NEIPA #1 Review

Appearance: Golden-orange body, with haze that is not much more than normal for my ales, moderate off-white head with decent persistence and lacing.

Aroma: I get a decent hoppy aroma, kind of berry fruity. Maybe passion fruit or strawberry. Aroma improves a bit as the beer warms. Intensity of the aroma is not the kind that you could smell from across the room, but good.

Taste: Hoppy, bitter. Less fruity than the aroma, more of a dank and piney note. Slight maltiness but fortunately no crystal sweetness to distract from the hops.

Mouthfeel: Soft but not juicy. Pretty well balanced between soft mouthfeel and dank hoppiness.

Overall: OK, wish the hop aroma were more intense. Not as fruity in taste or "soft" in mouthfeel as I was hoping.

NEIPA #1 Brewday

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: NEIPA 1

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.26 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 3.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.50 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
5.50 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   2        -            
1.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   3        -            
6 lbs                 Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM)    Grain         4        55.2 %       
2 lbs                 Wheat (BestMälz) (2.0 SRM)               Grain         5        18.4 %       
1 lbs                 Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM)              Grain         6        9.2 %        
1 lbs                 Vienna (BestMälz) (4.1 SRM)              Grain         7        9.2 %        
8.0 oz                Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM)          Grain         8        4.6 %        
6.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         9        3.4 %        
2.00 oz               Simcoe [11.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           10       15.0 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Huell Melon [5.20 %] - Boil 1.0 min      Hop           11       0.7 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [5.20 %] - Boil 1.0 min       Hop           12       0.7 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Simcoe [11.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  15.0 Hop           13       18.7 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Huell Melon [5.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool   Hop           14       4.1 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [4.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  1 Hop           15       3.6 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         16       -            
2.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days      Hop           17       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Huell Melon [5.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days  Hop           18       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [5.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days   Hop           19       0.0 IBUs     


Mash Schedule: 154F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 14.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 14.59 qt of water at 167.4 F                     154.0 F       60 min       
Mash Step               Add 8.70 qt of water at 196.0 F                      168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.99gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

Brewed 7/29/17.
Hit my mash temp and volume OK, but got OG of 1.056, a bit high.

After whirlpool, used IC to get wort to 100F, racked, then left to cool.

7/30/17: Pitched one packet of US-05 at ~70F, which is on the high side. Did not oxygenate, but did rehydrate the yeast.

Activity by that evening. High airlock activity and krausen by the following day. By 8/1,  fermentation still going but high krausen appears to have past.

8/3/17: Added dry hops.

8/12/17: Kegged with carbing sugar. Aiming for 2.4 volumes of CO2.

'Murican IPA Review

Appearance: Big white head with OK retention, good lacing. Fairly hazy orange body.

Aroma: Fruity hops - pears or peach maybe. Some resemblance to the classic Cascade-Centennial combination. I do get a bit of a malty, bready note from the Munich malt. Intensity of hop aroma is good.

Taste: Dominated by fruity hop flavors, but with surprising bitterness given that all hops were late additions. I could mistake this for a Cascade-Centennial combo but maybe with a bit more dankess. Juicy but not overly so. I don't get strong malty character - just a hint.

Mouthfeel: Fairly light body, medium carbonation, but doesn't have the super-light body of the classic New England IPAs - probably the bitterness adds a bit of body.

Overall: Pretty good, approaching a New England IPA. Could use slightly less bitterness and less body. Overwise the hop aroma and flavors are great - a good combination of juiciness and dankness. 

'Murican IPA - Jan 2017

Recipe for a 'Murican IPA, brewed for a club-only competition to take place in February. I was aiming for something with a combination of fruity-piney hops, without super-high bitterness, and a reasonably malty profile to support it. Hence, the combo of Simcoe, Calypso and Centennial hops, with a bit of Munich, Victory and Wheat  malt thrown in. All very-late addition hops with extensive whirlpooling. Acid malt for mash pH.


Recipe: Club IPA Feb 2017
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.89 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.89 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.11 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 7.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 50.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.25 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
7.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -            
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -            
10 lbs 8.0 oz         Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         4        80.0 %       
1 lbs                 Munich Dark (BestMälz) (12.7 SRM)        Grain         5        7.6 %        
8.0 oz                Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)                  Grain         6        3.8 %        
8.0 oz                Wheat Dark (BestMälz) (9.1 SRM)          Grain         7        3.8 %        
6.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         8        2.9 %        
4.0 oz                Munich 20 (Briess) (20.00 SRM)     Grain         9        1.9 %        
1.00 oz               Calypso [13.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min         Hop           10       1.9 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min      Hop           11       1.4 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min          Hop           12       1.9 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Calypso [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  30. Hop           13       16.5 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool   Hop           14       12.7 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  30.0 Hop           15       16.5 IBUs    
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         16       -            
1.00 oz               Calypso [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days     Hop           17       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days  Hop           18       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days      Hop           19       0.0 IBUs     


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs 2.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 20.41 qt of water at 161.4 F                     152.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.36gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
After flame out and addition of Whirlpool hops, recirculate using March pump, allowing to whirlpool for 5 minutes at ~210F. Then cool to 180F and allow to whirlpool at 180F - 160F for 30 minutes. Apply gentle heat if needed to prevent it sinking too fast to 160F.

