Wednesday 12 August 2009

Spiral Galaxy H1N1

A few weeks ago I brough H1N1 back with me from San Diego. I was well enough to work, but was told to stay home, just in case. As my wife and son were away, evenings were pretty quiet, so what else to do but brew?

I was going to call this H1n1ken, but a mixture of trying a hop I've never used before (Galaxy, from Australia) and listening to too much Hawkwind made me choose Spiral Galaxy H1N1. The guys in work are alredy calling Swine Flu beer, and will probably be afraid to drink it... For a few seconds at least.

I've done rolling hop additions before for American style pale ales, trying to build up more hop flavour and aroma, but this is the first time I went with both rolling and late hopping, only starting to add the hops 30 minutes before the end of the boil. The aroma in the first week fermenting was beautiful. Lots of citrus action, and really quite fruity notes too. I'm bottling the beer right now (I hate this damn job!), and the aroma lost a lot of the potency, but still carries the same notes. Next time I'll do it with ahop with a slightly lower alpha acid content to see if more hops will keep the aroma where I want. 15% is pretty massive. The beer reminds me a little of the helles in one of the local brew pubs, but with a lot more passion fruit. Let's see how it tastes in a couple of weeks.


Spiral Galaxy H1N1

BeerTools Pro Color Graphic

Size: 25.0 L
Efficiency: 84.73%
Attenuation: 80.0%

Original Gravity: 1.050 (measured)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (measured)
Color: 21.11 EBC
Alcohol: 5.24%
Bitterness: 35.4 IBU

Ingredients:
2.48 kg Pale Ale Malt
2.0 kg Munich Malt
580 g Wheat Malt
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 30 min
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 20 min
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 15 min
1 tsp Irish Moss - boiled 15 min
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 10 min
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 5 min
10.0 g Galaxy (15.0%) - boiled 0 min
Safale US-05

14 comments:

Iamreddave said...

best name for a beer ever

Mark Dredge said...

This sounds fantastic - I can't wait to try some! Although if I get the oink then I'll be bloody pissed off!! LOL!

Alistair Reece said...

Brings to mind Pigs in Space from the Muppet Show!

Barry M said...

Thanks, David, I'm not sure is it because you're into astronomy (I'm guessing yes) or Hawkwind references :D

Mark, I'm so tempted to leave the bottles unmarked, so you can play Russian roulette!

Never thought of that Al! Hah! :D

Ed said...

I don't think it's possible to listen to too much Hawkwind! I will be raising a glass to Bob Calvert on Friday on the 21st anniversary of his death.

Looks like a cracking brew too, Munich malt is my new favourite.

Bionic Laura said...

Looks like a lovely brew. Let us know how the Galaxy hops turn out.

The name is excellent as well.

Barry M said...

Ed, I hadn't realised that. I'll raise a glass at the tasting we're doing at work on Friday so.

I'm a big fan of Munich malt.

Laura, there doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there about Galaxy, but one of the few descriptions I read did mention passion fruit, and it was right!

Mike Ring said...

Hey Bar, finishing up my Double IPA, soon to be off the dry hops and into conditioning. I'll be sure to save some for you next time you're on this side of the pond. If not, we'll have to arrange for another swap.

Haven't yet thought of a clever name, though....

Anonymous said...

Too much Hawkwind is good! Though it was probably wise to not call the beer Urban Guerrilla H1N1-- you might have Interpol after you!

Barry M said...

Hey Mike, if you can find someone who needs security or digital rights management in their spatial data infrastructures so The Company will send me, I'll be over there like a hot snot! :D Any excuse to do a proper visit of Chicago, not just the airport!

Ally, I may need to rewrite that song so...

I'm an Urban Guerilla
I make beer in my cellar
I'm a fermenting thriller
I'm a potential swiller
...

Ed said...

I'm a street drinking chancer?

Oblivious said...

Looks nice Barry, those Galaxy hops do sound good!

Your co worked could be part of a small study group on the stability of H1N1 in beer!

Barry M said...

Haahaa! Nice one Ed! :D And probably quite accurate...

Oblivious, you have the scientific experience in this field. If you can suggest a methodology, and some test subjects, I'm sure we could make a paper out of this :D

Barry M said...

A week later, and this beer already has considerable carbonation. I may have over-dosed a little.

Anyway, the aroma is really lifting out of it with the carbonation, and it's interesting. Really quite fruity, while having gentle grapefruit things going on. This is an interesting hop! The flavour is similar, and the head just lasts forever. I'm pleased so far. A nice summer beer. Let's see how it develops.

A little twitpic.