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This American Pale Ale was brewed in response to Tim Gregory's offer of free fresh cascade hops. It was my first all fresh hop beer, which inspired me to go the SMaSH route in order to fully appreciate the contribution of the fresh hops.

Phyl and I brewed as large a batch as we estimated the hops would be suitable for, split the wort in two, and fermented on different yeasts. We froze some of the hops and used them for dry hopping post fermentation. Those of you who attended Hoptoberfest sampled the Safale US-05 version, which fermented much faster than the WLP862 (Cry Havoc) version. I found the latter (which is what I bottled for the exchange) to be a bit tastier than the former.

It's bottle conditioned so give it time to settle and then pour carefully. The quantities below are for the full batch (33 litres post boil).

Malt
2 row: 7.5 kg

Hops
cascade (fresh) (60 minutes): 570 g
cascade (fresh) (20 minutes): 145 g
cascade (fresh) (0 minutes): 145 g
cascade (fresh) (dry hopped): 145 g

Yeast
Cry Havoc (White Labs WLP862) (liquid): 1 vial

Water
Pockwock: 51 l

Procedure
mash: 68° C, 60 minutes
boil: 60 minutes
fermentation: 20° C, 6 weeks
cold crash: 7° C, 2 weeks
conditioning (in bottle): 20° C, 3 weeks

Specs
alcohol: 5.4% ABV
bitterness: 40 IBU (?)
colour: 3.4 SRM

My bottle was chunky with hop leaves. Also bottle really Belgiumy...not sure I'd this was the intent.

jacinthebox wrote:My bottle was chunky with hop leaves. Also bottle really Belgiumy...not sure I'd this was the intent.

Mine had 2 full hop cones in it, so maybe that's where your leaves came from?

The beer is good, but definitely a straight up Belgian yeast profile to it.

Jimmy wrote:

jacinthebox wrote:My bottle was chunky with hop leaves. Also bottle really Belgiumy...not sure I'd this was the intent.

Mine had 2 full hop cones in it, so maybe that's where your leaves came from?

The beer is good, but definitely a straight up Belgian yeast profile to it.

Lol...figured that he put a couple cones in each bottle after we drank Eric's bottle last night. I just wasn't ready for them to plop into my glass lol

I had a full cone in mine. I get where you are coming from when you say Belgiumy, but I've got a feeling the hops are contributing to that flavour.

Yes, a fresh hop or two is in every bottle. It's like the toy in children's cereal, but for adults.

I've brewed a few times with the cry havoc yeast but haven't noticed any Belgian characteristics to it. I did find that it contributed more to the flavour than the US-05 did.

Lots of esters in this one. Tasty. Thanks.

Definitely a Belgium almost clove like flavor in there. Not sure where it is coming from but its there for me as well. Enjoyable beer.

Thanks Kyle, the beer was well represented by the fresh hops. Lots of "wet hop" flavors with a firm bitterness coming from them