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com









-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brewed 1/16/17.

Slightly lower than hoped for mash temp, around 150F. Got ~7.25 gallons of 1.055 OG wort into the boil kettle. Rolling boil, added hops as specified and whirlpooled. Applied some gentle heat to avoid dipping down to 160F too fast. Then cooled rapidly to 100F.

Transferred wort, with quite some hop gunk and trub, into fermenter. Got ~6 gallons of 1.066 wort. Cooled to 62F, then pitched 1 packet of rehydrated S-05 yeast. Did not aerate. Wort sample smelled nice and hoppy, with a pieny character, and tasted fairly bitter.

Sculpish IPA Review

Well this is now my 2nd beer designed at least partly to blow through some old hops. Granted in this case the hops were still in sealed bags that had been cold-stored, but they were fairly old. As this results of this brew demonstrate, fresh ingredients are very important, especially for hops. And, there are probably some other problems with the recipe.

Appearance: Deep orange body. Hazy, but not unappealing. Slightly tan off-white head with good persistence and decent lacing. Carbonation bubbles stick to side of glass.

Aroma: Low intensity classic American hop mix. Well-balanced between dankness and fruit. But does not jump out of the glass like it should.

Taste: Eh. Mix of bitterness, with kind of weird crystal malt character. Not offensive but not great. Maybe a little bit of diacetyl. Dry, but the crystal malt comes through.

Mouthfeel: Good body, carbonation a little high for IPA. Dry. Leaves a fairly clean bitterness in the aftertaste.

Overall: It does not approach the Sculpin' IPA. It's OK. Need more hop oomph. Probably I would not use crystal malt but rather Munich and maybe some Carapils.

Sculpish IPA Clone Attempt

Continuing on my purge of rather old hops, I decided to make something like the great Sclupin IPA. A clone recipe was posted in the latest issue of Zymurgy, but I made some ingredient substitutions. Also the hops are from several years ago. (Sadly my proclivity to buy them was greater than my proclivity to brew with them). In any case they probably have less AA and overall hoppy goodness than would be optimal, even though they have been stored in the freezer the whole time and are in unopened vacuum-sealed bags.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Sculpish IPA
Style: American IPA

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.074 SG
Estimated Color: 10.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 67.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
14 lbs                Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM)   Grain         1        92.6 %       
10.0 oz               Caramel/Crystal Malt - 75 (Bairds) (75.0 Grain         2        4.1 %        
8.0 oz                RedX (BestMälz)  (15.2 SRM)              Grain         3        3.3 %    
    
0.75 oz               Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - FWH     4        37.4 IBUs    
0.50 oz               Chinook [9.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min         Hop           5        8.0 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Crystal [2.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min         Hop           6        1.8 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Chinook [9.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           7        5.0 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Chinook [9.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           8        2.6 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Crystal [2.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           9        0.6 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Amarillo [7.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  15. Hop           10       5.1 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Chinook [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  15. Hop           11       4.7 IBUs     
0.25 oz               Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [14.00 %] - Hop           12       2.5 IBUs      

1.0 pkg               Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois (White  Yeast         13       -    
        
1.00 oz               Amarillo [8.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days     Hop           14       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.50 %] - Hop           15       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Crystal [2.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days      Hop           16       0.0 IBUs     


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15 lbs 2.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temp Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 4.73 gal of water at 162.9 F                     150.0 F       60 min       
Sparge            Drain tun Add 2 gal of water at 170 F                     168.0 F       10 min       
Sparge            Drain tun Add 2 gal of water at 170 F                     168.0 F       10 min    
 Notes:

AA% are approximate, likely to be lower than stated. 

Boston Water, 1/2 g CaCl and 1g gypsum per 5 gal of brewing water.
--------- 

7/2 - Starter with re-used Sac. Trois. 1L.

