Brew Log #045: Aurora Amber (Kit)
Taking a different tack this time, going to be using a Brewmaster Recipe Kits Aurora Amber we sell at FH Steinbert (the day job). It’s a partial-boil kit, using a pilsner extract and a few specialty grains. Should be a good, basic amber for the fall season.
Up until this year I’d been fully all-grain in my brewing, but i’ve been making the switch back to extract brews lately, otherwise I wouldn’t even try one of these kits. But I figured, hey, it’s supposed to be simpler, and we had one at work that was set aside for employee use, so I’m giving it a shot!
And because it’s only a partial-boil, I can use my smaller kettle, which is a little easier to clean.
I did swap out the provided yeast, since part of why this one was set aside is that the yeast packet had sprung a leak. I’ll be using Flagship A07 from Imperial instead, it’s a great all-around ale yeast that works with a lot of different styles.
[beerxml recipe=http://www.indigo-k.com/beers/045-aurora-amber.xml fermentation=true]
Brew Notes
So far, this is a really quick and easy process – getting all the extract out of the provided pouch was the hardest part. Also, since I’m only boiling 3 gallons of liquid instead of my usual 5, it hit the boiling point much sooner than I’d expected. Put my first hops in at 1:00 for a 60 minute boil, with the second hop addition going in 10 minutes to the end. At this rate should be finishing cleaning it all up by about 2:30 or so!
2:00: Chilling the wort, should be ready to pitch yeast in maybe 20 minutes? Three gallons is so much easier to work with than five, you guys!
2:33: OG is at 1.045, which is quite a bit lower than expected. Even with an extract batch. Probably could have done more to sparge the wort out of the grains in the steeping bag. Certainly wouldn’t have hurt anything. Next time for sure! Supposed to have a final ABV of 5.9%, and I don’t see that happening unless the yeast goes all the way down to 1.000, but we’ll see I guess!
Tasting Notes
2022-11-09: First gravity test came in at 1.016, which puts the ABV around 3.8%. Really pretty weak. I think I have a stalled ferment, since it was only weakly active for about two days after pitching the yeast. Normally when it ends that quickly it’s because the yeast just churned through the sugars, but that clearly didn’t happen this time. Even though the temp hasn’t gotten below 70°, I’m thinking I may need to warm it up a bit to wake up the yeast. I’ll put some towels around it and see if that helps. The yeast is supposed to be tolerant up to 12% ABV, so I know that’s not it—and it occurs to me I might add more sugar to try to bump it up a bit anyway, though frankly I’d be happy with a solid 4.5-5.0% amber.
2022-11-13: Gravity is at 1.014 now, so only a slight ABV improvement (4.07% ABV). I think I’m going to just carb it and be happy with it. Flavor is good – malty and sweet with a hint of earth from the hops. Good color, too – closest I’ve gotten to a real Red Ale so far. Gotta remember this mix of specialty grains for my next red batch.
Final Thoughts
Okay, I’ve had a healthy number of pints of this batch now, and I gotta say, it’s an easy drinker! Not super-strong, so i can actually enjoy a few pints. Not quite a ‘small beer’, but definitely a Session. The color is Just Fantastic, a Red that’s just over the ‘Dark’ line—I need to keep note of this blend of specialty malts and apply it to my regular Red Ale.
