Super Sesh

Beer of the Month Program

January/February 2019  – Super Sesh

One of the best parts about making beer (aside from drinking it) is the social aspect. Brewers love to swap recipes, discuss what well or horribly wrong in their brews. We thought it would be a fun idea to start a beer conversation here. We’re going to make a beer every month here and encourage other brewers to make it as well. In the end, we’re hoping we can share our opinions and experiences with the recipe and crowd-source some improvements. The recipes will be easy to make and we will gladly assist new home brewers in the production of these beers. They will all be 5.5 gallons in size. We find that after fermenting and racking a 5.5 gallon batch turns into a standard 5 gallon batch pretty quickly.

At the start of every month we will post the recipe in store, as well as on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We will also have a set price for the recipe that will include a discount of up to 25%!

Super Sesh

Session Pale Ale – 5.5 Gal – OG 1.040 – FG 1.004 – ABV 4.4% – IBU 18 – SRM 1

Beer is kryptonite for the average dad bod. It’s cold, crisp, succulent, delicious flavour is full of stomach expanding carbs. This is especially true after a turkey and beer filled December. Now with the holidays over, it’s safe to say we’re all feeling a little bloated at KJ. January is a great time to cut down on the excesses of December, and in this spirit we’re making a very low calorie, sessionable beer for January. By fermenting all the way down to 1.004, we were able to use fewer grains – which means fewer calories. In fact, this beer has just 120 calories per 12oz glass. Our resident Keto expert Devon gives it a grade A rating – only 4 grams of your net carbs. All that being said, just because this beer is low calorie doesn’t mean it needs to taste awful. In fact, this is one of our favourite beers of the year. Drink beer and lose weight*, what’s not to love?

Super Sesh is light, but full of hop aroma and flavour. The Simcoe hops add a big burst of pine, passion fruit, and berry to the crisp tasting beer. In order to get this beer down to 1.004 or lower (our first attempt hit 1.000) we used a special enzyme that makes the wort highly fermentable. We were able to have a starting gravity of just 1.040 while still ending up with a 4.4% abv beer. We’re really proud of the result and think our customers will appreciate something a bit lighter. If you don’t already have a container of Amylo 300, be sure to pick one up for this recipe. Without it, this beer will finish at 1.007 or higher.

*We recommend consulting with your dietician before starting the Super Sesh diet.  

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Ingredients (All available at our shop)

Grains

• Pilsner x 7lbs
• Flaked Rice x 1lb

Hops

• Simcoe (13% A.A.) – 1oz @ 10min
• Simcoe (13% A.A.) – 1oz @ 0min (or whirlpool for 10 minutes at 170°f)
• Simcoe (13% A.A.) – 2oz @ DRY HOP -> 7 days

Yeast

• S-04 British Ale Yeast

Extras

• Amylo 300 (1/10th oz at mashing, and 1/10 oz at fermentation)
• Irish Moss (1 tsp for last 15 minutes of boil)
• Dry Malt Extract (150-170g for priming at bottling)

Important Tips on Brewing

• This recipe really benefits from a two stage mash, along with the use of Amylo 300 enzyme to get the beer as dry as possible.
• Be extra cautious when it comes to cleaning! Once you have stopped boiling your wort everything that gets in contact with the beer MUST be sanitary.
• The temperature of your mash is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. Not being in the 146-155f range can drastically affect your beer. Make sure you correct the temperature ASAP once all of the grain has been added to the mash.
• Oxidization: Airspace is always something to consider. When undergoing primary fermentation airspace is needed so that the beer can bubble up and ferment vigoursley without leaking out of the container. The fermentation creates a layer of CO2 that remains in the pail due to the airlock. Once primary fermentation is over and the lid has been opened, the layer of CO2 dissipates and oxygen replaces it. At this point airspace can ruin your beer. When racking into carboys make sure they are filled to the top, or you blast CO2 inside to prevent oxidization. Ask us for details on this!
• Before bottling, make sure you use a priming calculator (many can be found online) to verify the amount of sugar that needs to be added.  

Instructions

Mashing -> converting the grain into a fermentable liquid.

Note: In order to get this beer to finish as dry as possible, it needs a two stage mash. This is really easy to do via the brew in a bag method. In addition to the two mashing temps, we also need to use Amylo 300 to make the wort highly fermentable.

