Long Trail Ale

We've got an all day poker match in a couple of months so I wanted a beer that would be easy drinking and in some way, remotely match the theme. I would have preferred a lager, but it's really the wrong time of year for them, and I have no way of lagering so I settled on the recipe for Long Trail Ale. 


It's a northern German alt-bier, and a motivating factor was the California ale yeast it uses. I've been wanting to make a few recipes that utilise that yeast, so I can reclaim some at the end to reuse.


It uses 4 different hops, and a touch of Wheat DME along with British Crystal malt as the specialty grain.

Frothy!

Gravity: Original Gravity: 1.046 (target 1.047-1.048) Final Gravity: 1.016 (target 1.011-1.012) ABV: 4.4% (target 4.6%)

Yield: 23 litres

Brew method: Extract with US batch sparging for the specialty grain.

Notes: It hasn't reached the recommended final gravity which, after reading a few books, I'm thinking might be down to the makeup of the DME that I'm using. A quick taste before bottling reveals a full mouth feel, almost oily, and a quick bitter finish. I think this will be a good session ale for the Poker match.