#local hops

The farm-to-table movement is certainly growing in popularity, and the craft beer community is certainly not one to miss out on this opportunity. While Tennessee is certainly not the first state you think of when it comes to American hops, it certainly stepped up to the plate in this case. Yazoo's Bells Bend Preservation Ale combines the efforts of Yazoo brewmaster, Linus Hall, with the preservation efforts of a group of local Tennesseans looking to preserve the area between Bells Bend and Beaman part, right near downtown Nashville.

Using hops grown at Sulphur Creek Farm, a wide assortment of like-minded individuals harvested nearly 40 pounds of hops, which Yazoo steeped in their pale ale for a few weeks. I found the resulting brew to be quite smooth and satisfying with a nice burst of hop flavor, although certainly not overpowering. It was quite drinkable, with a nice dose of malt to round things out.

Proceeds from the sale of Bells Bend Preservation Ale go to community-sponsored agriculture and conservation. While the beer certainly stands on its own merits, it's a nice bonus when you know you're helping out a great cause. Having grown up in Nashville, it's great to see local companies, such as Yazoo, take an active interest in the community. And Yazoo has certainly found a very tasty way to give back. Cheers!

Last year I came across several ounces of Cascades grown locally in Connecticut.  I had enough to do a full brew, so I wanted to take advantage of the situation.   After talking with the grower and a few other brewers from the area, I concluded that varieties grown in this part of the Northeast have a tendency to run a touch lower in alpha acids than what we typically see.  I tasted a few flowers by popping them in my mouth, and decided they we're likely between 5.5 and 6.0% alpha, a safe middle ground figuring Cascade's typical values are 5.0-7.5%.  So when formulating the recipe I shot for a pale ale with a few more IBUs than I might actually need, figuring if the alpha content was lower I'd still be in a safe range, but if they were higher than anticipated I'd have something a little more IPA like.  Either way would work for me. 

I wanted to keep the recipe simple to allow the local flavors to really shine through on this one.  I decided to go with just two malts: Gambrinus ESB malt as a base and Amber malt.  The ESB malt has a very pleasantly sweet, malty taste with a touch of nuttiness, so I figured I would have to give it a first run.  The amber malt is in there to provide a bit of color and touch of toasty, bready malt flavor.  I also wanted to keep yeast presence to a minimum, and wanted to go with something distinctly East Coast, so I chose WLP008 East Coast Ale (Sam Adam's Strain).  To get the most out of these hops, I decided to keep the bulk of the additions towards the end of the boil, and to reserve an ounce for the dry hop.  I only had 6oz's to work with, and I figured the best way to get what I wanted was to skimp a touch on the knock out addition in favor of the dry hop to get that big fresh aroma.  So here it is.

Batch Size: 5 gallons  ~ Approach: All-Grain (extract version also included!) ~ Style: Pale Ale

Target OG: 1.050 - 1.055

IBUs: I shot for 40, expected 30, and probably landed right around 32-35.

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Grain Bill:

97% - 9lbs 8oz Gambrinus ESB malt

3% - 4oz  Thomas Fawcett Amber Malt

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Hops & Kettle Additions

60 minutes - 1oz CT Cascades

20 minutes - 2oz CT Cascades

15 minutes - Whirlfloc Tab

KO - 2oz CT Cascades

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Procedure:

This is an easy one.  Mash in between 152-153F with approximately 3.75gallons (1.5qts/lb) of hot liquor.  I want the hops to shine, but as a pale ale I still want to preserve some body and malt character.  Mash for one hour and sparge with water at 167F.  Collect 6 gallons of wort, boil one hour, and follow the hop schedule above, manipulating it however you see fit to accommodate the hops you have at hand. 

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Now I don't want to leave the extract brewers out of the fun, so here's a simple Extract Version of the same recipe.

3lbs Light DME

3.3lbs Extra Light LME (late kettle addition)

6oz Amber malt

Bring 2.5 gallons of water up to 150F and steep the amber malt for 20 minutes in a grain bag.  Remove the grain (no squeezing!) and add DME as the wort heats up.  Bring to a boil, and follow the same hop procedure as above.  One thing to note about this procedure, is we're going to wait until 15 minutes to the end of the boil to add our LME.  This does a few things for us.  First, a lower gravity boil will allow us to get better hop utilization, so we can get the bitterness we need from a relatively small 60 minute hop addition.  Waiting to add the LME also results in less kettle caramelization, which gives us better control over color and sweetness.  We also preserve some of the flavor and aroma of the liquid extracts by boiling for less time.

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After the boil, chill down and ferment in the mid 60s, and if you're doing extract, make up the rest of the wort volume with cool water up to 5 gallons.  A cooler ferment will lend itself to a cleaner profile and keep ester formation in check.  Fortunately, WLP008 produces a very pleasant red apple/pear ester which does a great job at accentuating hop flavors.