• The grain will be mashed at 3 different temperatures throughout this process. Temperature #1 is 144-146°f, Temperature #2 is 153-156°f, and temperature #3 is 170°f (standard mash out temperature)
• To get to temperature #1, bring 6 gallons of water in your brew pot to 150°F. This is our strike temperature. Turn off the heat to the pot. Wrap the muslin/nylon bag around the brew pot and slowly pour all the milled grains into the bag. Stir them in while adding to prevent clumps. The addition of grain should drop the temperature down to 144-146°F range. If it is too high, add a little cold water until it is in range. Once mixed, add 3ml of Amylo 300 (this equates to about a 1/10^th of a 1oz shot glass). Hold this temperature for 30 minutes. Keep the heat off unless it dips below 144°f.
• Temperature #2 time, turn the heat back on and bring the wort up to 156°f. Hold it there for 30 more minutes, if it dips below 153°f turn the heat back on.
• Lastly, temperature #3, turn the heat back on and bring the wort to 170°f, this is our mash out. Hold this temp for 10 minutes.
• Time to remove the grain. Lift the bag full of grain out of the brew pot. Let the liquid in the bag dribble into your wort. Once that is done, put the bag inside of a brewing pail, or another empty pot. There will be about 4 gallons of wort in the brewpot, we need to get it to 6 gallons before we can begin the next stage.
• Run warm water through the grains in the bag, aim for 170°f – let it run through the grains and add to the brewpot. Add until you reach 6 gallons.
  1. PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all of the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out.

Boiling -> Hop addition time

• Bring 6 gallons of your wort to a rolling boil, set a timer for 60 minutes, continue to keep the wort boiling (212°f) and uncovered. There won’t be any hop additions until near the end, so relax and have a beer while it cooks.
• With 15 minutes left in the 60 minutes add 1oz of Simcoe, and the Irish Moss. If you’re using an immersion wort chiller, add that too.
• When the timer goes off, add 1oz of Simcoe and turn off the heat.
• Now it’s time to cool the beer down to 75°f (20-25°c) as quickly as possible.
  1. We love using a wort chiller for this, it can get the beer down to temperature in 20-30 minutes. Otherwise, you can immerse the brew pot in an ice bath, or wait it out. The longer it takes, the greater the risk of infection

Fermentation -> Turning the wort into beer

• After the boil is done it is time to be extra careful in regards to sanitation. We recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer called Starsan. Mix ¼ tsp of it with water in a 500ml spray bottle. Before we touch any part of the beer we spray it with Starsan.
• Transfer the cooled wort into your fermenting pail or carboy. Run it though a strainer to catch any hop or grain residue.
  1. It is also an important time to take a hydrometer reading. It should be around 1.040 give or take a few points.
• Your choice of fermentation vessel is important. During primary fermentation, it will bubble up quite a bit, you want to be sure there is airspace for it to work away. Otherwise the pressure of it will push out the airlock.
• Make sure the wort has been cooled to at least 25c!!! Adding yeast at a higher temperature will likely kill it.
• Once the beer is in the fermenter, add the S-04 yeast, and 3ml of Amylo 300 (1/10^th of a 1oz shot glass), and 2oz of Simcoe (this is the dry hop). Ferment at 18-21°c for 10 days.
• Once the 10 days are up, it’s time to take a hydrometer measurement. It should read 1.004 give or take a couple of points. When we made this beer the first time we got it all the way down to 1.000(!!!!) It is time for the next step.
• Rack the beer into a sterilized 5-gallon carboy. It is important to fill the carboy to the top; airspace can lead to oxidization within 2 days.
• If possible, let the beer sit somewhere nice and cold (0-5°c) for 1-2 weeks. This will help with clarity and will give the beer a bit more crispness.
• Alternatively, instead of racking into a carboy and aging, you can proceed directly to bottling. If you have a second pail, or a carboy rack into that and proceed to the bottling steps.

Bottling -> We’re getting close to Beer Time now.

• It’s now been a couple of weeks since we first starting brewing. Rack the now fermented and clarified beer into your bucket.
• At the same time, mix the priming sugar with 300ml of boiling water and add to the beer. Stir it in VERY gently.
• Rack the beer into your bottles or growlers. Then, let them sit for 2 weeks at room temperature. Chill and enjoy!