The Great B.O.C.K. Pale Ale Experiment I

(control brew/yeast case study)

This is a group experiment of the Brewers Of Central Kentucky in
which a set of brewing teams(each team consisting of 2-5 brewers) will
follow the same procedures for wort production, but vary the way the
fermentation is handled. Each team strives to use the exact same
water, grain bill, mash/lauter/sparge/boil procedures, hopping rates,
and boil times. The goal is to minimize the wort-production variables
and allow major differences in fermentation. Of course, the teams
will undoubtedly have different extraction efficiencies, chilling
methods, sanitization methods, carbonation method, etc. that will
certainly introduce a nominal amount of variance. We hope to use
and learn from this variance in calibrating future batch experiments.
Primarily, however, this brewing experiment is intended to teach
the brewers about the importance and effect of yeast in the making
of great homebrew.

Brewer:	Brewers Of Central Kentucky		Email:	trblac00@pop.uky.edu
Beer:	The Great B.O.C.K. Pale Ale Experiment I		Style:	Pale ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	5 HCU (~4 SRM)		Bitterness:	30 IBU
OG:	1.055		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	5.8% v/v (4.6% w/w)
Water:	We will be using that good ole' Kentucky "Pure Limestone Water" for this beer. No water treatment, other than a pre-boil.
Grain:	1 lb. Wheat malt 1 lb. Belgian CaraVienne
Steep:	Steep all 2 lb. grain in a bag in 3quarts 165°F water for 30 minutes. Remove grain bag and top up boiling kettle with water for boil.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.039	7 gallons
	5.5 lb. Light dry malt extract
	1Tbsp. Irish Moss last 15 minutes of boil
Hops:	0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (11% AA, 60 min.) 0.25 oz. Flavor/Aroma Hops (5% AA, 30 min.) 0.25 oz. Flavor/Aroma Hops (5% AA, 15 min.) 0.5 oz. Flavor/Aroma Hops (aroma)
Yeast:	This is the variable. Our yeast will be ordered fresh from Wyeast two weeks before the brew day, and will arrive a week and a half before the brew day. For each strain, a starter should be made a week before brew day to increase yeast population. Suggestion: 1qt. 1.050 starter
Log:	Saturday, April 25 at Lexington Brewing Company 9am.
Carbonation:	Carbonation is another variable in the experiment. Method and degree of carbonation is left up to the brewing teams. Suggestions: forced carbonation - 2.5 volumes bottle fermentation/carbonation - 3/4 cup corn sugar per 5 gal
Tasting:	Each team should plan to bring a six packs (or a keg?) of their version of The Great Pale Ale to the May meeting on Wed., May 13th and the June meeting on June 10th at Lexington Brewing Company. The May meeting is onl 17 days after Brew Day, but this will give us a chance to taste the beers once while they're young and then later after they've matured. This is especially important when you consider the purpose of this experiment. Maybe we can vote on the favorite pale ale yeast from this experiment and use that yeast for our next installment: The Great B.O.C.K. Pale Ale Experiment II (hop case study) - playing with the hopping schedules and strains for bittering, flavoring, and aroma.

Recipe posted 03/27/98.