7/4 - Brewed. A little high (152F) on the mash temp.
 Split my sparging into 2 equal-sized batches instead of 1 big one. Preboil OG was ~1.057. Post-boil was 1.068.
Got ~5.5 gal into fermenter, leaving about 3/4 gallon of hoppy trub in the kettle. 
Cooled to 60F. Oxygenated 60 seconds, pitched decanted starter. Placed carboy in 66F ambient basement.

7/5 - Good fermentation activity. Lots of krausen. 

7/6 - Moved to 70F ambient area. Still good airlock activity and krausen.

 

Trois IPA Review

My previous "Brett IPAs" were probably the best IPAs I have ever produced. Can I duplicate that success? If not it would suggest a problem with the quality of my ingredients or process, since I know the recipe is good (although this one only differs by use of Lemon Drop rather than Cascade Hops). Variation in the quality of the product likely is therefore a result of ingredient quality and / or process variation.

Appearance: Fairly hazy with non-flocculent Trois yeast. Golden / light orange color with persistent white head and good lacing. Even after the first few pours from the keg, a small bit of hop material gets into the galls.

Aroma: Fruity hops, grapefruit, pine, slight dank / piney. Nelson comes through nicely but not as intensely as I would like.

Taste: Dry and bitter, with fruity hop quality mixed with piney / grassy notes. The hop flavors are juicy but bitterness counteracts that character. Bitterness is a little harsh. Doesn't have much in the way of malt flavors.

Mouthfeel: Light, dry body with moderate-high carbonation level. Maybe a little minerally-ness.

Overall: Well I'm disappointed. It's definitely not like my previous versions of this brew. The results here surely point to the need to 1) use the freshest possible ingredients especially hops for this style and 2) control my process sufficiently so that I can clone my own recipes with minimum variation in the final product. To match by previous brews of this style, this beer needs to be intensely aromatic, less bitter, and have a juicier hop character in the taste. Overall this beer is pleasant but not as remarkably good as my previous brews with this recipe.

Trois IPA

So this is the 3rd iteration of the Brett IPA I first brewed in August of 2014 using WLP 644. Since then, those rascally microbiologists have discovered that WLP 644 is not in fact a type of brettanomyces but rather "Saccharomyces 'bruxellensis' Trois". Regardless, the last two brews of this beer were some of my best IPAs, so I've decided to brew it again, this time with a full 5-gallon batch, and, continuing the slight tweaks, using Lemondrop Hops instead of Cascade.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Trois IPA

Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.11 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 6.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 49.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.25 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
7.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -            
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -            
11 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         4        86.3 %       
12.0 oz               Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                    Grain         5        5.9 %        
8.0 oz                Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)                  Grain         6        3.9 %        
8.0 oz                White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)               Grain         7        3.9 %        
0.50 oz               Magnum [12.20 %] - First Wort 60.0 min   Hop           8        22.3 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min     Hop           9        12.1 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [4.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min      Hop           10       5.5 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min      Hop           11       6.6 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [4.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min       Hop           12       3.1 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpoo Hop           13       0.0 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               WLP 644                                                  Yeast         14       -            
1.00 oz               Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days  Hop           15       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Lemon Drop [4.60 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days   Hop           16       0.0 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Nelson Sauvin [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 1.0 Da Hop           17       0.0 IBUs     


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 19.94 qt of water at 161.3 F                     152.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.42gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:

After flame out and addition of Whirlpool hops, recirculate using March pump, allowing to whirlpool for 5 minutes at ~210F. Then cool to 180F and allow to whirlpool at 180F - 160F for 30 minutes. Apply gentle heat if needed to prevent it sinking too fast to 160F.
------

2/10/16 - Made starter with 60g of DME, 1100 ml water, yeast nutrients and a little bit of leftover Citra hops.

2/13/16 - Brewed. Hit my mash temps well. For some reason I got lower gravity than expected. Pre-boil was ~1.044, Post-boil ~1.054. Probably a bit over volume. Need to adjust my equipment profile in Beersmith for about 0.5 gallon of dead-space in my big MLT. Otherwise brew-day went fine. Also it was VERY cold (~10F) so maybe that messed up my refractometer.

After whirlpool and cooling, racked to 6 gallon fermenter, leaving most of the hop gunk. Wort at ~90F. Set in 65F ambient to cool. Pitched most of the starter a few hours later after oxygenating for 20 seconds. With starter, 5.5 gallons in fermenter.

2/14/16, 2pm. Good krausen going. 

2/15/16, 5pm. Very active fermentation. Constant airlock bubbling.

2/20/16, added dry hops directly into primary vessel. Fermentation appeared complete. Moved vessel to 70F ambient.

2/27/16, crash cooled. Will keg tomorrow.

Lemon Drop Review

This beer is all about the chosen variety of hops - Lemon Drop. It's designed to showcase that hop's character. Also it was the first beer to grace my new kegging setup. Yay! Now let's see how it tastes.

