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Double IPA – secondary

Steve — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:20:34 +0000

I racked to secondary today, after about a month left in the primary due to the July 15 and 22nd floods that have kept us busy. Our basement rose to about 80 degrees during that time, so I hope no odd flavors or aromas are born from that. My FG was 1.013, making my ABV 8%, due to the 60 degree pitch OG and the 77 degree secondary OG. Should be a good beer from what I’ve read but I’m concerned about the heat. Also, the beer is a lot darker that I thought, but who cares if it taste great I guess. Now I’ll let it set until early October, then dry hop for a week.

Chinook IPA – bottling day

Steve — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:53:05 +0000

Bottled up the Chinook IPA. Didn’t have much body to the uncarbed beer but nice aroma. I dry hopped and secondaried the beer for 11 days @ 70°. Using T-58 for bottling yeast.

Double IPA – brew day

Steve — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:51:10 +0000

Northern Brewer Double IPA extract kit. Here is their description:

Double IPA, sometimes called Imperial IPA, is an emerging style of beer that is distinctly American. The goal is to get as many hops in the beer as possible. Making the beer to an extremely high gravity (and alcohol) makes it possible to tolerate bitterness in excess of 90 IBUs. Lots and lots of hop flavor and aroma in our recipe help disguise a thick, full-bodied amber-gold beer of barley wine stature. Recommended: 2-stage fermentation and yeast starter.

Double IPA
Extract kit from Northern Homebrewer, Milwaukee, WI

Target OG: 1.083

Malt 1: 12 lbs. Pilsen Malt LME (60 min)
(screwed up and should have been 3 lbs at 60 mins and 9 lbs at 15 mins)

Adjunct: 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)

Grain 1: 4 oz Briess Caramel 120
Grain 2: 12 oz Dingemas Caramel Pils

Hop 1: 1 oz Summit – (60 min)
Hop 2: 1 oz Centennial – (30 min)
Hop 3: 1 oz Cascade – (10 min)
Hop 4: 2 oz Summit – (0 min)
Hop 5: 1 oz Cascade – (dry hop in secondary for 2 weeks)

Yeast: #1056 American Ale (60°-72°F)

Boiling Schedule:
Collected 2.5 gallons of water. Steep grains at 155°F for 20 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix Malt. Bring water back to a boil. In hop tea pot add Hop 1 @ 60 minutes, Hop 2 @ 30 minutes. Add Hop 3 in primary brew pot @ 10 minutes and Hop 4 @ 0 minutes in the boil. Add Irish Moss with 15 minutes left in the boil.

Notes:
I pitch yeast @ about 67° . My fermentation temps are 70-71°. I’ll transfer to secondary fermenter after about 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 2months . Add Hop 5 @ 2 weeks prior to bottling. Bottle with 5 oz of corn sugar and 1 oz of table sugar. Bottle condition for up to 2 weeks.

My actual OG was 1.074. I pitched @ 67° and fermented @ 70°.

Chinook IPA – secondary

Steve — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:13:03 +0000

Moved to secondary. Took a FG reading and got 1.004 HOWEVER, I did realize after testing my hydrometer in water, that it is off by .002-.004. So, with a 1.048 SG and a 1.006 (corrected) FG my ABV will be ~5.6% (taking into mathematical consideration of 60 degrees reading for OG and 67 degrees for FG). Very light in color, similar to the Patersbier.

There was very subtle hoppiness to the beer, granted I needed to add my dry hop addition. (ADDITION – I dry hopped 2 days after this post). I think bigger boils are better for IPAs (see below), so maybe I wasn’t able to extract all the acids properly. Would have liked to capture those sharp Chinooks. Loved the smell. Actually let Abby taste one of the hop pellets. For the record she’s not a fan of pure hops For my tastes right now, I think I’m going to step up and take a swing at the Double IPA kit. It is a pricey kit but compared to a $12/6pk of great IPA beer in my basement, I’ll have 2 cases for $60. That’s ok with me.

I did learn something today after talking to NB on the phone. I was asking about a “hop tea” that is often used when doing a brew with large malt extract bill. The hop tea is a side boil just for your early addition hops that you time along with your primary boil. It is so that there is a purer extraction of the alpha acids from the hops. Otherwise, if I added the hops to the primary boil, the sugar level would be so high that chemically, the extraction process would actually be hindered quite a bit. More on this when I post the Double IPA brew day.

Chinook IPA – brew day

Steve — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 02:55:40 +0000

I recently brewed the Northern Brewer Chinook IPA extract kit. Here is their description:

This American IPA has a relatively modest gravity and an immodest hop character derived entirely from a single hop variety. Chinook hops have long been used by US brewers for bittering additions, but their intense aroma and flavor have caught on only recently. This kit is a bit lower in gravity and lighter in body than our other IPA recipes, which enhances the perceived bitterness and reduces the aging requirements. It shows up in the glass with a reddish-gold color and a thick, resinous Chinook aroma that lingers after the glass is emptied.

