When I started brewing again in August 2003, I didn't have any specific style of beer in
mind. Up to that time I had been drinking mainly Coopers Pale Ale, but my first attempt was a
lager which failed dismally. I also was not overwhelmed by the kits I could buy, and so I soon
started experimenting. My intention was to find a beer that I liked and that I could brew
easily. The temperature and storage requirements ruled out bottom-fermenting lagers, so I ended
up concentrating on an ale style.
But which style? I didn't care. It was supposed to be for me, not for anybody else. Then one
day in September 2004 Berndt Wulf asked me to enter a beer in a local competition. I gave him
one (I think brew 32, which I called a pale ale, though it had been
brewed with a Kölsch-style yeast) and he took it with him. A few days later he brought back the
results. For some reason he had entered it into the competition as a Düsseldorfer Alt, though
the beer was too light, too carbonated and too low in hops for a Düsseldorfer Alt. The verdict
of the judges came back: this beer was too light, too carbonated and too low in hops for a
Düsseldorfer Alt. Apart from that they were relatively happy with it.
That got me thinking. It wasn't exactly a typical pale ale either. So I invented the term
“Groggy Ale”, which hopefully nobody has used before.
What's special about Groggy Ale?
My intention was to look for a relatively pale beer with full body and aromatic flavour
(whatever that might mean; I've been discovering as I go along). It was fairly clear to me that
this meant no adjuncts such as sugar or dextrose.
First attempts: malt extract
In December 2003 I gave up with kits and started a few brews with Cooper's Pale Malt Extract.
The results were good; the beer tasted (at least to me, and that's what counts) a lot better
than the kits I had bought. I still had problems with the crystal malt, though; I had
originally planned to put 15% crystal malt into the brews, the maximum recommended, but at the
last minute it occurred to me that I had always been concerned about too much crystal malt. As
a result, I was much more cautious and used 5% crystal malt in two of the brews. I ended up
throwing the remainder away. Despite this, all four brews (brew 10,
brew 11, brew 12 and brew 13) were too dark and sticky for my liking. Most of these brews
were made with a yeast culture from Coopers' Pale Ale, but brew 13
used Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast.
Step 2: Lighter colour
As a result of this, I tried making beers with less dark ingredients. This stage included brew 18, brew 19 and brew 20. The beers tasted OK, but were still too dark.
Step 3: Lighter base malts
Still unwilling to go to full grain mashing, I managed to find a 28 kg container of Coopers
Extra Light Malt Extract. It's still too dark for a Pilsener, but it's much lighter than the
dark extract that they sell as “Light Malt Extract”. Unfortunately, the first brew
(brew 23) had a problem that I think is related with the fact that
we're using rain water, and the yeast appears to have suffered. That beer was nice and light,
but tasted terrible as a result. Following brews (brew 25, brew 26 and brew 27), were even lighter:
they had only “extra” light malt extract. The latter two were brewed with Wyeast
2565 Kölsch Yeast instead of the Thames Valley Yeast. This gave a harder, less malty flavour
that I decided I didn't like. On the other hand, my experience with brew
23 made me wary of the Thames Valley yeast (without good reason, I now think), so I didn't
use that yeast again.
Step 4: Full grain mash
I couldn't find any more “Extra Pale” malt extract, so I finally tried mashing my
own grain, using a two-step infusion. Based on my interest in a “chewy” beer, I did
a relatively high-temperature mash. At the same time I somewhat increased the bitterness from a
calculated 27 IBUs to about 33. These are based on the information supplied to me by the
vendor, who himself doubts that the beers are as bitter as the calculations suggest; but this
may be due to the relatively heavy nature of the wort. I brewed brew
28, brew 29, brew 30, brew 32 and brew 33 like this, using Kölsch
yeast for all of them.
Step 5: Choice of yeast
By this time I was relatively happy with the balance, and turned towards the yeast. I had
decided that the Kölsch yeast was too harsh, and tried another British yeast, Wyeast 1318
London Ale III. This is a relatively low attenuating yeast, and I quite like it. Nevertheless,
on recommendation I tried the 1007 Düsseldorfer Alt yeast, which I didn't like as much, and
which caused significant problems with clearing. Finally I tried another German yeast, the 1338
European Ale. As of the time of writing (mid-January 2005) I'm still waiting for those beers to
mature.
Infusion or decoction?