Appearance: After about 2 weeks in the keg it is nearly crystal clear, with a light golden / orange hue. Billowing and long lasting white head that sticks to the side of the glass.

Aroma: Mixed fruity and piney. Gets fruitier as it warms. Moderate intensity of hops. I get a pretty Cascade like character and surprisingly for the name and reputation of Lemon Drop hops I don't get a huge lemony character. Instead it's subtle. I was expecting it to be like a burst of citric acid, but it's like lemon without the overpowering sour / citric acid smell. There's a malt background but dominated by the hops.

Taste: Fruity and well-balanced bitterness. I somehow get more lemon in the taste than in the aroma, but not like sucking on a lemon. Again subdued malty quality, grainy and fairly dry. Bitterness is not overpowering but present.

Moutfeel: Moderate body and carbonation. Aftertaste is bitter and lemony but not strongly so.

Overall: Very pleasant IPA. Appropriate for the summer.
Well balanced and moderately aromatic. Not the most complex or hop-bomb IPA but I do like it. It seems to me that the Lemon Drop hops will go well with summery, low ABV beers that need some hoppy quality. I'll consider using them in the future and maybe mixing them up with some other hops.

 

Lemon Drop IPA Hop Bomb

One of the local brew clubs is doing a single-hop experiment. Everyone is brewing the same recipe, but the late hop additions will vary. Each brewer will use only one late addition and dry hop variety, so that we can get a sense of each hop's chief flavor and aroma characteristics. I decided on Lemondrop hops since I thought I'd try something out of the norm for me. Apparently they have a strong citrusy, lemony quality.


Lemon Drop Hop Bomb
5.25 gallon batch
11# US 2-Row
1lb White Wheat
8oz C20

6ml Hop Oil - 60 min

1oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 15 min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, 0 min, whirlpool 15min
1.5oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, flameout + 15min, whirlpool 15min
3oz Lemon Drop, 4.6%, dry, 7 days

US-05

Mash at 152F.

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.061/ 1.014/ 60/ 6.2%

Brewed 4/12/15
Hit my mash temps well.

Collected 3.5 gal first runnings, ~3.75 gal 2nd runnings, so about 7.25 gallons pre-boil.

OG was 1.046 pre-boil.


At flameout, added 1.5oz Lemon Drop hops, and turned on recirculating March pump. Fifteen minutes later, added second whirlpool addition. Beer was at ~180F. Waited 15 minutes, then cooled to ~90F and placed beer in 35F fridge.

Racked to carboy and pitched a few hours later at 70F, and placed carboy in 63F ambient.

Post Boil OG was 1.060. Spot on basically. Volume into fermenter was 5.75 gallon, including some trub and hop gunk.

4/15/15
Beer was in 55F ambient air. Moved to 63F. Nice krausen going.

4/19/15
No longer bubbling. Added 3oz dry hops.  

Celebration Clone Review

This beer was brewed so that the brew club I'm it could have a clone competition with another brew club in the region. The competition was supposed to have been this last weekend but was delayed to due a series of snowstorms that set a record for most snow in shortest time, so this review was written without being biased by the results of the competition.

Appearance: Hazy dark orange. Moderate head that sticks to the side of the glass but dissipates fairly quickly, leaving a thin coating of bubbles over the surface of the beer.


Aroma: Pretty decent hop aroma. Classic aroma of Cascade and Centennial combination, similar to beers I've made before with those two hops. Fruity, peachy, mango-y. Not much dankness or piney quality in the aroma. I don't detect a malt backbone since it's overshadowed by the hops.

Taste: Follows the hop smell but adds a moderate bitterness at the finish, with some dankness in the flavor. Malty sweetness is there too but moderate. Good hop flavor.

Mouthfeel: Full mouthfeel but with moderate-low carbonation. Aftertaste is bitter but not overpoweringly so. Nice malty sweetness balances the bitterness pretty well.

Overall: I'm happy with both the hop aroma and flavor. This is a very pleasant IPA that has great Cascade / Centennial hoppiness. Bitterness is appropriate for the style but on the low to moderate range. It's not a bone-dry West-coast IPA but veers towards and East-Coast IPA, as was intended. Usually the hop aroma and flavor of my beers deteriorates pretty quickly, but for this one I may put them all in my beer / lager fridge, which currently I'm not using for any fermenting or lagering beers.

Compare and Contrast: As I recall the Celebration, my homebrew is more aromatic, more bitter, and less sweet. The color is nearly correct though mine is cloudy, while the Celebration is clear. Unfortunately I could not find any Celebration Ale at the local beer stores, since it's a seasonal brew that presumably won't be available until the end of 2015.

