There’s been a rise of a new pseudo-style in Australia: the XPA (Extra Pale Ale). I thought it would be a fun twist to brew a beer that looks like an American Light Lager, but with the hop presence of a stronger Pale Ale / Session IPA.

General perceptions of a light coloured beers are that they’re going to be crisp and devoid of any significant hop flavour and aroma.

Batch Details

Batch Size Boil SRM Est. OG Est. FG Est. ABV 25L 60min 2.6 1.046 1.008 5%

Water

I went slightly heavier on the Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) to accentuate the bitterness/crispness opposed to my regular balanced water profile.

Fermentables

Name Amount % Light Lager Malt (Gladfield) – 1.4SRM 4kg 74.1% Flaked Rice 0.9kg 16.7% Flaked Corn/Maize 0.5kg 9.3%

I sourced the lightest coloured malt available to me (1.4SRM) for use as the base malt. I then padded out the grain bill with both flaked rice and corn in quantities typical for an American style adjunct lager.

Mash

Single infusion mash @ 65C for 60min.

Hops

Hop Time Amount AA% IBU Simcoe 30min 6.5g 13% 7.1IBU Simcoe Whirlpool – 15min @ 80C 50g 13% ?? Citra Whirlpool – 15min @ 80C 25g 13% ?? Vic Secret Dry Hop (Day 6) 125g 15.5% ?? Simcoe Dry Hop (Day 6) 50g 13% ??

Vic Secret has become one of my favourite dry hops of late. The current crop is exceptionally fruity, whereas in the past I’ve had it express a lot of dank/pine type of aromas. Although as previously mentioned, I almost exclusively use it as a dry hop due to its cohumulone content.

This was one of the first brews I put through my new 65L BrewZilla. Although the system is an overall step-down in quality from the Grainfather, it allows me to easily brew 50L+ of moderate gravity wort.



The unit itself worked flawlessly during the brew (although I do have a few tips for usage I’ll share in a future post), and the bottom screen filtered out a huge amount trub from getting into the fermenter.

Fermentation

I wanted a clean fermentation, so naturally opted for US-05. I pitched the yeast into 18C wort and placed in my fermentation fridge. After 72 hours of vigorous fermentation I ramped the temp to 22C (my typical ale schedule for beers I want to turn around in a decent time).

As I was brewing a double batch (50L), I used my pressurised Kegmenter. 6 days into fermentation I dry hopped the beer with Vic Secret and Citra.

On day 10 I set my fermentation fridge to -1C and let the beer cold crash. The first sample I poured from the fermenter at about 48 hours into the cold crash revealed something interesting; the beer was incredibly hazy. Although the beer had a reasonably high dry hop I wasn’t expecting it to be as cloudy as it was.

I had planned to using fining agents to make the beer as bright as possible (to accentuate the lightness), but thought this was a perfect example to demonstrate the effects of Biofine.

The photo below shows the beer 48 hours after cold crashing, and the beer 36 hours after a moderate addition of Biofine:

Tasting Notes

Smell: This beer smells wonderful – vibrant tropical fruits, some citrus, and a hint of supporting pine.

Appearance: A pale straw with reasonable clarity. Looks great in the glass.

Taste: Punches well above it’s weight due to the whirlpool and dry hop quantities, approximating to a much stronger Pale Ale or Session IPA type of balance. It was a very active ferment so presents very clean.

Mouthfeel: Finishes quite dry (more than you’d expect), which is probably due to use of adjuncts and the elevated Sulfate balance. Keeps you coming back for another sip.