ON TAP: Junkyard Dog

Now on tap, Junkyard Dog.  An American pale ale.  The name was inspired by a couple bags of extra hops I had sitting around.  Trying to stay budget friendly with this batch of beer I used up scraps on hand.

The characteristics I wanted to impart was golden color, an American wheat beer body, and a thick, aromatic head.

The hops used, 1/2 oz. Galenea added at boil, and 1 oz. added at 10 mins and 5 mins, both gave a nice mixture of citrusy, almost grapefruit flavor, and pine notes.

I used 9 lbs. US 2-Row Pale malt, 1 lb. Cara-Pils, 1 lb. Biscuit malt, and 1 lb American Wheat.

This production was standard to my current technique of a single rest mash at ~152 dF for 60 minutes, which had some natural temperature fluctuation, ~167 dF mash out for 15 minutes, and a single sparge at ~171 dF.  Note: the mash tun that I originally built (not documented anywhere), which used a CPVC manifold, was destroyed in the process - details withheld due to embarrassment.

From a 60 minute boil I finished with just under ~6 gal of wort.  Since my kettle does not have a drain valve, and I rely on the ol' dump and strain method into my fermentation bucket.  I allot for a greater total volume to compensate for kettle loss.  In the future I will either modify my kettle to allow for straight gravity draining or invest in a new kettle (I'll also get some conicals, and eventually a 1bbl, and maybe my own awesome brewpub).  For now, this is how I make it work. 

I used White Labs 006 American Ale blend.

Fermentation was slow for the first 60 hours and became very vigorous after 72 finishing ~6 days later.  At first I was concerned with my choice of location.  I recently moved my supplies out of an interior closet, which was ~70 dF but varied with the outside temp due to drafty doors and poor floor insulation, into my furnace room which is all concrete/brick sitting 3 ft. below ground level.  This spot held the beer at a steady 64 for ten days.  On day 10 I moved the carboy into my keezer to cold crash for 3 days prior to kegging.

Some may argue 13 days is a short turn-around.  My response is simply, brewing is a new adventure to me.  I lack the patience and experience to let beers sit around forever.  Cranking out batch after batch with short feedback timelines is probably more beneficial to learning than brewing sequential batches without drinking it all the opportunity to test the product before moving on.

At the end of the day, this is a nice, refreshing, good to the last drop ale.  My wife, who is extremely unfiltered in her critiques, says it reminds her of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, minus the Cherry.  After a few glasses, I concur.

Cheers!