No. 24: Sorachi/Amarillo Pale Ale

I am going to skip over batch 23 for the time being and come back to it once I have had the fist bottle.

Batch number 24 was a bit of a clean out the freezer/grain bin, and build up a nice yeast cake batch.  I wanted to make some sort of beer to use up the Sorachi Ace hops that had been in my freezer for over a year.  I also had a vile of San Diego Super Yeast (WLP 090) that had been sitting in my fridge for nearly 6 months.

The plan was I would brew a ~5.5% ABV pale ale using up the Sorachi Ace hops and wash the WLP090 for use in future batches. I would augment the Sorachi Ace hops with a little bit of Amarillo and a touch of Simcoe hops. The grain bill would be mainly based on Marris Otter, but with a tiny bit of Carafoam and Crystal 60 I had left over from previous batches.

No. 24: Sorachi/Amarillo Pale Ale


Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.058 SG
Estimated Color: 6.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain

10.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter
0.25 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Crystal 60L (60.0 SRM)

Hops

0.50 oz Warrior [17.00 %] (30 min)
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [10.90 %] (10 min)
2.00 oz Sorachi Ace [10.90 %] (0 min)
1.00 oz Amarillo [6.90 %] (0 min)

1.00 oz Simcoe [12.40 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [6.90 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)

Yeast

1 Pkgs San Diego Super Yeast (White Labs #WLP090)


Mash Schedule

Mashed @ 151F for 60 Minutes

Fermentation Temp

63F ambient for 3 weeks

Actual Numbers

Measured OG: 1.058
Measured FG: 1.014
ABV: 5.7%


Tasting

Overall not bad.  Big citrusy aroma, with a touch of spiciness from the Sorachi Ace hops.  The spiciness carries over to the taste, and after the initial hoppy taste, the spiciness lingers in your mouth along with a slight hop bitterness.  I don't want to say the spiciness ruins it for me, but it reduces my overall enjoyment.

Everyone who has tried this beer has said they like it, but for me it misses the mark a little bit.

Lynn's Take

"Not bad.  I don't know what else to say really."

Thoughts for Next Time


This was more of a clean out old ingredients/propagate yeast type of beer, rather than a recipe I am trying to develop.  I probably won't brew this beer again.  The Sorachi Ace hops just don't work for me in a beer like this. Maybe I used too much Sorachi Ace, maybe I just don't like them.  I haven't had many other beers that prominently feature them, so I don't know for sure.  I think I might stay away from Sorachi Ace for a while.