Celebration Ale Clone Attempt

I've was very busy from November through most of December 2014, although not as busy as my lack of postings would suggest. In fact in November I did two group brews - a Brett Trois IPA and a Coffee Milk stout, neither of which I will discuss on this blog.

I finally brewed again last Saturday. It's an attempt to brew Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, which to me had a surprisingly malty (for an IPA) taste, without being strongly bitter. Still nice and hoppy with a good hop aroma. I did get some information about the recipe from SN by way of the local brew club.

Celebration Clone Attempt
 3 gallons

3.5# US 2-Row
3.5# Maris Otter
6oz Crstal 60
4oz Crystal 40

Gypsum and CaCl in water at 2:1 ratio

Mash at 154F

.45oz Centennial, 10.5%, 60min
.45oz Chinook, 13%, 60min
1oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10min
1oz Cascade, 6%, 5min
1oz Centennial, 10.5%, 1min
1oz Cascade, 6%, 1min
1oz Centennial, 10.5%, Dry, 14 days
1oz Cascade, 6%, Dry, 14 days
0.5oz Chinook, 13%, 14 days

US-05 Yeast

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.067 / 1.015 / 6.6%

Brewed 1/11/15

Brewing went pretty well, except that my normal scale for weighing hops didn't seem to work, so I had to use the less accurate kitchen scale.

Pre-boil gravity of 15.5B, or 1.0633, which will put the post-boil OG somewhere near 1.075 - a bit too high.

Cooled to 60F, using ice-cold (literally) water through my immersion chiller, then pitched rehydrated dry yeast, and placed the carboy in 56F ambient air.

No visible fermentation the next day at 6pm. Moved the carboy to 62F ambient air.

1/13/15 - Fermentation is actively progressing. 

1/18/15 - Fermentation mostly complete.Added whole-leaf dry hops directly into the primary fermenter. Ambient temp was ~65F.

Brett IPA #2 Review

So I finally brewed the same beer twice. Well, almost. This recipe had only one difference from the previous version, which was the addition of the Acid Malt. But the process was slightly different too, since I let the primary fermentation go for two weeks instead of one before adding the dry hops. Let's see if it makes a substantial different in the results…..


Appearance: Golden-orange, hazy with Brett yeast. Solid white head that leaves good lacing around the glass.

Aroma: Bright with hops. Fruity like mangoes or so, but with a dank side too.

Taste: Similar to the aroma: fruity, tropical juicy, but with a solid bitterness. To me it tastes a little more bitter than the last one.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation is on the higher end of moderate. Definitely not as highly carbed as my first Brett IPA. The body is not spritzy but still light.

Overall:Very good. My brother said it tasted like a commercial-quality IPA. I'm not sure if the acid malt made any difference compared to previous batch, but I definitely do detect the lower carbonation in this one. I think for next time a carbonation level around 2.5 would be better, as would a slight reduction in the IBUs. Not sure the acid malt added anything that I can detect.

I think I prefer the previous batch, which I believe benefitted from the lighter body and the slightly lower bitterness.

Brett IPA #2

 My last Brett IPA turned out well enough to share 1st place in a club-only competition. Turns out there's another competition coming up, and the 3 best beers in that one will be brewed professionally and ultimately judged by their sales in the brewery's tasting room. So why not try again?

The only change for this recipe is that I added 2oz of acid malt to try to encourage the brett to produce some nice tropical fruit esters.

Brett IPA
6# Breiss 2-Row
6oz Munich Malt
4oz Victory Malt
4oz White Wheat
2oz Acid Malt

Mash at 152F

.375oz Nugget, 13%, 60min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 10 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 5 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12%, 1 min

1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12% - Hopstand, 5min @ 210F, 30min @ 180-140F

.5oz Nelson Sauvin, .5oz CTZ, .5oz Centenial, dry, 7 days

WLP644

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.062, 1.016 (or less as Brett is highly attenuative), 54, 5.9% (or slightly more depending on attenuation).

Starter made on 10/4 with 50g DME and 500ml water, lightly hopped. The yeast was washed from my previous batch of Brett IPA.

Brewed 10/5/14
Brew day went well - not much to say except that I hit my numbers pretty well including gravity and volume. The whirlpool step did seem to be quite a bit cooler than last time, dropping into the 150F - 140F range over the course of 30 minutes of whirlpooling.

I got the beer to about 90F before putting the kettle in the basement to cool to pitching temps.

Pitched when the wort was around 65F, a bit colder than last time but I hope that will not be a problem. Did not aerate, as per last time.

