I’ve been pretty heavy on the IPAs lately, so it’s time to give my tastebuds a break with a pale ale. My go-to recipe has been Gondwana Pale Ale–it has a clean but flavorful malt profile, which permits the single hop of my choosing to shine through. I’ve brewed this recipe with minor modifications on three different occasions, so this is iteration 4.

For the current round, the malt bill is pretty much the same as before (~82% 2-row, 10% Vienna, and the remainder split between crystal 40 and Carapils). Where I previously used Citra hops, though, I substituted in Mosaic. I have not yet done a single-hop Mosaic brew, so this is a good opportunity to really explore the characteristics of that variety.

Gondwana Pale Ale 1.3

• 8.6 lbs. 2-row malt (Great Western Malting Co.)
• 1 lb. Vienna malt
• 0.45 lb. 40° crystal malt
• 0.45 lb. Carapils malt
• 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), 35 minute boil
• 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), 2 minute boil
• 2 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha, 3.2% beta), dry hop in keg
• 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
• 1 pkg. Safale US-05 dry yeast

Procedure

• I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 153.3°. This was down to 152.5° after 15 minutes, and down to 149° after 40 minutes.
• After 55 minutes of mashing, I added 1 gallon of water at 165°, to raise the mash temperature to 151.5°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
• Next, I added 3.7 gallons of water at 190°; this raised the mash to 174°, so added ~0.25 gallons of water in ice cubes, to bring the mash down to 165°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of wort.
• In total, I collected 7.2 gallons total, with a gravity of 1.037 gravity and 69% efficiency. This was a bit below my usually efficiency (~72%)–I suspect the more dilute mash was to blame.
• I brought the wort to a boil, and added hops and Irish moss per the schedule.
• After 60 minutes, I cooled the wort to 82°. Anything lower than this would have been too hard given my high groundwater temperature. I transferred the wort to the fermenter while aerating and then pitched the yeast.
• I brewed this up on August 5. Starting gravity was 1.045. I am fermenting the beer at 64°; visible fermentation signs were in evidence after around 12 hours, and vigorous fermentation was underway after ~36 hours.
• I’ve noted that my collected volumes have been a bit above what I predicted; I need to continue adjusting the BeerSmith settings for my mash tun volumes and dead spaces. Also, I suspect I am getting just a little sloppy with volume measurements; it’s easy to overfill my gallon measuring pitcher, which adds up after four or five pitchers’ worth.