High Sierra Celebratin' Ale Options

[Guest_Lee_*]

I am on my 4th batch of this one. It comes highly recommended.

(IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/cheers.gif)

[sherlock holmboy]

nice dark copper color with a smooth malty taste and excellent hop flavor and aroma from dryhopping.

[Guest_WallyG3_*]

This was my first ever brew. After 4-5 weeks in the bottle, it is AMAZING! If this were a commercial beer, it would be in my top 3 favs.

[RedVR6]

Brewing this tonight (extract version). Did not have any extra DME to make up a starter...although, looking on the recipe there is a 6oz. starter pack included in the kit?? I must have over looked it because I do not recall seeing one. So, I am going to wing it with just the Wyeast pack if my eyes did not prove me wrong.

I hope my yeast are hungry. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/tongue.gif)

[LoveThemBrowns]

I'm brewing this IPA this weekend (can't wait! Is it Friday yet??). Just like RedV, there was no DME starter in my kit. When I looked at the recipe .pdf that is posted and compared it to the recipe that was shipped in the kit, they were indeed different. The shipped kits DO NOT include the DME starter or 8oz of CaraPils. Somewhere along the line the recipe changed but the .pdf was not updated.

Anyway, I picked up half a pound of CaraPils and half a pound of crystal 20L which I'll add to the recipe.

[Jess]

Yo,
I appreciate the discussion of this recipe.

If you look at the properties of the PDF, you will find that it was created and last modified on 10/25/2005. I bought HBA on Feb. 11, 2006.

Over the last few months prior to my purchase of HBA, changes were made by HBA staff to many of the recipe so that they could continue in business. Some of these changes (IMHO) compromised the quality of the recipe. Looking at the PDF that you mentioned, it is obvious that Celebration' Ale is one of the recipes that was compromised.

My recipe for this style on the Alternative Beverage site consist of these ingredients:

7 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract (DME)
1 bag Specialty Malts
Carapils Malt
Crystal Malt - 120L
3 Muslin Bags—2 for grains—1 for WHOLE hops
1 1/4 oz Chinook – bittering hops
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 oz Cascade – flavoring WHOLE hops
1 oz Cascade – aromatic WHOLE hops
1 cup Priming Sugar (used at bottling)

Starting Gravity: 1.058 - 1.067
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 - 1.019
Alcohol: 5.6 +/-
Color Rating: 17

http://ebrew.com/amber_ales/chico_celebration_ale.htm
and it is on sale this month at 15% off.

According to Jason, HBA has not included yeast starters for a long time. We include yeast starters on Alternative Beverage recipes with SG's above 1.070 and most lagers.

Did not have any extra DME to make up a starter...although, looking on the recipe there is a 6oz. starter pack included in the kit??

My guess is that none of the PDF's posted on the HB site are correct. I do not have access to the PDF files at this time but soon I hope to be able to get with Keith so this situation can be corrected.

I GREATLY appreciate you bringing up the PDF files - I will be looking at ALL of the PDF's and trying to determine if changes that have been prior to my purchase of HBA can be or should be undone.

NO ONE wants you to make good beer more than I do.

Jess

[kroyster]

My guess is that none of the PDF's posted on the HB site are correct.

Just to clarify - HBA did not make mass changes that compromised the integrity of any recipes. In the last couple of months of existance HBA did experience supply issues, and so a few (ie 2 or 3) recipes were altered when possible to accomodate our existing supplies. To Ale's recollection, only a few of the IPAs were altered to use amber DME instead of light DME, but only when the color profile allowed such changes. I am not aware of any other significant changes. If we were out of supplies for a recipe and there was no viable substitution, we pulled the recipe from the shopping cart. This actually happened far more often than changes to the recipe.

[ale]

Whoa (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/omg.gif) I confess that HBA did drop the ball here (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/blush.gif) . Those PDF's are over 3 years old (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/omg.gif) ! HBA used to add starters to the recipe kits back then when the Wyeast packs that we carried were the 50 ml. size. The pattern that we saw was that for every one recipe that would go out with a Wyeast 50 ml./Starter, 5 recipes would go out with White Labs Pitchable yeast. Both are stellar yeast labs and in order to level the playing field HBA switched to the XL (now Activator) pitchable packs and dropped the starters. It just seems that few folks have the time to make starters these days.

As far as the CaraPils goes, at about the same time frame as the yeast switch a thread started on this BrewBoard raising the question of whether or not it had to be mashed, or just steeped. I called Briess (they own the trademark on the name CaraPils) directly and was put in touch with a senior maltster to get the straight story. She told me that CaraPils definately needed to be mashed in order to produce the dextrines that it's designed for. She commented that a lot of homebrewers since the early days of homebrewing (she was there) make the mistake of considering CaraPils to be ~3°L Crystal Malt. Which it's not. She went into mind numbing detail about how its malted in order to maintain long chains of dextrines, but needs the enzymes from a diastatic mash in order to accomplish this. She went as far as to suggest taking a taste/body test. Make a cup of 'tea' with a tablespoon of CaraPils added and then sample it against a cup of plain hot water from the same kettle. She said that the 'tea' would have a husky flavor, but no more body. She then suggested that HBA substitute, where appropriate, 10°L Crystal Malt for the CaraPils in extract batches.

We may have missed upgrading a few PDF's, but at no time were HBA Recipes ever compromised.

[LoveThemBrowns]

Just a follow-up - I bottled my batch yesterday and it WAS GOOD!! Really, really good. I can't wait for it to be drinkable! Recommended by this brewer!

[SaintTaris]

This brew is a staple in my Kegerator. I always order the all grain version from Alternative Beverage.

[AndyCLS]

Anyone else notice the Celebratin Ale recipe change in the hop bill? The new recipe has 1 1/4 oz galena (bittering), 1/2 oz Amarillo (flavoring), and 1/2 oz Amarillo (aromatic).

[Jess]

Anyone else notice the Celebratin Ale recipe change in the hop bill? The new recipe has 1 1/4 oz galena (bittering), 1/2 oz Amarillo (flavoring), and 1/2 oz Amarillo (aromatic).

That was a change necessitated by the hop shortage. We are turn the recipes back around as quickly as possible. This will be back to the way it was real soon.

[AndyCLS]

That was a change necessitated by the hop shortage. We are turn the recipes back around as quickly as possible. This will be back to the way it was real soon.

Thanks for the quick reply, Jess. I had a feeling that was the reason for the hop substitution.