Enigma Pale Ale Recipe - brewingbeer.io

Enigma is a high alpha Australian hop, said to impart characteristics of raspberries, white grapes (pinot gris), red currant and light tropical fruits. There are already lots of commercial examples of Enigma pale ales, this one is a balanced APA with moderate hop amount just to showcase what Enigma can bring to the palette.

Recipe

Enigma Pale Ale

American-Style Pale Ale

Volume 25 l
OG 1.051
FG 1.015
IBU 31
ABV 4.73 %

Fermentables

2.5 kg

Golden Promise

United Kingdom

45.45 % GP 23
0.5 kg

Carapils

Germany Weyermann

9.09 % GP 4
2.5 kg

Pale Ale

Germany Weyermann

45.45 % GP 24

Hops

5 g

Enigma | First Wort 60min

Australia

Pellet AA 16.9 % IBU 8
20 g

Enigma | Boil 15min

Australia

Pellet AA 16.9 % IBU 15
25 g

Enigma | Boil 5min

Australia

Pellet AA 16.9 % IBU 8

Yeast

1 pkg

WLP013 London Ale Yeast

White Labs

Attenuation 71.0 %

Process

Weighting out half golden promise and half pale ale malt. With a splash of Carapils. Grain bill around 5.5kg

Grain crush is optimised for my 20l Braumeister, 1.4mm

Mashing temperature on the higher side at 68C. Holding for 1 hour followed by 15 mashout at 75C

While mashing is in process, the hops are getting measured out. It’s a single hop beer and Engima is added at all stages

The malt pipe is left to drain while the hot liquor is heated up for boiling

While wort is cooling, the SS Chronical fermenter is getting a sanitiser bath

For this batch I’m using fresh yeast harvested from the other beer that’s currently fermenting

Yeast pitch temperature. After pitching temperature is set to 18C and it’s left to do its thing. Three days before end of primary fermentation I’ve added 50g of Enigma dry hop

The FG after 2 weeks of primary fermentation

At this point there’s a lot of yeast in suspension, I’ve noticed that this is very normal with ALP013, after some time in the keg it will settle out
After transferring to the keg, I move it to the fridge for lagering

Results

Tasting notes:

Appearance

Golden-amber. Quite clear with a light haze. Moderate carbonation.

Nose

Tropical, light hints of raspberry and some white wine.

Taste

Tropical, citrus and stone fruit.

Mouthfeel

Medium-bodied with a mild bitterness.

Summary

I did expect a lot more of that raspberry flavour in this hop, but you really need to search for it. Enigma is not adding a very unique flavour, it’s good but nothing out of the ordinary. Surprisingly, for a hop with such a high alpha content, the bitterness is not nice and mild.

Overall the beer works well and is nicely balanced.