So I started my IPA today. I used a yeast starter that I built up twice by decanting of the first brew and replenishing the trub with another 1.3 liters of wort.
Here is my recipe and photos of my starter, ingredients and wort:
India Pale Ale
Extract kit from Northern Homebrewer, St. Paul, MN
Target OG: 1.064
Malt 1: 3.15 lbs. Gold LME
Malt 2: 6 lbs. Gold LME
Grain 1: 1 lb Simpsons CaraMalt
Hop 1: 1 oz Nugget – alpha 11.2% (60 min)
Hop 2: .5 oz East Kent Golding – alpha 5.3% (30 min)
Hop 3: 1 oz East Kent Golding – alpha 5.3% (15 min)
Hop 4: .5 oz East Kent Golding – alpha 5.3% (1 min)
Yeast: #1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast w/ decanted twice built up starter (62-72)
Boiling Schedule:
Steep grains at 155°F for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix LME @ 60 minutes. Bring water back to a boil and add Hop 1 @ 60 minutes, Hop 2 @ 30 minutes, Hop 3 @ 15 minutes along with Malt 2. With 1 minutes left add Hop 4.
Notes:
Suggested 215 billion cells. Transfer to secondary fermenter after 7-14 days or begin taking daily hydrometer readings – when hydrometer readings are the same on consecutive days, primary fermentation is complete. Proceed to secondary fermentation for 3 weeks. Bottle with .75 cups of corn sugar. Bottle condition for up to 1 month.
This is of special note that my starter got the airlock dancing in about one hour. My OG was 1.061 and my target ABV is about 7.5%.
One little hickup was that I made my brew with 2 gallons of water, added the ingredients (namely the malt extract), then my 3 cold gallons of water to cool it down on the back end before pitching. Well, I put my 3 gallons of water in BEFORE my wort, instead of after, therefore eliminating any chance of thinning my primary to exactly 5 gallons. I probably have around 6 gallons of beer going. We’ll see how it turns out.
With less space at the top of my 7 gallon bucket, I’m switching from an airlock to a blow off tube.
