Sunday, April 10, 2016

Brew #21, Off the Topper IIPA, May 2, 2015

Here's an all grain kit from Northern Brewer.  I bought this one complete with the "Vermont Ale Yeast" which is supposedly actually Conan. My only taste of Heady Topper was a few months earlier, splitting a can 5 ways with my family, so without tasting side by side, I can't say if this is a clone (it's not a clone).  I also tried my brother's extract version of this kit while brewing #19 so I decided to brew the AG version. Due to a Simcoe shortage, my kit came with Simply Select hop blend instead of Simcoe.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 6 gal (5.5 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.070 (1.062)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.011 (1.010)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 70% (68%)
IBUs: 100+
Color: 11.4 SRM
Style: American IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
0.75 lbs White Wheat
13.5 lb Fawcett Pearl Malt
0.75 lb Light Carastan Malt
1 lb Brun Leger @ Flamout

Hops:
10mL Hop Shot @ 60 min.
2 oz Simply Select @ Flameout, stand 15 minutes
1 oz Columbus @ Flameout, stand 15 minutes
0.5 oz Apollo @ Flameout, stand 15 minutes

1 oz Columbus @ 180F, stand 15 minutes
1 oz Simply Select @ 180F, stand 15 minutes
1 oz Amarillo @ 180F, stand 15 minutes
0.5 oz Centennial @ 180F, stand 15 minutes
0.5 oz Apollo @ 180F, stand 15 minutes

0.5 oz Columbus - Dry hop in primary 4 days
1 oz Simply Select - Dry hop in primary 4 days
0.5 oz Amarillo - Dry hop in primary 4 days
0.5 oz Centennial - Dry hop in primary 4 days
0.25 oz Apollo - Dry hop in primary 4 days

0.5 oz Columbus - Dry hop in secondary 4 days
1 oz Simply Select - Dry hop in secondary 4 days
0.5 oz Amarillo - Dry hop in secondary 4 days
0.5 oz Centennial - Dry hop in secondary 4 days
0.25 oz Apollo - Dry hop in secondary 4 days



Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.

Yeast:
Vermont Ale Yeast (Conan)


Brewing Notes
4/25/15 - Yeast Starter 1:
1 Liter yeast starter: 4c of water, 1/4 lb Extra light DME, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature. Fermented on a stir plate. Cold crashed and decanted overnight 4/27 into 4/28, then allowed it to come back up to room temp.

4/28/15 - Yeast Starter 2:
2 Liter yeast starter: 8c of water, 1/2 lb Extra light DME, 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, boiled 10 minutes and chilled to room temperature.  I poured the remaining yeast slurry from Starter 1 and the stir bar into a 2 Liter flask.  The night before brew day, I cold crashed the 2 L starter in the fridge, then decanted the morning of.

5/2/15 - Brew Day:
  • Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.  This included the wort chiller this time.
  • Heated 19 quarts of water to 178 F in 8 gallon stainless HLT on outdoor propane burner
  • Mashed in in 10 gal Igloo cooler, paddled until everything was well mixed and there were no dough balls.  Mash in temp was 154F, so I added cold water until it was 151, which took about 1.5qt
  • 60 minute mash rest
    • 0 minutes: temperature was 151F
    • 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148-151F
    • 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 148F, added 1qt boiling water temp was 150F
    • 60 minutes, began vorlauf
  • Manual Vorlauf: I run a 2 cup measuring cup full of wort out of the valve and gently pour this on top of the mash.  Then I repeat until I'm satisfied with the clarity.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.
  • Ran off and fly sparged with 17 quarts of 190F water
  • Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
  • Brought to boil - 60 minute boil time
  • Added:
    10mL hopshot @ 60 min.
    1 Whirlfloc Tab @ 15 min.
    1lb Brun Leger @ Flameout
    2 oz Simply Select @ Flameout
    1 oz Columbus @ Flameout
    0.5 oz Apollo @ Flameout
  • Moved kettle to the kitchen and let stand for 15 minutes
  • Chilled with wort chiller to 180F, then cut off the water flow to the chiller
  • Added:
    1 oz Columbus
    1 oz Simply Select
    1 oz Amarillo
    0.5 oz Centennial
    0.5 oz Apollo
  • Chilled to 70F
  • Siphoned to BMB,
  • Took an OG reading of 1.068, corrected to 1.069. Volume was 6 Gallons
  • Reserved 1 sanitized vial of yeast from the huge starter to use on a future brew (#24)
  • Pitched the rest of the yeast
  • Put the BMB in the basement (68F) with a blow off tube. Look at all of those hops.
5/2 - 5/15/15 - Primary Fermentation:
Brought the BMB upstairs to try to ramp temperature per the yeast recommendation on 5/8, temp got to 72 to 74F.
On 5/11, dry hopped with:
0.5 oz Columbus
1 oz Simply Select
0.5 oz Amarillo
0.5 oz Centennial
0.25 oz Apollo
Siphoned to Secondary on 5/15.  Gravity was 1.012

5/15 - 5/30/15 - Secondary Fermentation:
On 5/26, dry hopped with:
0.5 oz Columbus
1 oz Simply Select
0.5 oz Amarillo
0.5 oz Centennial
0.25 oz Apollo

5/30/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled  with 4.3oz of corn sugar boiled in 2 c water to prime.  Gravity was 1.011 (7.7% abv).

??? - First Taste:
No date, no notes. Again. These were incredible, but I thought the peach character of the yeast was more subtle than my brother's - although I never tasted side by side.

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