Resurgence Pale Ale III

The third Resurgence Pale Ale, moving from the earlier recipe’s yeast and hop selections to LalBrew BRY-97 and a Nectaron/Riwaka pairing. A cleaner, crisper West Coast character than version II, with the Aurora malt adding depth and a subtle bready note to the base.

Grain Bill

Three malts totalling 6.66 kg: Gladfield American Ale Malt (71.2%) as the clean base; Vienna (16.8%) for warmth; Aurora (12.0%) for the characteristic bready-caramel NZ specialty malt complexity. The Vienna and Aurora together push the malt character forward without tipping into amber territory.

Hops

Nectaron and Riwaka across five additions, 300 g total:

• Nectaron (100 g): 15 g at 60 min for bittering, 25 g whirlpool, 60 g dry hop at day 5 — pineapple and passionfruit
• Riwaka (200 g): 40 g at 30 min, 40 g at 10 min, 120 g dry hop at day 5 — citrus, tropical, passionfruit

Riwaka carries the larger dry-hop share, giving the beer a citrus-forward aroma with Nectaron’s tropical notes as support. The Nectaron/Riwaka pairing is a recurring NZ-hop combination — compatible character, different emphasis.

Fermentation

BRY-97 at 20°C in the FermZilla with 4–5 psi spunding from pitch. High vigour early fermentation, dry hop triggered at 1.014 on day 5 with temperature raised through 21°C to 22°C for a cleanup rest and pressure increase to the low-20 psi range. Staged cooling to 3–4°C with a gas top-up before packaging.

Packaging & Tasting

Bottled day 21. Pump required periodic maintenance during transfer — slower transfer rates improved wort clarity. Tasted 2024-03-30 at bottling: clear and aromatic with good carbonation. Slow, low-pressure counter-pressure filling gave the best bottle consistency. Version III is the cleanest Resurgence to date.