was pumped anyway.

I decided to take the brew-in-a-bag route for this all-grain recipe which proved to be very manageable in an indoor setting.

My First West Coast Brew

The recipe was very simple and scaled down for a one-gallon batch, but it's enough to make myself feel more at home out here on the Left Coast.  So, if you'd like to follow along and cheers along with Brewty and the Yeast's first West Coast Ale, peep the notes below.

West Coastale Batch Size: 1 gal. Brewed By: Brent Fedor Efficiency: 65%

Mash Malt Name Wt. (lbs.) % of Mash Crystal (20L) 2 76.9 Flaked Oats .6 23.1 Total Weight 2.60

Hops Hop Variety Alpha Acid % Amt. (oz.) Boil (min.) Hop IBU Magnum - Pellet 15.2 0.25 20 49.7 Kent Goldings - Pellet 4.75 0.25 10 9.3 (template courtesy of BeerFormulator.com)

Beer Stats Estimated Beer Color SG ABV(%) AA(%) Balance Value (BV) 19 SRM 1.058 6.4 82.8 2.53 FG IBU Calories Target BV 1.010 59.0 252 (per 16 oz. Pint) ANY

Session Notes Yeast Strain(s) Used: Safale US-05 Fermentaion Temp: 68°F Sanitized one-gallon jug with Iodophor. Mashed for 60 minutes (brew-in-a-bag method). Removed the brew-bag and boiled the wort for 60 minutes. Added 0.25 oz. of Magnum hops at 40 minutes.  Added 0.5 teaspoons of Irish Moss at 45 minutes.  Added 0.25 oz. Kent Goldings hops at 50 minutes into the boil. Covered the brewpot at the end of the boil to bring most of the hop sediment up the sides of the vessel for easy removal.  Chilled the brew in an ice bath, filtered and funneled into the sanitized one-gallon jug, and pitched the yeast at 75-F degrees.