18B American Pale Ale
Greenbacker APA (I)
Grain bill
| Gladfield American Ale Malt | 3 kg | 55.5% |
| Gladfield Munich Malt | 0.85 kg | 15.7% |
| Gladfield Wheat Malt | 0.85 kg | 15.7% |
| Gladfield Supernova Malt | 0.5 kg | 9.3% |
| Gladfield Sour Grapes Malt (Acid Malt) | 0.2 kg | 3.7% |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | WP | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mosaic | 10g | · | 90g |
| Nelson Sauvin | · | 150g | · |
Yeast
| Mangrove Jack's M54 California Lager | 2 packets |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | 1 tsp in mash |
| Calcium Sulphate (Gypsum) | 1 tsp in mash |
| Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom) | half tsp in mash |
About This Beer
Owen’s first brew of the Greenbacker APA — a League of Brewers all-grain kit that would become a recurring favourite, revisited as a full batch in late 2021 and reinterpreted in 2024. This July 2020 brew is where it starts.
For a kit billed as an American Pale Ale it hops well above its weight. The grain bill is a clean, slightly characterful base — Gladfield American Ale Malt at over half the grist, with Munich and Wheat for body and head, a hit of Supernova for colour and a touch of crystal-like depth, and a little Sour Grapes acid malt to set the mash pH. The bitterness, though, is almost all aroma-side: just 10 g of Mosaic at the boil, then a huge 150 g Nelson Sauvin whirlpool and a 90 g Mosaic dry hop. Nelson’s white-wine and gooseberry character with Mosaic’s tropical, blueberry-citrus notes is a classic NZ/US pairing.
Brew Day
Brewed on the Grainfather to the kit sheet: mash at 66.7°C for 60 minutes with a 21.09 L strike, mash out at 75.6°C, and fly sparge 19.32 L at 75.6°C to a 28 L boil. A 60-minute boil with the lone 10 g Mosaic bittering charge, then the 150 g Nelson Sauvin steeped in the whirlpool for 20 minutes.
Fermentation
Two packets of Mangrove Jack’s M54 California Lager — the same warm-tolerant lager strain from the Casa Cerveza brews — fermented warm here as a two-stage ale at 19.4°C, about four days primary then ten in secondary. The Mosaic dry hop went in for the last three days before packaging. Bottle-conditioned with corn sugar and aged about a month.
The figures shown — OG 1.052, FG 1.011, 5.38% ABV — are the kit’s estimates at 73% efficiency. The IBU shown is the boil bittering only; the 150 g Nelson whirlpool adds substantial late hop character on top.