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.