Abandoned Hazy 18 (clone)

About This Beer

A recipe from Abandoned Brewing in Wellington, brewed from a kit won as a prize at the Poribrewer club’s BBQ beer competition. Abandoned provided the recipe and the local homebrew shop provided the ingredients as part of the prize.

The grain bill is a hazy ale base: Ale and Wheat Malt for body and the soft hazy mouthfeel, Pilsner to keep the colour light, and Big O malted oats for the creamy texture a New England IPA wants.

Gladfield Sour Grapes Malt contributes natural malic acid, which reduces the lactic addition needed to hit mash pH. The recipe specifies 2 ml in the mash water rather than the usual amount, cut to account for what the malt brings.

Centennial, Columbus and Kohatu across the whirlpool and dry hop: floral citrus, earthy peppery intensity, and tropical melon and passionfruit respectively.

Brew day

Ninety minute boil, whirlpool held at 85°C for 20 minutes before chilling. A slightly higher sparge volume than usual meant a lower starting gravity than the recipe called for.

Fermentation

Two packets of Verdant. 18°C for the first 24 hours, stepping to 20°C for five days, then 22°C for a seven-day diacetyl rest. Some overflow at peak krausen, with pressure kept low at around 2 psi through the active phase.

Dry hopped once gravity dropped below 1.020, at about day 4. The earlier-than-usual timing was deliberate: adding hops while fermentation still has some activity left gives the yeast the chance to scavenge the oxygen introduced with them.

Temperature lowered slowly over a couple of days after the rest.

The result

Nineteen litres kegged and two bottled. Tasted well on transfer, and will benefit from settling and carbonation.