Ingredients
Well, this time, we used a handy dandy spreadsheet calculator to determine how much of what we need etc, as far as grain bill, hop additions, and water. So it was fairly easy determining this recipe. We had a bit of change of heart at the brew store about what hops to use, so here we go!
| 17.5 lbs. Pale Malt |
| 4.5 lbs. Crystal 60° |
| 6oz Millenium Hops (15%AA) |
| WLP001 California Ale Yeast |
Mash Method
May 24, 2008
Struck with 7.5 gallons of 175° water. Initial mash temp was 155°. Perfect. That's one thing taken care of since last brew. Throughout the mash our temperature was steady between 154° and 156°. Can't ask for much better. After an hour of mashing and circulating the wort, we lautered (perhaps too quickly) into the boil pot. Then we sparged with 3 gallons of 170° water. We circulated the sparge water for twenty minutes, then lautered that into the boil pot as well.
After everything was lautered into the boil pot, we drew some runnings off for priming once bottle day comes, as well as some for a yeast starter. We have some dried champagne yeast that we'll use to make a starter then add to the fermenter in a couple days to take care of the rest of fermentation.
Brew Method
May 24, 2008
We wound up with about ten gallons in the boil pot. Being a 120 minute boil, we had six ounces of hops to add (for a desired 1.92 BU:GU ratio), so our additions turned out to be an ounce every twenty minutes. So that's what we did. One ounce of Millenium (15% AA) every twenty minutes. Then, with fifteen minutes left to the boil, we added our teaspoon of irish moss.
Once the boil finished, we swirled the pot to get it to whirlpool, so sediment would settle conically. Let it sit for twenty minutes to settle, then hooked up our counterflow chiller and let 'er rip.
*Sidenote: the counterflow chiller still rules
One thing we've done for a long time now is aerate the wort as it fills the fermenter. Specifically, we leave the airstone in the bottom of the fermenter, and as it fills with cool wort, it gets all aerated. Well, we might want to change this approach. We took our gravity reading after the fermenter was filled and got only 1.074. We were shooting for 1.100 (and that's accounting for a shitty 64% efficient mash).
Now, there is NO way we are actually getting a 48% efficient mash. No way. What we think is happening is that because the wort is so aerated, it's a lot less dense than it should be when taking a gravity reading, throwing our reading way off. Also, we can never get rid of the bubbles on the meniscus, so that as well is throwing our reading off. Now, is it throwing it off so much to the extent that we read 1.074 instead of 1.100 (or higher)? Can't tell. We'll have to try something different next time.
Fermentation
May 24, 2008
Pitched our yeast and stored in the basement.
May 27, 2008
Well, there wasn't any activity in the fermenter, leading me to believe there was a bit of a stuck fermentation. So what do I do? Add the starter!! Within two hours, the blowoff hose is bubbling like crazy! Hooray!
June 14, 2008
Racked to secondary. Used 7/8 oz of UK Kent Goldings (5%AA) to dry hop. This is a dark beer. Oh man this is gonna be geeeewd.
Bottling
July 6, 2008
Today was bottling day. Our measured FG was 1.006. With an OG of 1.074 (assuming that was accurate - see above), this gives us an 8.8% abv. Good enough for a DIPA.
The taste... wonderful. Using the Kent Goldings for dry hopping really seemed to be a wager that paid off. It's unlike any DIPA I've had, and is delicious.
We bottled these in 12oz bottles and ended up with 48 bottles total. These are now sitting in boxes conditioning in their bottles. Mmm.
Tasting
Notes
- Lauter much more slowly
- Take gravity reading prior to aeration
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