In addition to the experiments with the yeast, I tried the alternative of decoction instead of
infusion with a couple of brews: brew 41 was infused, brew 42 was decocted, and apart from that I tried to keep everything
else the same. The jury's still out on them, too, but it looks like the decocted beer
attenuated better and has a better head. Both brews use the London Ale III yeast.
Overview
Here's an overview of the brews so far. Don't rely on it all being exact; if you see anything
that looks wrong, please contact me.
| Brew |
Date |
Mash |
First |
First |
Second |
Second |
Third |
Third |
Pils |
Münch |
Other |
IBU |
EBC |
°P |
Yeast |
FG |
% |
|
|
|
Type |
Temp |
Time |
Temp |
Time |
Temp |
Time |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
alcohol |
|
|
| 10 |
8Nov03 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1044) |
Coop |
| 11 |
12Nov03 |
extract, sugar |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1046) |
Coop |
| 12 |
18Nov03 |
extract, sugar |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11.3 |
Coop |
| 13 |
22Nov03 |
extract, sugar |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11.9 |
1275 |
| 15 |
5Dec03 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11.7 |
1275 |
| 18 |
27Dec03 |
extract, sugar |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1050) |
1275 |
| 19 |
5Jan04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14.3 |
1275 |
| 20 |
11Jan04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12.3 |
1275 |
| 23 |
22Feb04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12.0 |
1275 |
1012 |
5.1 |
| 24 |
2Mar04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 |
|
11.9 |
1275 |
1011 |
4.7 |
| 26 |
6Apr04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 |
|
12.3 |
2565 |
1012 |
5.5 |
| 27 |
19Apr04 |
extract |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 |
|
12.3 |
2565 |
1011 |
5.5 |
| 28 |
16May04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
45 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
27 |
|
11.1 |
2565 |
1013 |
| 29 |
16May04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
45 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
25 |
|
12.8 |
2565 |
1012 |
| 30 |
6Jun04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
45 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
28 |
|
11.9 |
2565 |
1014 |
| 32 |
6Jun04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
45 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
33 |
|
13.5 |
2565 |
1013 |
5.0 |
| 33 |
4Jul04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
45 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
33 |
|
13.5 |
2565 |
1013 |
5.0 |
| 34 |
4Jul04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
63° |
20 |
72° |
45 |
|
|
|
33 |
|
12.7 |
2565 |
1013 |
5.0 |
| 35 |
1Aug04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
|
|
72° |
60 |
95 |
|
5 |
|
|
12.1 |
1318 |
1018 |
| 36 |
1Aug04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
|
|
72° |
60 |
40 |
55 |
5 |
32 |
|
12.1 |
1318 |
1018 |
5.0 |
| 38 |
14Sep04 |
infusion |
61° |
10 |
|
|
70° |
60 |
95 |
|
5 |
45 |
10 |
13.0 |
1007 |
1016 |
| 39 |
14Nov04 |
infusion |
62° |
10 |
|
|
72° |
60 |
48.5 |
48.5 |
3 |
32 |
18 |
12.5 |
1007 |
1016 |
| 40 |
14Nov04 |
infusion |
60° |
10 |
|
|
72° |
60 |
48.5 |
48.5 |
3 |
32 |
18 |
12.4 |
1318 |
1016 |
| 41 |
21Nov04 |
infusion |
62° |
18 |
|
|
72° |
60 |
48.5 |
48.5 |
3 |
34 |
25 |
12.8 |
1318 |
1016 |
| 42 |
21Nov04 |
decoction |
61° |
30 |
70° |
30 |
75° |
15 |
48.5 |
48.5 |
3 |
34 |
25 |
12.4 |
1318 |
1016 |
| 43 |
18Dec04 |
infusion |
62° |
30 |
|
|
71° |
45 |
47.5 |
47.5 |
5 |
37 |
18 |
12.1 |
1338 |
1019 |
| 44 |
18Dec04 |
infusion |
62° |
30 |
|
|
71° |
50 |
47.5 |
47.5 |
5 |
37 |
18 |
12.1 |
1318 |
1019 |
| 45 |
3Jan05 |
infusion |
62° |
30 |
|
|
71° |
60 |
38 |
57 |
5 |
33 |
|
12.2 |
1338 |
| 46 |
3Jan05 |
infusion |
62° |
30 |
|
|
71° |
60 |
38 |
57 |
5 |
33 |
|
12.8 |
1338 |
$Id: groggy-ale.html,v 1.3 2005/02/24 04:11:59 grog Exp grog $