10/6/14, 6pm - Beer was fermenting nicely at 64F, which is on the cool side, but tomorrow I will move it upstairs for a temperature boost. 

Brett IPA Review

This is my first IPA brewed with brettanomyces yeast, and based on the results, I will absolutely try again with this combination of yeast, hops and malt, with the only change being a slight addition of acid malt.

I brewed this beer as part of a club-only competition to brew a brett-IPA for a group barrel project. The winning recipe will be brewed by a bunch o' club members then fermented in a wine barrel. It turns out this beer is one of the winners - I'm really interested to see how it turns out when brewed in the barrel.

----------------- Original Review, written 8/27/14
Appearance: Hazy orange, most likely due to low-floccuation brett still in suspension. Fluffy white head, but it dissipate a little too quickly.

Aroma: Very fruity hops. Stronger hop aroma than many or most of my previous hoppy beers. I smell the Nelson quite a bit but it's layered with the classic Cascade & Centennial combination. I don't get much pine. I'm not sure how to identify the contribution of the brett. It's supposed to give a variety of tropical fruity aromas, which if present here blend very well with the hoppy aromas.

Taste: Like the aroma - complexity in the hopiness. Dry but fruity, bitter but not astringent, a hint of pine, maybe a barely noticeable hint of brett funk or so in the aftertaste. Hard to describe except to say that to me it tastes really good. A little fruit-juicy. No sourness detectable.

Mouthfeel: Dry, high-moderate carbonation, and kind of thin in body. Close to effervescent in mouthfeel. Refreshing, but the bitterness prevents it from going down like fruit juice.

Other: I really like it.

For Next Time: I didn't include any acid malt in this brew, but I have heard that including some can boost the brett tropical fruit esters. So, that's what I will do the next time I brew this thing, which I definitely plan to do. Also I will try to pitch a very large starter to ensure good attenuation and avoid bottle-bombs.

--------------- Comments / Consensus from club tasters, 8/28/14
There were about 18 other entries in the field, and mine and another were selected to be brewed for the barrels. I was very happy!

The consensus seemed to be that the two winners had the most "brightness" in terms of hop flavor, as well as good body and appropriateness for the barrel. Additionally neither of the two winners had no faults such as diacetyl, excessive phenols, or acid clashing with the hops. I tasted all of the entries, and I did taste in some other them those flaws, including some that just tasted... bizarre in a way that I don't know how to describe.

All Brett IPA

The local brew-club is holding a club-only competition for an all-brett IPA. The winner, in addition to the fame, glory and riches that come from this accomplishment, will have his or her beer brewed in quantity enough to fill a barrel.

My thinking for this beer is as follows:

• Malt takes a background / supporting role and contributes to the body of the beer. Accordingly I used US 2-Row for its relatively neutral flavor. Maris Otter would be too much in this beer. But the  slight bit of Munich, Victory and Wheat malt will leave body and malt flavors without being overpowering.
• Hops and yeast are the key choices, since they need to compliment each other without clashing. 
• I chose Brett-Trois from WhiteLabs. This strain of brett is supposed to produce a huge amount of tropical fruit flavors and, when used as the primary yeast and without aeration, does so without the classic "barnyard" flavors and slight sourness that come from other strains of brett.
• For hops, I chose to feature the fruity, wine like aroma and flavor of Nelson Sauvin hops, as I think they will compliment the brett flavors nicely. However I generally do not like IPAs with too much fruit character - I prefer them to have some degree of piney, resiny character. Thus the Cascade / Centenial combo.
• For yeast, I have heard WLP644 - Brett Trois - is good for IPAs. However it can apparently create some sourness if the wort is aerated - so no aerating this one. The yeast also needs a good starter. 
• Ferment a tad warm to get some good yeast esters and make sure the beer reaches final gravity in a reasonable timeframe.

Brett IPA
6# Breiss 2-Row
6oz Munich Malt
4oz Victory Malt
4oz White Wheat

Mash at 152F

.375oz Nugget, 13%, 60min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 10 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
.5oz Cascade, 6%, 5 min
.5oz Centennial, 10.5%, 10 min
1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12%, 1 min

1oz Nelson Sauvin, 12% - Hopstand, 5min @ 210F, 30min @ 180-160F

.5oz Nelson Sauvin, .5oz Cascade, .5oz Centenial, dry, 7 days

WLP644

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.061, 1.015 (or less as Brett is highly attenuative), 55, 5.9% (or slightly more depending on attenuation).

Brewed 8/2/14
Made a starter w/ 50g DME in 500ml water on 8/1/14, by pitching time it had already fermented and the yeast was starting to settle. 

Brewday went well, hit my mash and gravity numbers. Yay!

