Centennial Gold

My idea here was to brew a summer beer that was basically an English Pale Ale but with lots of citrusy US hops. What sets this apart from a standard American Pale Ale is the lower IBUs, lower ABV, biscuity maris otter base and English yeast. It's quite a peculiar beer and I can't make up my mind whether it's more on our side of the pond our theirs, but to cut a long story short, it's like drinking a good old full bodied english pint with a hit of US hop aroma at the end.

This will be at this year's competition for those wishing to try it. Fortunately for me the guidelines are very vague so it should slot right into the American Pale Ale catagory.



Centennial Gold

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.830
Total Hops (g): 75.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.043 (°P): 10.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.22 %
Colour (SRM): 4.9 (EBC): 9.7
Bitterness (IBU): 26.0 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 67
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
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3.150 kg Pale Malt (65.22%)
1.600 kg Pilsner (UK) (33.13%)
0.080 kg Crystal 80 (1.66%)

Hop Bill
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20.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
55.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (2.4 g/L)

Sounds good to me! Love Centennial. I had something similar in the pub at the weekend, Saltaire Cascade. English bitter through and through, but with Cascade.

I'm quite a fan of the EPAs with american hops even when very restrained. Banks Sunbeam and Wetheroak Hill Gold are fantastic beers. It's quite fun to brew a beer that can be seen two ways, is it an english pale ale with american hops or an american pale ale with English yeast and malts?