Around this time last year, I had set out to create a Pale Ale recipe named “Andromeda” that would be designated as my house flagship ale. My intensions were to use Galaxy hops as the base flavor and aroma for the beer in order to lend bright citrusy and pineapple notes to the beer…hence the name Andromeda. I was not fully satisfied with the original outcome so I attempted to try again. During this time, I had also set out to finally build a keezer for my home and to install a 2 keg draft system within it. Needless to say, my efforts were successful, and I ended up creating a lovely place to keep my beer cold and a fantastic version of my house flagship Pale Ale.

Andromeda Pale Ale Recipe

Batch Size: 5.75 gallons

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Brew House Efficiency: 68%

OG: 1.065, FG: 1.019, ABV: 6.04%

Grain Bill: Pale 2-Row (66%), Flaked Wheat (20%), Wheat (6.5%), C20 (5%), Acid Malt (2.5%)

Ca+2: 117 / Mg+2: 0 / SO4-2: 152 / Na+: 14 / Cl-: 152 / HCO3-: 38

Mash pH: 5.2

Mash Guidelines: temp 156F for 60min, mash out temp 166F for 10min

Pre-boil: collect 7 gallons w/ 1.050 gravity

Hop Schedule: 20g Columbus FWH, 2oz Columbus & Galaxy 20min Whirlpool, 4oz Galaxy & 2oz HBC 438 DH 2 days into fermentation (bioconversion), 2oz Galaxy Keg Hop

Yeast: 1.5 Liter starter of Imperial Yeast A24 Dry Hop pitched at 64F

Beer Overview

Appearance:

The appearance of this beer is super orange and juicy. The transparency is nonexistent on this one. Rich orange colors with a super creamy white head on the beer. After having several sips, the head barely dissipated.

Aroma:

As this beer comes out of the tap, I can smell bright notes of pineapple and citrus/stone fruit. Mission accomplished! The smell only intensifies as I stick my nose in the beer. Even to the final sip, the smell does not diminish.

Mouth Feel:

The mouth feel aspect of the beer is where I am mostly impressed. It is just perfectly soft and pillowy, almost creamy. The beer coats your entire mouth and sticks around just for the right amount of time leaving you wanting to take another sip. Definitely crushable!

Taste:

Upfront, pineapple and citrus take the stage. On the back end, a pleasant green grassy flavor finishes it off. The grassy aspect is probably due to the high amount of hops used in this beer. I was hoping to not meet this flavor because I do not particularly enjoy it and see it as a flaw. I hope to remove this flavor in future brews of this beer. Although, I am not sure if that is possible without using Lupulin Powder, and I don’t believe a Galaxy version is available for home brewers yet.

Overall:

This beer surpassed my expectations. There are no flaws or off-flavors to be found other than the grassy notes on the back end, which by most, is not considered a flaw within hoppy ales. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. The malt bill will definitely be my go-to in the future when making this beer paired with the A24 yeast. I am in love with that strain! Perhaps I might fool around with the hop timing in the future to avoid those unwanted grassy flavors from manifesting themselves. Overall, I’m super pleased!

Keezer Build

The keezer build was also a great experience and I’m glad that it turned out to be a success! I was able to have several friends help me during the build which inevitably turned into an opportunity to drink good beer. I must admit, the building plans were not original on my part. I used the plans from another home brewer named Process Brewing. You can find the materials and process in the link below if you’re interested. Why recreate the wheel? I liked his plans and it worked for me. So shout out to Process Brewing for being more creative/crafty than myself 🙂

https://processbrewing.wordpress.com/2016/02/17/keezer-build-simple-how-to-with-pictures/

Thank you for reading. Cheers!

-Josh L., Wild North Fermentations