Chinook IPA
Extract kit from Northern Homebrewer, Milwaukee, WI

Target OG: 1.050

Malt 1: 6 lbs. Pilsen Malt LME (60 min)
Malt 2: 1 lb. Pilsen DME (60 min)

Adjunct: 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)

Grain 1: .25 lb Briess Caramel 120
Grain 2: .75 lb Dingemas Caramel Pils

Hop 1: 1 oz Chinook – alpha 11.4% (60 min)
Hop 2: .5 oz Chinook – alpha 11.4% (10 min)
Hop 3: .5 oz Chinook – alpha 11.4% (1 min)
Hop 4: .5 oz Chinook – alpha 11.4% (dry hop in secondary for 2 weeks)

Yeast: #1056 American Ale (60°-72°F)

Boiling Schedule:
Collected 2.5 gallons of water. Steep grains at 155°F for 20 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix Malt 1 & 2. Bring water back to a boil and add Hop 1 @ 60 minutes, Hop 2 @ 10 minutes, Hop 3 @ 1 minutes left in the boil. Add Irish Moss with 10 minutes left in the boil.

Notes:
I pitch yeast @ about 63° . I’ll transfer to secondary fermenter after about 10-14 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 2 weeks. Add Hop 4 @ 2 weeks prior to bottling. Bottle with 5 oz of corn sugar and 1 oz of table sugar. Bottle condition for up to 2 weeks.

My actual OG was 1.048. I pitched @ 63°.

Three Hearted Ale – tasting

Steve — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:00:11 +0000

I’m really pleased with the Three Hearted Ale IPA. It is very floral, malty balance and the taste sticks with you a while. I will definitely brew this again exactly how I did it before.

Three Hearted Ale and Patersbier – bottling

Steve — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:49:44 +0000

Racked my Three Hearted IPA and the Patersbier to bottles today. I used T-58, 5 oz of corn sugar and 2 oz of table sugar to prime the Patersbier. 5 oz of corn sugar for the IPA with US-05. Now, let’s see if they carb up nice. The IPA smelled great and both tasted great at room temp and flat (as good as they could be anyway).

Three Hearted Ale – dry hop

Steve — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:01:44 +0000

I dry hopped my first beer tonight. It was a simple process. Poured 1 oz of Cascade pellet hops right into the secondary. Prior, I heated my carboy up to 70 degrees. I was told that the beer will absorb the hops for a better aroma at that temperature. I’ll likely leave them in for 2 more weeks and then bottle. They are supposed to fall out of suspension and accumulate on the bottom with the hibernating and dead yeasts. They really expand within 24 hours as seen in the photos.

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Three Hearted Ale IPA – Secondary

Steve — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:40:40 +0000

I racked to secondary with a FG of 1.010. My OG was 1..060, giving me an ABV of 6.7%. The beer had a great aroma, worthy of IPA stature. My sample was a dry mouth feel and first sip taste was bitter/dry turning to malt and the lingering taste was more hops than malt, which I think is good. If it carbs up decent I’m excited about this beer. A little darker than I expected but I dont’ really care. All about the taste on this go around.

Three Hearted Ale IPA- brew day

Steve — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:39:33 +0000

Three Hearted Ale Quick Overview (from Norther Brewer)

Is this the river Hemingway was really writing about in “Big Two-Hearted River?” Did he change the name in the story, not to hide the presence of brook trout as big as his arm from other fishermen, but to hide the presence of this beer? Obviously.

NB’s Three Hearted Ale is a larger-than-life American IPA with a hop aroma so thick you can almost see it. American base malt and crystal malt create the big body, pale-amber color, and slight grainy sweetness, while Centennial hops deliver pronounced bitterness and a citrusy aroma and flavor. Brew one and make Papa proud. Recommended: 2-stage fermentation and yeast starter.

Three Hearted Ale
Extract kit from Northern Homebrewer, Milwaukee, WI

Target OG: 1.064

Malt 1: 9.15 lbs. Gold Malt LME (60 min)

Adjunct: 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)

Grain 1: 1 lb Briess Caramel 40

Hop 1: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.9% (60 min)
Hop 2: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.9% (30 min)
Hop 3: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.9% (15 min)
Hop 4: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.9% (10 min)
Hop 5: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.9% (5 min)
Hop 6: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.2% (0 min)
Hop 7: 1 oz Centennial – alpha 9.2% (dry hop in secondary for 2 weeks)

Yeast: #1056 American Ale (60°-72°F)

Boiling Schedule:
Collected 2.5 gallons of water. Steep grains at 155°F for 20 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix Malt 1. Bring water back to a boil and add Hop 1 @ 60 minutes, Hop 2 @ 30 minutes, Hop 3 @ 15 minutes, Hop 4 @ 10 minutes, Hop 5 @ 5 minutes, Hop 6 @ flame out. Add Irish Moss with 10 minutes left in the boil.

Notes:
I wanted to pitch yeast @ 60° but ended up pitching at 70°. I think I’ll leave it near room temp (60) and then bump it up to 68° for a day or so right before secondary. Transfer to secondary fermenter after about 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 2 weeks. Add Hop 7 @ 2 weeks prior to bottling. Bottle with 5 oz of corn sugar and 2 oz of table sugar. Bottle condition for up to 2 weeks.

My actual OG was 1.060. I pitched @ 70°.

I did a starter for this brew. I also used Fercaps again to prevent a lot of foam action from the proteins bonding during the boil. I used a 6.5 gallon bucket for this beer, with a slightly larger siphon blowoff tube attached to the top of an airlock. I also bought a strainer so that my cold break material (hops, etc) from the primary didn’t make it into my primary.

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