New Albion Ale

Today I'm brewing a clone of New Albion Ale. New Albion Brewing Co. was founded in 1976 by Jack McAuliffe and is considered the first microbrewery of the modern era in the United States. New Albion was one of the first breweries to use Cascade hops...pretty much because that's all Jack could get a hold of and nobody else wanted them at the time. Sam Adams recently brewed and bottled a batch under Jack's supervision to honor him and his pioneering spirit in the world of craft beer.

We don't get many special releases from Sam Adams in Utah, so I figured my chances of finding this beer was pretty slim. Fortunately White Labs released the same yeast that Jack used for his beer and the recipe is readily available. This beer is what's known as a SMaSH beer, Single Malt and Single Hops, so the recipe is fairly simple. The result should be a flavorful session pale ale. I've adjusted the malt bill for my brewhouse efficiency (around 84%). Here's the recipe as I'm making it:

9# 3oz Briess Pale Malt
17g (.6oz) Cascade (60 min)
17g (.6oz) Cascade (30 min)

17g (.6oz) Cascade (15 min)
Whirlfloc (5 min)
.5t Yeast Nutrient
WLP076 Old Sonoma Ale Yeast in 1L starter

Mash at 148F. Ferment at 66F and let it rise to 68F.
Target OG = 1.055, FG = 1.011

Brewing Notes

Brew session went well. The only issue is I was updating my brew club's website and got distracted during the sparge so I ran off a little more than I'd intended. Efficiency still came in a hair over 83%, but I missed my target OG of 1.055 (came in at 1.049). As long as I didn't extract any tannins from the extended sparge, it should still be a tasty beer. 

Update 8/12/2013

Not brewing for a couple months had me out of practice. I ran the wort through the chiller a little too quick and only got it down to 80F. I left it in the ferm chamber overnight and pitched the yeast this morning after the temp had dropped to 66F.

Update 9/8/2013
I kegged this one today. It came in around 5.3%. Also treated it with some gelatin for additional clarity.