Green Bullet Blondy Shire SMaSH

I was ordering some replacement parts off Northern Brewer (drill mixer, beer gun seal, etc.) and thought maybe I'd check to see if there were some good deals on Hops.  I had noticed a month or two back that they had pretty good deals on a bunch of varieties but I didn't see the need to ordering at the time.  As I glanced through the varieties I noticed a bunch of good deals (1.25 - 1.99 $/oz) on N.Z. varieties.  I decided to take the opportunity to pick up some Pacific Gem and Green Bullet 1 oz pellet packets (already paid the flat $7.99 shipping ... why not).  I wasn't sure the best way to incorporate but remembered reading about Single Malt and Singe Hop (SMaSH) brews here and here and I decided this was a cool way to experiment with these NZ hops.  I had some 2nd generation Cali Hops which I could use too for a super cheap brew.

I was trying to find a commercial example of a SMaSH on the net and was pleasantly surprised  finding Boulevard 's Collaboration No 1 as an solid example and another source of inspiration.  I recalled trying this beer at a trip home to Kansas a few years back and really enjoying it.  Reading Collaboration No 1's style led to the idea of experimenting with First Wort Hopping (FWH).  Ideally, as I read somewhere(s), FWH is best with a lower AA hop (i.e. not 13.2% AA like the Pacific Gem came in at), but whatever and enjoy a home brew (so on and so forth).  FWH involves running the sparge wort over hops before bringing to a boil.  "Old Data" on the topic is here and there are a gazzilion different ways to implement the method.

And all this led me to the SMaSH Paradox:  something so simple is in fact so complicated, so difficult to choose.  I knew I wanted to FWH, I knew I wanted to reuse some Cali Yeast, but I was standing at the homebrew shop trying to figure out the SM of the SMaSH.  Should I stick with Pilsner Malt like Collaboration No 1, should I pick Marris Otter for its depth, should I stick with the budget brew and buy whatever base malt is on sale, should I pick a base malt that a really really want to study further, that is one goal of the SMaSH.  Budget brew won the day and I picked up 12#'s of domestic Pils.  The rest of the recipe is below.  There are some many other variables that can be adjusted, Mash Schedule, Hop Schedule, Yeast and Fermentation temp.  That is the utility of SMaSH's and its  a great way to introduce someone to All-Grain Brewing.

Green Bullet Blondy Shire SMaSH
Single Infusion (154 F, 3.7 gal strike water at 175 F, Sparge water 170 F, 8 gallon wort collected)
12 # Domestic Pils
0.5 oz Green Bullet (FWHed) @ 60 min
1.0 oz Green Bullet @ 20 min
0.5 oz Green Bullet @ 0  min
OG 1045 (target 1048)
Cali Yeast (2nd generation) 1.5 L starter (3 days prior to brew day)

This was the first time in a while I had a gravity lower than target, probably due to collecting an extra half gallon of beer (I collect 8 gallon of wort instead of the typical 8.  Also, note that I did the FWH on the bittering hops and not the aroma or flavoring.  The latter is more typical, but what the heck.  Pitched Yeast at 74 F, chilled down to 68 F.

Brew day went well, I mowed the lawn right before it rained, and the rain was a nice backdrop and kept things cooler than normal lately.  Also kegged Nostalgic Pale Ale and gave it a quick try, review to come later but it seems to have turned out quite good.