18B American Pale Ale
Tasman Pale Ale (July 2021)
Grain bill
| Malteurop 2-Row Ale Malt | 4.65 kg | 83.5% |
| Gladfield Aurora Malt | 0.92 kg | 16.5% |
Adjuncts
| Whirlfloc | 1 g @ 15 min |
| Yeast nutrient | 1.2 g @ 15 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 10 min | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waimea | 17g | · | 33g |
| Motueka | · | 58g | · |
| Taiheke | · | 12g | 38g |
Yeast
| Safale US-05 | 1 packet |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | 4 g mash + 3 g sparge |
| Calcium Sulphate | 2.9 g mash + 2 g sparge |
| Magnesium Sulphate | 1.9 g mash only |
Tasting notes
About This Beer
NZ-hopped Pale Ale built around three NZ hop varieties (Motueka, Waimea, Taiheke) on a simple two-malt grain bill. Sourced through Hauraki Homebrew in Albany. A re-brew of an earlier 15 April 2021 batch (not captured). Notebook batch 13, brewed 30 July 2021. The cheapest brew in the captured collection at NZD $48 ($2.06/L), driven by the lean two-malt grain bill.
Grain Bill
5.57 kg total, only two malts:
- 4.65 kg Malteurop 2-Row Ale Malt (base) — first appearance of Malteurop in the captured collection
- 0.92 kg Gladfield Aurora Malt — malt depth, slight melanoidin contribution and a colour lift
The Aurora addition keeps the beer from being a flat single-malt SMaSH; it pushes the beer slightly toward amber territory and adds a malty backbone that the lean hop schedule needs underneath it.
Hop Schedule
Three NZ varieties, 158 g total (87 g boil + 71 g dry hop):
- Waimea 17 g at 60 min — bittering (high-alpha, pine and citrus)
- Motueka 58 g at 10 min — flavour (lime, citrus, white wine)
- Taiheke 12 g at 10 min — flavour (NZ Cascade — citrus, passionfruit, lime)
- Waimea 33 g dry hop on day 6 — pine and tangelo lift
- Taiheke 38 g dry hop on day 6 — passionfruit and lime aroma
A textbook NZ Pale Ale move: Waimea doing double duty (bittering and dry hop) plus a Cascade-family aroma layer from Taiheke. Motueka at 10 min carries the lime-citrus signature in the flavour additions.
Fermentation
1 packet of Safale US-05 pitched at 18 °C for 10 days. Dry hop on day 6 from pitch (timing inferred): 33 g Waimea + 38 g Taiheke.
FG hit target exactly at 1.009. OG came in 3 points short of target — likely the 40-minute saccharification rest at 66 °C limiting conversion vs Owen’s later 60-minute / 67 °C standard.
Water treatment split between mash and sparge — 4 g calcium chloride mash + 3 g sparge, 2.9 g calcium sulphate mash + 2 g sparge, 1.9 g magnesium sulphate in the mash only.
Packaging
160 g of sugar for bottle conditioning — ~6.9 g/L at 23.25 L bottled, within standard range.
Numbers
| Stage | Value |
|---|---|
| Mash + sparge | 32.5 L |
| Pre-boil | 28 L |
| Boil addition | +2 L |
| Post-boil | 27 L |
| Into fermenter | 24 L |
| Bottle | 23.25 L |
| Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|
| OG | 1.056 | 1.053 |
| FG | 1.009 | 1.009 |
| ABV | 6.2 % | 5.78 % |
OG missed (likely the short mash). FG hit target. ABV finished 0.4 % below target as a result.
Tasting
- Pale ale colour, slightly malty
- Bitter rather than hoppy
- Clean mouth feel
The “bitter rather than hoppy” verdict is the most useful note. The 17 g Waimea bittering at 60 min on a low-IBU recipe shouldn’t have driven hard bitterness on its own — but combined with the conservative flavour additions (58 g Motueka + 12 g Taiheke at 10 min, no whirlpool or flameout charges) the IBU-to-flavour ratio leaned bitter. Future iterations could shift weight toward whirlpool / flameout / dry hop and pull back the 60 min Waimea charge.
Context
Sits between the captured Red IPA — June 2021 and the American APA — August 2021 in Owen’s brewing chronology. Notable as:
- The cheapest captured brew so far ($2.06/L)
- First appearance of Malteurop 2-Row Ale Malt in the captured collection (Owen’s usual is Gladfield Ale Malt)
- The only captured brew using Waimea and Taiheke