FWH or Not Summer Ale

FWH Version of a Split Batch of Special Bitter - 2009 Savannah Brewers League Experiment Beer.
Blind triangle taste testing of FWH-only and 60-min bittering only beers.

Brewer:	Christo		Email:	-
Beer:	FWH or Not Summer Ale		Style:	English Pale Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	3.5 gallons
Color:	7 HCU (~5 SRM)		Bitterness:	29 IBU
OG:	1.046		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	4.7% v/v (3.7% w/w)
Grain:	4 lb. 10 oz. Marris Otter 4 oz. British Carastan 2 oz. American victory
Mash:	86% efficiency
	154F
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.041	4 gallons
	FWH-only hop addition is assumed approximately 10-15% more IBUs than shown. Other half of split batch was hopped only at 60 minutes.
Hops:	31.0g Kent Goldings (4.5% AA, 60 min.)
Yeast:	S-05
Log:	17 days at 72F. Both in 5 gal carboys.
Carbonation:	medium carbonation.
Tasting:	When you know the two beers are different, you can detect a distinct difference between the the FWH'd and the 60-min beers. FWH being slightly more bitter but "smoother" and the 60-min being more malty but a little harsher. FWH definitely with more flavor/aroma as well. When you don't know which beer is different (blind triangle taste testing with 3 samples, 2 the same, the other different), however, it is very difficult to tell apart from the 60-min-only hopped version. In club blind tastings, 4 out of 5 could not correctly tell the difference when given three samples, two of the one variety and the third the other. As a side note, surprised at the nice malt flavor of the overall recipe used being very good with nice toasty quality from Marris Otter even though just a tiny amount of specialty malts.

Recipe posted 07/22/09.