Cave Digger - Topaz XPA Fresh³ Recipe (KB34825)

KB36409 - Extra Pale Ale Fresh Wort Kit featuring the classic Australian Hop Topaz!

Deep in the outback Topaz mines rests a roaring beast ...Cave Digger

The Beer

Deep in the enchanted mines of Crystalgrove, a colossal monster truck named Cave Digger rolled through the sparkling caverns. Equipped with cold fusion capabilties, deep bore transformer like drills, Cave Diggers mission is to unearth the legendary Topaz Hop Flavour and Aroma, rumored to grant extraordinary some would say sexual powers. With each thunderous rev, he plowed through enchanted rocks, uncovering sparkling hop gems that glowed like captured sunlight.

Ingredients

• 1 x KL45605 - Fresh³ XPA Base 15L

• 1 x KL40129 - CellarScience - CALI American Ale Yeast x 12g

• 3 x KL36429 - Topaz - (25g Pellet Hop)

• 2 x KL36450 - Taiheke - (25g Pellet Hop)

• 1 x KL36788 - Lotus - (25g Pellet Hop)

Brew Specification

• Volume: 20L

• IBU's: 34

• OG: 1.050 _^+-0.003

• FG: 1.012

• ABV: 5%

• Colour (EBC): 7.7

Recomended Equipment

• Fermenter: Fermzilla All Rounder OR FermZilla Tri-Conical

• Cleaning Chemicals: StellarClean OR StellarOxy

• Non-Rinse Sanitiser: StellarSan

• Temperature Control: RAPT Fermentation Chamber OR RAPT Temperature Controller

• Instant Sanitising Spray: Ethyl Sanitiser Spray

• Packaging: Ball Lock Kegs, Oxebar Kegs, Bottles or Cans

1

Cleaning & Sanitation

Clean and sanitise all brewing equipment that will come into contact with your beer (including fermenter, fermenter lid, mixing paddle/spoon, thermometer, air lock etc.) with a quality no-rinse sanitiser, such as StellarSan (KL05357).

Refer to the instructions on the label of your no-rinse sanitiser for dosage and usage instructions.

2

Add Fresh³ (FKW) and Water to Fermenter

Unscrew the cap and sanitise the neck of your Fresh Wort Kit to prevent any wild yeast or bacteria which may be on the bag itself from being transferred into your brew. Super Kill Ethyl Sanitiser is ideal for this.

Pour the entire contents of your room temperature Fresh Wort Kit into your fermenter. Top up with clean (prefacble pre-boiled and chilled) potable water. See below:

Water to Add	Total Volume
5L	20L

3

Pitch The Yeast

Ideally, the temperature of the wort should be at pitching temp before adding the yeast. If the liquid is too hot then sit the fermenter in an ice bath or fermentation fridge until the temperature of the liquid has cooled down to below the target pitching temperature.

Target Pitching Temperature
18°c

Ensure that the lid remains on the fermenter as much as possible and the thermometer is sanitised prior to each measurement to avoid contamination of your beer. Add the entire contents of the yeast sachets to your fermenter by gently sprinkling the yeast across the top of the wort.

4

Fermentation

This step is the most important to get great tasting finished beer. Half fill your airlock or blow-off jar with no-rinse sanitiser at the correct dilution.

With Temperature Control

Use the schedule below as your target temperatures throughout fermention (follow SG Steps over Time Steps if possible, a RAPT Pill is a great way to make this easy).

Raising the temperature at the end of fermentation is known as a diacetyl rest, and is important to ensure full attenuation and to allow the yeast to clean up the off flavours that can be produced as a result of fermentation.

Gravity Step	Time Step	Target Temperature
1.050-1.030	Day 0-4	18°c
1.020-1.012	Day 4-7	22°c Gradual over 3 days
Until FG Stablises	Until FG Stablises	22°c

Recommended RAPT Fermentation Profile
CALI Ale Yeast - Ale Profile (CellarScience)

Without Temperature Contol

Try to maintain the fermentation within the yeasts ideal temperature range until fermentation is nearly complete, at which stage the fermenter can be moved somewhere warmer for the diacetyl rest.

Ideal Minimum Starting Temperature	Ideal Maximum Starting Temperature
15°c	22°c

The absolute best way to ensure you get consistently great beer is to get a small cheap/free fridge from Gumtree and make a fermentation chamber paired with a Fermentation Heating Wrap Belt and controlled by a RAPT Temperature Controller or buy a ready to go RAPT Fermentation Chamber. Note that if you are using a pressure capable fermenter you will get the best results at around 5-12psi. Allow pressure to build up with a spunding valve 24 hours after pitching.

5

Dry Hop

Feel free to experiment with the dry hop - different times and temperatures will often give different results. For the best results in this recipe we recoommend adding the dry hops according to the schedule below at the end of fermentation for 48 hours.

Hop	Amount	Contact Time	Contact Temperature
Topaz	75g	48hrs	12°c
Taiheke	50g	48hrs	12°c
Lotus	50g	48hrs	12°c

The amount of hops added during the dry hop stage can be varied according to your taste. The remaining hop pellets can be placed in the freezer in a zip-lock bag or vacuum sealed bag for a future brew.

6

Packaging Your Finished Beer

Once fermentation is done, it is time to transfer your fnished beer! Ideally, cold crashing for at least 48 hours will give the best results before transferring. To determine that fermentation has finished, check the gravity over three consecutive days. If it is stable across three consecutive days then fermentation is done and the beer can be safely transferred to your bottles, cans or keg. Do not transfer until fermentation is complete.

During the packaging process the most important rule is to keep air (well Oxygen) out of the beer. Check out the links for best practice of how to do this depending on method used.

• Bottling your beer: Use KegLand Amber Glass Bottles with Swing/Flip Top Lids (KL20947) or KegLand Amber PET Bottles with Screw Caps (KL19866 or KL19859). Please refer to our detailed beginners guide for bottling from a fermenter here.

• Kegging: We would suggest, carbonating and dispensing at 10-12 psi at 2°C for best results. Refer to our detailed beginners guide for kegging from a fermenter here.

• Canning: To transfer your finished beer into cans we would suggest kegging and carbonating at 11psi at 2°C then transferring to cans. Refer to our detailed beginners guide for canning here.