Pitched at 68F after transferring to Better Bottle without aerating. 

8/3/14, 530pm - Beer was fairly actively fermenting.

8/5/14, 6pm - Moved beer to 75F ambient to encourage complete fermentation.

8/14/14 - Added dry hops, right into the primary vessel.

8/19/14 - Moved back to 66F ambient to try to get the hops to sink to the bottom of the vessel.

West Coast IPA Review

Still working on my hoppy beers. This one is good, but again not exactly what I was hoping for. At some point, I will need to do a DIPA in order to basically see how much hop aroma I can get into my beer.

Appearance: Orange-copper in color, with a fluffy, slightly off-white head that sticks around pretty well. Nearly transparent, especially if I am very careful not to pour in any yeast.

Aroma: Fruity American hops- perhaps a bit a Cascade coming through. Aroma was good, but generally not as strong as I would hope for.

Taste: There's a reasonable amount of hoppy flavor - kind of fruity, a bit piney. I also get a little bit of malty sweetness in the aftertaste. Bitter, but smooth. The first-wort hopping seems to smooth out the bitter finish, especially in contrast to the Rye-IPA I made a while ago, in which the high bitterness and the spicyness of the rye combined to make a bit of a harsh taste.

Moutfeel: Medium carbonation. A bit thin in the mouthfeel, in my view. Aftertaste is a smooth bitterness.
 
Overall:  A smoothly bitter, somewhat fruity American IPA with a thin body. In my view, not bursting with hop aroma enough and a little too thin in body. Perhaps more like a Pale Ale. Still, it's good, and I do enjoy is, as do my wife and brother.

For next time: Try to find a way to get the huge hop aroma some beers have. Is it a recipe issue - i.e. volume of hops - or a technique issue - i.e. cooling time? Experimentation is in order. I will set up my March pump for the next brew, and do a whirlpool hopping system. I'd also like to get a resiny, coating mouthfeel that some IPAs have, in contrast to the kind of thin body here.

West Coast IPA

Of all the beers that I'd really like to get good at brewing, probably IPA is at the top of the list. No matter what the season or the circumstances, a good IPA with a wallop of hop aroma and flavor will always hit the spot. None of my IPA have been great, but they're slowly getting better. We'll see how this one goes....

This recipe came from a blog called West Coast Brewing and although I know nothing about the brewer, he and his buddies seem to like it, so why not. Plus, it doesn't call for an enormous (and expensive) volume of hops, potentially making it an efficient way to brew a good IPA. (Saving on hops, not too much beer lost to absorption by the hops.)

I did a double brew-day with two guys in the homebrewing club. The other beer was a Bitter, for which we used my larger cooler mash tun and its stainless bazooka screen. The tun performed well, although it seemed to loose more wort to tun deadspace than my round cooler.

The cooler, on the other hand, wouldn't stop leaking. So I just mashed in my kettle and used the tun to sparge. Probably this resulted in some efficiency loss, but that's OK. Anyway, it's always a work in progress. Eventually I will find the right combination of hardware pieces to fully seal the round cooler with the new 1/2" fittings and CPVC manifold.

West Coast IPA
 3-Gallons

6# US 2-Row
10oz C40
6oz C20

.5oz Centenial, 9.7%AA, first wort
.75oz Centenial, 9.7%AA, 20min
.5oz Centenial, 9.7%AA, 10min
.5oz Cascade, 6.4%AA, 0min
1.5oz Cascade, 6.4%, dry, 7 days

US-05 Yeast

2grams Gypsum
1gram CaCl

Mash @152F, 1 hour

1 hour boil

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.046 / 1.011 / 4.5 / 59

Brewed on 12/14/13

Initial Mash temps were good, but the kettle doesn't hold heat too well, so I had to use direct heat and stir. Sparge was OK but probably not hot enough.

Pre-Boil OG was in the 1.035 range, so I added 1lb of dry malt extract to compensate, and get rid of some of the extract I had lying around.

Boil went fine. Got a nice vigorous boil but I suspect I was over my target volume a bit.

Cooled to around 110F using my immersion chiller , and transferred to Better Bottle, being careful not to aerate.  It was about 25F and snowing outside, so I just let the Better Bottle sit outside for a while, until it felt cool to the touch. This took about 3 hours.

Pitched around 7pm, and shook the vigorously to aerate.

Let the BB sit in a tub of water, around 60F ambient. 

12/16/13, 6pm - About a quarter inch of krausen has formed.

12/17/13, 6pm - Fermentation is more active, with maybe 3/4" - 1" of krausen.

12/18/13, 6:15pm - Fermentation is even more active. Likely to be high krausen.

