Media Circus Hazy Pale Ale Homebrew Recipe

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Recipe Post by Chip Walton

This hazy, juicy pale ale is an example of what happens when your recipe gets thrown out the window and improvisation becomes key to the brew day. The well-intended starting point recipe was inspired by Michael Dawson’s New Englandish Bitter recipe published in The Growler magazine. Dawson’s original recipe is for a beer similar in appearance, flavor and aroma to the popular New England (or Northeast) IPAs — with a grist heavy on oats, no boil hops, all whirlpool and dry hops — but with less alcohol. Think: session New England IPA. However, due to the news crew on-site at Bad Ass Bryon Adams’s house on brew day, things went a off the rails; we had to make due for the sake of TV video magic. See Chop & Brew – Episode 67 for more information and tasting notes from Chip Walton and Jeremy King.


Media Circus Hazy Pale Ale

Note: since this brew day was sort of all over the place, this recipe is more of a recounting of the day than it is an accurate set of instructions. Y’all know how I do!

Brew In A Bag
Yield: about 4 gallons (Chip used an old-school eight-gallon Italian kettle)

FG: 1.009
ABV: 5.6%

Ingredients

Fermentables

  • 6 lbs Simpsons Golden Promise
  • 2.75 lbs Crisp Malted Oats
  • 3.15 lbs Pilsner Liquid Malt Extract

Hops

  • ?? oz (a big handful) of Amarillo whole-leaf hops from BSG brewer’s cut from 2016 CY
  • ?? oz (another big handful) of Amarillo whole-leaf hops
  • 2 oz Equaknot pellet hops – whirlpool hops steeped for 15 minutes at 180F
  • 2 oz Equaknot pellet hops – dry hops

Yeast

  • Imperial Organic Yeast A38 Juice

Process

Bring seven gallons of water to a strike temperature of about 160F or whatever temperature your system needs to end up at 154F after adding grain.

Line kettle with BIAB bag. Dough in grains and stir well to break up any dough balls. Aim for a mash temperature of 153-154F and hold for 30 minutes.

Remove bag and place on a clean grill grate over kettle to slowly drain bag of sweet wort. My post-mash SG was 1.038. 

Bring kettle to a boil. 

Add a big handful of whole-leaf Amarillo hops into kettle. Ten minutes later, add another big handful of Amarillo whole-leaf hops. It helps if there is a reporter and photographer there to playfully pressure you into doing these hop drops. Boil for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, lower the flame and pour LME into kettle, stirring well to dissolve and avoid scorching on bottom of kettle. Boil for five more minutes. Kill the flame, add any leftover Amarillo whole-leaf hops, and let the wort sit for 10 minutes. Chill to 180F, and add 2 oz of Equaknot pellet hops. Stir to whirlpool for about five minutes, then let it steep for 15 minutes. After this steep time, continue chill wort to yeast pitching temperature.

Ferment in mid-60s to lower-70s. Take a gravity reading after two days. When fermentation is nearly complete, add 2 oz of Equaknot dry hops to primary fermenter until fermentation is complete. Rack to keg and let the beer condition while it carbonates. This will keep the beer somewhat hazy. The hop aroma and flavor should be on point!

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