Brew #24: F-Bomb Imperial Amber, June 20, 2015

This brew was an all-around original recipe.  I wanted a double IPA, a little on the amber side.  I also wanted to try something else with the pitch of Vermont Ale Yeast (Conan) that I reserved from #21. And, since most of my IPA brews had been on the piney side, I wanted this one to be all citrus.

Recipe
Batch Size Target (Actual): 6 gal (6 gal)
OG Target (Actual): 1.078 (1.076)
FG Target (Actual) : 1.009 (1.015)
Brew House Efficiency Target (Actual) : 72% (69%)
IBUs: 94
Color: 15.1 SRM
Style: Imperial IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Boil Time: 90 minutes

Water:
Carbon filtered York water

Grains:
14.8 lbs US 2-Row
8 oz Belgian Special B
1.75 lbs Caramel 40L
1 lb Clear Candi Sugar @ 15 minutes

Hops:
1oz Warrior (pellets) @ 60 min.
1oz Galaxy (pellets) @ 60 min.
1 oz Citra (pellets) @ Flameout, steep 15 min
1 oz Cascade (pellets) @ Flameout, steep 15 min
1 oz Centennial (pellets) @ Flameout, steep 15 min
1 oz Nelson Sauvin (pellets) Dry hop 6 days
2 oz Galaxy (pellets) Dry hop 6 days
1 oz Citra (pellets) Dry hop 6 days

Other:
1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
1 oz Bitter orange peel @ 5 Min.

Yeast:
Vermont Ale Yeast (Conan)

Brewing Notes
6/17/15 - Yeast Starter:
I made a huge 3L yeast starter for 2 reasons: There wasn't a lot of reserved yeast from the previous batch, and I wanted to reserve another vial.  To make a 3 L starter, I used 12oz extra light DME, 12 cups of water, and 3/4tsp yeast nutrient, boiled for 10 minutes.  I put this in a 1 gallon carboy.


6/20/15 - Brew Day:

• Cold crashed and decanted the starter overnight from 6/19-6/30
• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Heated 21 quarts of water with 1 tbsp pH 5.2 to 165 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 152-154F
• 70 minute mash rest
• 0 minutes: temperature was 152-154F
• 15 minutes: paddled, temperature was 150-152F
• 30 minutes: paddled, temperature was 149-150F
• 70 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 19 quarts of 200F water
• Ran until the mash tun was dry, about 30 minutes
• Brought to boil - 90 minute boil time
• Added:
  1oz Warrior (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1oz Galaxy (pellets) @ 60 min.
  1 lb Clear Candi Sugar @ 15 minutes
  1 Whrilfloc Tab @ 15 min.
  1 oz Bitter orange peel @ 5 Min.
  1 oz Citra (pellets) @ Flameout
  1 oz Cascade (pellets) @ Flameout
  1 oz Centennial (pellets) @ Flameout
• Brought inside and let stand for 18 minutes
• Chilled to 78F - My ground water was getting warmer so the immersion chiller was not working as effectively.
• Siphoned to BMB
• Took an OG reading of 1.074, corrected to 1.076.
• Pitched yeast starter except for 1 vial of reserved yeast

6/20 - 6/30/15 - Primary Fermentation:
Siphoned to Secondary on 6/30.  Gravity was 1.016

6/30 - 7/18/15 - Secondary Fermentation:
Dry hopped on 7/12 with:
1 oz Nelson Sauvin (pellets)
2 oz Galaxy (pellets)
1 oz Citra (pellets)

7/18/2015 - Bottling:
Bottled 46 12 oz bottles with with 4.1 oz corn sugar, boiled in 2c water.  Final Gravity was 1.015 (8.1%). This beer was very good, definitely fruity.  I'm not sure why my attenuation was low.  As these aged in the bottle, the carbonation got a little out of hand.  I think this was stalled when I bottled and then as it conditioned the yeast woke back up again.  I never got a chance to take another sample to see if this is right.  I'll be brewing this again in a couple of weeks with a fresh pitch of yeast.