12/24/13 - After moving the carboy on 12/22/13 to a room temperature area to finish up, fermentation is now going very slowly and the yeast is starting to sink. I guess the low temps in the basement really keep fermentation slow.

12/26/13 - Racked to secondary and added the dry hops.

1/3/13 - Bottled, going for 2 units of carbonation. Got about 1.25 gallons - 24 * 12oz and a few 22oz bottles. The sample tasted good, with an OK aroma.

Rye IPA #2

After a bit of a break from brewing in August, I'm back with thoughts of the Fall and good beers for that season. On my wife's suggestion, I decided to refine the Rye IPA I brewed a while ago, hoping to make improvements. For this one, it's basically the same recipe but 1) water adjustment as per the suggestions of some people at the home brew club and Gordon Strong's "Brewing Better Beer" and 2) substitution of hops because I didn't have free home-grown Cascade like I did last time.

Rye IPA #2

6.25# Briess 2-Row
2.25# Rye Malt
4oz C20
4oz C40

.875 oz Warrior, 13.7%, 60 min
1/3 oz Cascade, Centenial, Chinook, 7.7%, 9.8%, 15.6%, 5min
1/3 oz Cascade, Centenial, Chinook, 7.7%, 9.8%, 15.6%, 1min
1/3 oz Cascade, Centenial, 7.7%, 9.8%, dry, 7 days
1 1/3 Chinook, 15.6% dry, 7 days

Water: Brookline, MA (soft) with the following added to the brewing water:
1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride
1 tsp Gypsum

Mash at 150F for 80 minutes.

Brewed on 9/8/13
Hit my mash temp pretty much spot on after the mash had been going for 15minutes. I like the speed with which my new Bayou Classic SP-10 burner heats up my water.

Got slightly more than 4 gallons pre-boil.

The boil went OK except that the propane tank ran dry at around 20 minutes left, so I had to finish the boil on the stove. Sucks.

Cooled to 110F using the IC and stirring, then squeezed out the liquid from the hop bag into the beer and placed in 67F ambient water to finish cooling.

Pitched a few hours later when the wort was at 72F and placed the 5 gallon better bottle in a bin of 67F water.

Post-boil OG was 1.054, a bit low.

9/12, 5pm
After 4 days of moderately active fermentation, high krausen seems to have passed. The fermenter is bubbling very slowly but some yeast remains on top of the beer. I moved the carboy out of the water bath.

9/23/13
Racked into a 3 gal Better Bottle and added the dry hops. It is a pain to get the leaf hops into the narrow mouth of the Better Bottle. I think from now on I will use pellet  hops for dry hopping.

10/1/13
Bottled, going for 2.2 vol of CO2. Got 26 bottles. The leaf hops caused all sorts of clogging in the bottling spigot and bottling wand. The bottling did not go smoothly at all as a result, and I had to reach into the beer with sanitized kitchen gloves to clean out the clog. I would not be surprised if the beer gets infected or oxidized because of all this. Next time, I'll try to use only pellet hops for dry-hopping. The hydrometer sample was reading 1.010, as expected a little too low.

Rye IPA #1 Tasting

I've been working on my hoppy beers to get them more assertively bitter and with a stronger hop aroma. For this one I added rye to the mix, because, well, why not? And I've been wanting to do something with rye for a while. Happily the results have been good.

Appearance: Light copper in color with a thick white head that lasts and that makes a nice lacing as I sip the beer. Moderate chill haze.

Objects in the picture may appear darker than they really are.

Aroma: Fruity Cascade hops dominate the nose. The aroma was definitely stronger when I first sampled this beer last week, but I still get a nice hoppy nose. Grapefruit like, not much of that pungent piney quality that some IPAs have. Maybe a slight breadiness. The aroma gets stronger as the beer warms a little.

Taste: Bitter, but more balanced than my previous IPA. A malty, slightly spicy quality at first, and then a moderate bitterness. Slight grainy sweetness. Fairly balanced between the bitterness, hops and malt qualities., I would say.

Mouthfeel: Moderate body and carbonation. Aftertaste is moderately bitter with a decent bit of sweetness.

Overall: A moderately aromatic IPA with a fruity nose and a taste well balanced between bitterness, rye like spiciness, and slightly malty or bread like sweetness. I like it quite a bit. At 55 IBUs and about a 1:1 ratio of BU:GU, tt's less assertively bitter than my previous IPA, but I think due to the late hopping and dry hopping it has a better aroma. The rye comes through only slightly in my view, adding a bit of complexity to the nose and taste, but does not dominate. Next time perhaps I would only up the IBUs slightly and dry hop with more of the piney hops for a more complex nose.