A Greener World #12

Our signature ale, A Greener World, has been a staple since it started shipping in June 2023, and we’ve been brewing it continuously. We’ve been subtly adjusting the hop composition to find the ideal balance, but this time we revisited the malt, which I’ll discuss.

Up until now, we’ve primarily used Rahr malt from Canada in our craft beers. We prefer North American malts because their character is milder compared to British or German malts, which doesn’t overpower the hop flavors. We find it to be particularly well-suited as a sweet base for Hazy IPAs.

However, with the upgrade of our brewhouse in March, we eliminated the hot liquor tank, stopped using a liquor back, and switched entirely to sparging. This change made the malt flavor seem too strong, especially in pale ales. While Canada Malting Company (CMC) and Great Western are other North American malt options, we noticed a slight huskiness when drinking craft beers that seemed to use Great Western. So, this time we decided to incorporate CMC malt. The CMC malt available from domestic distributors is only 2-Row, but since it has a pale color, some breweries seem to use it as pilsner malt, and it’s even listed as “PILSEN” on the distributor’s price list.

In this 12th batch, we replaced about 30% of the total malt with CMC 2-Row. As a result, we believe we’ve achieved a cleaner finish while retaining the pleasant sweetness characteristic of Rahr 2-Row.

Additionally, we switched the yeast from US-05 to LAX. Previously, I had thought all Chico-strain yeasts were the same, but it turns out LAX is a distinctly different strain from US-05. The Apparent Attenuation was as expected, but the flavor profile is different and distinct from BRY-97. The apricot-like flavor characteristic of US-05 is much more subdued, and I feel it exhibits a more neutral fermentation characteristic.

ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 20
Malt: Rahr 2-Row, CMC 2-Row,
Hops: Mosaic (Incognito), Amarillo (Cryo), Simcoe (LUPOMAX)
Yeast: LAX