Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Brew #3: Hop Cult IPA, June 21, 2014

Brew #3 was an American IPA extract kit from Midwest Supplies again: Hop Cult IPA. Since I didn't realize that #1 was English style until I opened the first bottle, I wanted to make something hoppier.  Additions to my process and equipment for this one: Late malt addition, dry hopping, and a 6.5 Gal Big Mouth Bubbler to be used as a primary fermenter, since I didn't trust the seal on the bucket after the first 2 brews.

Recipe
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 3 gal
Target OG: 1.064
Target FG: 1.016
Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: Extract with specialty grains
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Acadia bottled spring water

Specialty Grains:
0.5 lbs Belgian Aromatic

Fermentables:
1 lb Gold DME
1 lb Wheat DME
6 lbs Gold LME @ 15 min.

Hops:
1oz Warrior (pellets) @ 60 min.
1oz Centennial (pellets) @ 10 min.
1oz Citra (pellets) @ 10 min.
3oz Citra (pellets) dry hop 7 days

Yeast:
Safale S-04, pitched dry

Brewing Notes
6/21/2014 - Brew Day:
  • Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
  • Heated 3 gal water to 155 F in 5 gallon economy stainless kettle on the stovetop.
  • Steeped specialty grains in muslin bag for 25 minutes.
  • Removed the grain bag and held it above the kettle to drain.
  • Brought to boil
  • Removed kettle from the burner.
  • Added 1 lb wheat DME and 1 lb gold DME and stirred well
  • Return the kettle to the burner and bring back to boil
  • Set timer for 60 minutes and added hops per the recipe schedule
  • At 15 minutes, paused the timer, removed the kettle from the burner, and added 6 lbs Gold LME and stirred thoroughly.
  • Returned to boil and resumed the timer, added the 10 minute hop addition.
  • At 0 minutes, moved the kettle to the ice bath in my sink to chill. Chilled to 74F.
  • Took an OG reading of 1.060, corrected to 1.062
  • Sprinkled the yeast dry on top of wort
  • Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room
6/21 - 6/27/2014 - Primary Fermentation:
Since my fermenter was clear now, I could see the activity, so that was fun.  On 6/22 at 5:30 AM the krausen was up to the 6 gallon mark, airlock bubbling faster than once per second.  I left for a bike ride. At around 11:00 AM, i got the now infamous "I hate you. I hate your beer." phone call (sorry Lauren). Apparently the krausen plugged up the 3-piece airlock and shot it and the bung up to the ceiling, spraying foam all over.  Since I was unreachable at the time, Lauren researched how to make a blow-off tube.  We used the siphon/bottling tube shoved into a clean/sanitized bung on one end, with the other end in a wine bottle half filled with sanitizer solution.

Look at the spatter on the wall.  Just after I shot this picture and cleaned the mess off the top, it shot the bung out again.  Now the bung goes ALL the way in. On 6/27 racked to 5 gallon glass carboy and measured gravity of 1.018.

6/27-7/14/2014 - Secondary Fermentation:
7/6 dry hopped with 3 oz citra pellets added directly into the carboy.

7/14/2014 - Bottling:
I prepped my bottles the same way I did for the first 2 (if it aint broke...), hand washing 54 bottles in oxyclean and sanitizing in the dishwasher (no soap).  On bottling day, I sanitized everything else that might touch the beer with star san in the bottling bucket and let it dry completely on a clean towel on the kitchen counter.  I boiled the whole 5oz package of corn sugar in 1 c of water, cooled that in a mini ice bath, and added that to the bottling bucket.  I siphoned the beer on top of that to mix.  I think this is where I started "filtering" - I put a sanitized nylon mesh bag over the discharge end of the hose to try to catch any big chunks of the dry hop. We decided it smelled like cat pee. I didn't note final gravity, so we'll call it 1.018 from when I measured it previously, which I calculated to mean 5.8% abv. After the gravity reading, I pulled all of the bottles out of the dishwasher and we filled and capped as usual. Yield was 44 12oz bottles and 2 22oz bottles.

??? - First Taste:
I got nothing. No date, no notes.  I know it smelled less like cat pee once we drank it, and I was pretty happy with how this came out.

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