Due to impending redundancy from work & a house move, I will have to stop brewing for a while.   So to use up most of my remaining ingredients I've made Insane Pale Aleⁱ.   My American Pale Ale & Hoppy Bitter both went down a treat with friends, so I'm going for more of the same but with all the dials turned up to 11.

Mash - 1 hour 45mins.   20 litres.   A 72°C strike temperature, which fell to 60°C after 2 mins.   I raised the temp to 66°C and went out to get some groceries.   1 hour 30 mins later I returned to find the wort in the well insulated mash tun at 60°C.   I raised the temp to 67°C then hoiked the grain out to begin the boil.

4.2 Kg pale malt

300g crystal malt

2 teaspoon of citric acid

Boil 1 hour 20mins

Amarillo hops: 40g at start of boil, 40g after 30mins & 20g after 60mins.

Cascadeⁱ hops: 40g at start of boil, 40g after 30mins & 25g after 60mins.

Hallertau hops: 25g after 60mins.

The insane part is the 10g of Hallertau I have in a jar with 200ml of vodka to create my own hop extract for adding (just a few drops) to each bottle.

Verdict on bottling: An extremely hoppy pale ale, very much like the American Pale Ale I brewed a few weeks ago.   The increase in hoppiness & bitterness isn't proportional to the increase in hops though.

Verdict after 6 weeks: Extremely hoppy still, but in no way overpowering.   Very refreshing & easy to drink.   A good summer drink.

Verdict after 10 weeks: Very hoppy still, but now a very dry beer.