Brew #15: Plinian Legacy 2, January 17, 2015

Remember when I tasted Brew #10 on Christmas Eve and immediately decided to brew it again? Well I wasn't kidding.  I logged on to my computer and bought the kit right then and there. What I didn't realize was that sometime between when I bought the 2 kits, there was a Simcoe shortage, so Northern Brewer substituted "Simply Select Hop Blend" for the 5 oz of Simcoe that was in the first kit. Unfortunately, I don't think the piney character of Simcoe can be replicated, so this version was not as good as the first.  Plus, I think I got a little tired of it.  I don't usually have 4 cases in a row of the same beer.

Recipe
Batch Size: 6 gal
Boil Size: 3 gal
Target OG: 1.070
Target FG: ???
Style: IIPA
Recipe Type: Extract with specialty grains
Boil Time: 90 minutes

Water:
Acadia bottled spring water

Specialty Grains:
10 oz Carapils
6 oz Bairds Carastan

Fermentables:
4 lbs Pilsen DME @ 90 min.
6 lbs Pilsen LME @ 15 min.
0.75 lb corn sugar @ 0 min.

Hops:
0.25 oz Amarillo (pellets) @ steeping grains (FWH)
10 mL (2x) Hopshot @ 90 min
1 oz Columbus (pellets) @ 45 min
1 oz Simply Select Hop Blend (pellets) @ 20 min
1.5 oz Centennial (pellets) @ 0 min, steep 10 min.
2.5 oz Simply Select Hop Blend (pellets) @ 0 min, steep 10 min.
1.5 oz Columbus (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 15 days
1 oz Centennial (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 15 days
1 oz Simply Select Hop Blend (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 15 days
0.5 oz Columbus (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 5 days
0.5 oz Simply Select Hop Blend (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 5 days
0.25 oz Centennial (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 5 days
0.25 oz Amarillo (pellets) Dry Hop in secondary 5 days

Other:
1 Whirlfloc Tab @ 10 min.

Yeast:
White Labs WLP001

Brewing Notes
1/14/15 - Yeast Starter:
I made my standard yeast starter with 4c water, 4 oz extra light DME, and 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled for 10 minutes and chilled to around 80F.  Then, as usual, I shook like crazy until it was aerated and pitched the yeast.

1/17/14 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 3 gal water to 155-160 F in 5 gallon economy stainless kettle on the stovetop.
• Steeped specialty grains in muslin bag for 20 minutes.  At the same time added .25 oz Amarillo hops directly in the kettle.
• Removed the grain bag and held it above the kettle to drain.
• Brought to boil
• Removed kettle from the burner.
• Added 4lbs pilsen LT DME and stirred well
• Set timer for 90 minutes and added:
  10mL Hopshot @ 90 min.
  1oz Columbus @ 45 min.
  1oz Simply Select @ 20 min.
  6lb Pilsen LME @ 15 min.
  1 Whirlfloc tab and wort chiller @ 10 min.
  0.75 lb corn sugar, 1.5 oz Centennial, 2.5 oz Simply Select @ 0 min.
• Removed the kettle from heat and allowed to stand for 20 minutes
• Moved kettle to the sink, hooked up my wort chiller and ran cold water to chill to 100 F
• Added 2 gal of pre-chilled water to the kettle to bring temperature to 70F
• Siphoned to BMB, then added more room temperature water and the entire yeast starter until I had 6 Gallons.
• Took an OG reading, corrected to 1.077. Extracts are very consistent.
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room with a blowoff tube.

1/17 - 1/26/2014 - Primary Fermentation:
Nothing of note in the primary, but I'm sure this one blew off through the tube.  Racked to 5 gal glass carboy on 1/26 and measured gravity of 1.016.

1/26-2/20/2014 - Secondary Fermentation:
Dry hops:  On 2/7 added:
1.5 oz Columbus (pellets)
1 oz Centennial (pellets)
1 oz Simply Select (pellets)
on 2/15 added:
0.5 oz Columbus (pellets)
0.5 oz Simply Select (pellets)
0.5 oz Centennial (pellets)
0.25 oz Amarillo (pellets)
All of these were directly to the carboy. Here it is just before bottling:


2/20/2014 - Bottling:
Bottled with 5oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime. Gravity was 1.018 after the priming sugar was added, so I used the 1.016 from racking to the secondary for FG.

??? - First Taste:
No date, no notes.  This was not quite the same as the first because of the change from Simcoe to Simply Select.  I still had no shortage of volunteers to drink them.