Oh Magic Hat #9, your hoppy apricotiness seduces me every time. First slipped some by East Coast friends who’d brought some out West (sadly, Magic Hat doesn’t distribute out here yet), Jodie and I were enthralled by this fun, easy-drinking beer.
So much so, that for 2009 Jodie asked for a Magic Hat #9 homebrew clone as her birthday gift. I was quite happy to oblige (and again in 2011, when we brewed a wet-hop version).
The official beer
Magic Hat describes #9 as “a sort of dry, crisp, refreshing, not-quite pale ale.”
- Yeast: English Ale
- Hops: Cascade, Apollo
- Malts: Pale, Crystal
- ABV: 5.1
- Gravity: 11.80 Plato
- Bitterness: 20
- SRM: 9.0
For me, the fun of this beer is all about the hint of apricot. The key is that this isn’t a “fruity beer.” Too much apricot would be cloying at best, or at worst would probably be declared the “apripolitan” or some other lame-arse Sex-in-the-City-style beer cocktail crappiness.
Instead, there’s just enough apricot to balance out the hoppiness and add a sweet refreshing quality to the beer.
And that’s what we were going for.
The Recipe
We worked with the clone recipe “Magic Bolo #9.1″ in Charlie Papazian’s Microbrewed Adventures: A Lupulin Filled Journey to the Heart and Flavor of the World’s Great Craft Beers
Ingredients
All ingredients from Home Fermenter Center, Eugene, OR
- 1 lb. Crystal Malt (put in grain sock)
- 5 lbs. light dried malt extract
- @60 minute boil, 1/3 oz. Zeus hops
- @15 minute 1/2 tsp. Irish moss
- @5 minute aroma/boil, 1/4 oz. Cascade hops 5% alpha (1.3 HBU/35 MBU)
- @1 minute aroma/boil,1/2 American Tettnanger hops
- Wyeast British Ale Yeast 1098
- @ secondary 1-1/4 oz. apricot essence
- @ bottling: 1-1/4c. dried malt extract
Approximate Target Values
- Target Original Gravity: 1.047 (12B)
- Approx. Final Gravity: 1.012 (3B)
- IBU: Approx. 18
- Approx. Color: 9 SRM (18 EBC)
- Alcohol: % by Volume: 4.6%
Our Brew Stats
- Brew Date: Apr. 24, 2009
- Initial Gravity Reading (O.G.): 1.050 @ 73ºF
- Secondary Fermentation Date: May 10, 2009
- Bottling Date: May 25, 2009
- Final Gravity Reading (F.G.): 1.014 @68ºF %-2
- Alcohol: 3.5% [looking back now, this seems low; probably closer to 4%]
Brewing & Fermentation
Place crushed grains in 2 gallons of 150-160ºF water and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out and sparge with ~2 quarts hot water. Bring to a boil, while adding malt extract and 60-minute hops.
Clean/sanitize carboy and other equipment during this time. Add 1 gallon cold water to sanitized carboy. At 45 minute mark, add Irish moss. At 50 minute mark, add Cascade hops. At 1 minute mark, add aroma American Tettnanger hops.
Remove from heat and cool wort to 90-100ºF.
Strain wort into carboy, sparging through hops. Add cold water until total amount of liquid in carboy is 5 gallons. Shake to aerate. Take a sample for initial gravity reading.
When wort temperature is between 68-76ºF, pitch yeast. Cap carboy and set in a warm, quiet place.
Ferment at approx. 72 degrees F for 3-30 days.
Rack to secondary fermenter and add apricot essence. Cellar one week.
Bottle with DME solution. Age one month.
Notes
4/24/09: Recipe calls for Warrior hops, but they weren’t available. Zeus is comparable in terms of bittering. Potential alcohol 6.5%? Surely not. The 1098 yeast has a very apply cider scent.
5/10/09: Added apricot. Good fermentation, lovely color.
5/25/09: Bottle day! Beautiful pale gold, almost pilsnerish.
4/2/11: Typing up notes as best I can from the handwritten ones in book. Apparently we didn’t track the bottling counts or open day on this one, probably due to all the hecticness of wedding planning.
Last call
This beer was a hit with Jodie for her birthday, and has been one of my favorite beers ever brewed. The hoppiness and refreshing hint of apricot were there, and made for excellent spring and summer sipping.
In fact, we loved this beer so much that in 2011, with hops from our garden, we brewed it again, but as a fresh-hop beer: See the 2011 Fresh-Hop Majic Pale Apricot Ale
Photo: rdpeyton
