Small Beer - Biscuit

Kicking of a round of ales on American Ale 1056 with a big batch of small beer. Last year's small beers turned me on to the simple taste of simply made beer. At low alcohol levels, these super clean and easy drinking ales were even easier to drink. I'm not so into alcohol anymore, and much more prefer to have the taste of quality beer along side a meal or while I write a post like this. So these small beers have become my favorite to brew and drink.

In this version, I wanted to push the toasted malt flavors and reduce the amount of crystal malt sweetness. I'm interested in obtaining a more dry/biscuit, sort-of English, taste to this small beer. After analyzing the taste and smell of Maris Otter and Golden Promise pale malts, I chose Golden Promise because it's smell was more earthy, and the taste more dry/toasted. Maris Otter is more clean it smell and has a more basic sweet pale malt taste. Also, in this recipe, Biscuit malt has a larger role than the pale crystal malt.

Once again, hops are simply added for bitterness. The OG came in one point under target at 1.034, so 25 IBU's will give it a solid clean bitter balance.

Small Beer - Biscuit

Grains
9.75 lbs. Golden Promise 2-Row
1.00 lbs. Belg. Biscuit
1.00 lbs. Belg. Cara 8
0.40 lbs. Fawcett Crystal 25L

Hops
2.5 oz. Willamette T-90, 4.8%, pellet, 60min

Yeast
Wyeast 1056: American Ale 1.5qt decanted starter

Brew Day Stats

Brewed: 2/9/10
Racked:
Bottled:

Water Adjustment
4 gallons RO
Strike: 1.25tsp Gypsum, 1.2g Epsom, .75 tsp Acid Blend
2nd Sparge: 1.25tsp Gypsum, 1.2g Epsom, .25 tsp Acid Blend

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.6 qt/lb
Mash Ph: 5.3
Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 152°F/60min
Mash Out Temp/Time: 169.5°F/
1st Batch Vol/SG: 6.63gal/1.048

2nd Batch Sparge H2OTemp/MashTemp: 175°F/169°F
2nd Batch Vol/SG: 6.37/1.016

Pre-Boil Vol: 13 gallons
Pre-Boil SG: 1.030
Boil Time: 60min
Post-Boil Vol: 11 gallons
Mash Efficiency:

OG: 1.034
IBU: 25
Color/SRM: Pale Gold/5
Ferment Temp: 68-74°F

FG: 1.011
ABW: 2.4%
ABV: 3%