Recently, a consultant buddy of mine was assigned to a project in Iowa. I immediately told him to look for Pseudo Sue by Toppling Goliath. He found some and raved so much about it, he muled some back for me to try. I instantly knew what beer I would attempt to brew next.
After perusing the HomeBrewTalk forums for a clone recipe, I found a thread that had lots of input from multiple brewers. I took what they came up with and tweaked it a little to come up with this recipe:
Batch Size: 6.00 gal | Style: American Pale Ale (18B) |
Boil Size: 9.42 gal | Style Guide: BJCP 2015 |
Color: 5.6 SRM | Equipment: Pot (13 Gal/50 L) – BIAB |
Bitterness: 76.6 IBUs* | Boil Time: 90 min |
Est OG: 1.061 (15.1° P) | Mash Profile: BIAB, Full Body |
Est FG: 1.017 SG (4.4° P) | Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage |
ABV: 5.8% | Taste Rating: 30.0 |
Amount | Name | Type | # |
---|---|---|---|
10.45 gal | Atlanta, GA | Water | 1 |
6 lbs | Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 2 |
6 lbs | Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) | Grain | 3 |
1 lbs 4.00 oz | Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) | Grain | 4 |
4.00 oz | Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 |
8.00 oz | Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 |
0.75 oz | Warrior [15.0%] – First Wort | Hops | 7 |
3.00 oz | Citra [12.0%] – Steep 35 min | Hops | 8 |
3.00 oz | Citra [12.0%] – Boil 0 min | Hops | 9 |
2 pkgs | Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) | Yeast | 10 |
3.00 oz | Citra [12.0%] – Dry Hop 5 days | Hops | 11 |
3.00 oz | Citra [12.0%] – Dry Hop 3 days | Hops | 12 |
*Note the IBUs are probably not accurate. It’s much less bitter than this but all the late hop additions cause Beersmith to overcalculate the IBUs. It’s probably closer to 45-50.
Since it had been 2 years since my last brew, I knew I would be a little rusty. Also, in my attempt to gradually improve my brewing process and brew gear, I added several new facets to my brew day.
- Inkbird 308 temperature controller for my mini-fridge fermenter
- Counterflow Chiller to cool the wort faster after brewing
- BIAB!! (Brew in a bag)
The last item was the biggest change for me. In the past, I used a cooler as my mash tun with a CPVC manifold instead of a false bottom. It worked great but transferring hot wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle was always a pain and inevitably when I would remember 3 days later that I never cleaned out the mash tun, I ended up with a nasty smelling surprise when I’d open the lid.
With BIAB, I had an inexpensive muslin/mesh bag from Amazon that I could fit over my boil kettle. I simply mashed the crushed grains in the bag and then lifted the spent grains out like a giant tea bag afterwards. No wort transfers as the wort was sitting in the boil kettle already!
Going forward, I bought a reusable BIAB bag (redundant?) from Wilserbrewer a very reputable bag maker in the home brewing network, so I look forward to the next batch where I can use it.
As for this beer, brew day went very smoothly, surprisingly. I attempted a whirlpool for some aroma hops which I suppose went OK, although it was more steeping than whirlpooling as I was too busy trying to figure out the counterflow chiller on the fly. Oh well.
The beer, although darker than I expected, turned out great. I did fine it with gelatin, so it’s not as hazy as Pseudo Sue, but the grapefruit/citrus/mango/piney flavors and aromas are totally there! Overall, this is one of the best beers I’ve ever brewed which I’m attributing mostly to a good recipe and temperature-controlled fermentation (~64 F).
Aside from the beer, I had a lot of fun converting the Pseudo Sue label to Pseudo Joe! I had to watch a ton of youtube videos on GIMP techniques, but in the end, I was pretty proud of the final product.