It’s been just over two months since I brewed an Apricot Ale, and it was finally ready to drink earlier this week. Overall, I think it came out well. It tastes a lot like a slightly hoppier and more bitter Magic Hat #9, which I attribute to the dry hopping. The apricot flavor is a bit stronger than I’d like, but my experience is that it’s strength will fade as the beer ages for a few weeks. It spent ten days in primary, six weeks in secondary with the dry hops, and about ten days in the bottle before I opened the first one. I had originally planned to only keep it in secondary for a week or two, but I changed my mind and decided to let it age for a bit with the dry hops.
Here’s a picture of a half gallon growler of the ale:
And here’s the recipe:
Grains:
7 Pounds Light Malt Extract
1 Pound American Crystal 60
Hops:
1 Ounce Amarillo (9.2%) @60min
1 Ounce Amarillo (9.2%) @30min
1 Ounce Columbus (13.2%) @ 10min
Dry hop with 1 Ounce Cascade (5.5%) in Secondary (six weeks)
Other:
White Labs California Ale V Yeast
1 Whirfloc Tablet @5min
4 Ounces Apricot Extract at Bottling
5 Ounces of Priming Sugar at Bottling
Original gravity reading: 1.056
Final gravity: 1.014
Alcohol by Volume: 5.9%
Feel free to contact me with any questions.