Experimental Golden Ale Update

I just transferred the EGA over to the secondary fermenter. The transfer happened a little later than normal (12 days, rather than the 7 days I usually aim for) on account of travel and other stuff going on during the past week.

I had hoped to measure the s.g., but my little plastic sampling tube (in which the hydrometer floats) broke. So, it will have to wait until bottling time.

As always (at least in my biased opinion), this looks like it's going to be a pretty good batch. The color is nice and light (as I had aimed for), and the brew is tasting OK so far. I now understand why Windsor ale yeast is considered to be of lower flocculation than Nottingham. . .there was far less sediment in the bottom of the primary than I'm usually used to! So, it will probably sit for at least three weeks before getting bottled.

A sample glass of the Experimental Golden Ale

Experimental Golden Ale

Ingredients

• 5 oz. carapils malt
• 5 oz. 20 degree crystal malt
• 6 lbs. BrewMaster golden light dried malt extract
• 1.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (bittering)
• 0.5 oz. whole Saaz hops (aroma)
• 1 packet Windsor Ale dry yeast
  

I steeped the grains for 25 minutes in 2.5 gallons of tap water at 158 degrees and sparged them with half a gallon of water. Then, I heated the mixture up to boiling, adding the malt extract and bittering hops. These boiled for 55 minutes, and then I added the aroma hops. After five more minutes of boiling, I removed the wort from the stove and chilled it down to about 75 degrees. I put the wort in the bucket, and topped it up with distilled water to around 4.5 gallons. Finally, I sprinkled the yeast on top before sealing it up. The brew is fermenting at around 65-68 degrees (ambient air temperature in my apartment these days).

Starting gravity was 1.050, or 6 percent potential alcohol. The Windsor yeast strain is supposed to ferment to a lower alcohol content, so maybe I'll get around 4-4.5 percent in the end. The wort is a nice golden color right now, and the beer should be quite pretty by the time it's finished. I put the brew in the primary fermenter on Saturday, February 6, and by the next day it had already started bubbling along. Can't wait!