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.
My IPA was finished conditioning on November 17th. I gotta say I’m happy with how it turned out. A good beer.
Looks a bit more amber than I thought but I’ve read that extract kits tend to do that more often. It isn’t too dense, which I think was a good thing I think for an IPA. It was a little cloudy but that is from not racking to a secondary.
The smell is primarily hoppy. Very slight smell of malt.
Drinks pretty easy and has just the right amount of hop flavor I expected. I drink it with the yeast and pour it full to mix it up. First sip is floral and slightly bitter. Not sweet but that also could have been skewed by the Biere de Garde I drank prior, which was very sweet. It is more on the dryer side but not as carbonated as I’d like.
The aftertaste is mildly bitter, asking me to have another sip.
I think this may be slightly too bitter for people that enjoy their factory beers. It is slightly less bitter than a Sierra Nevada IPA, more along the lines of a Lakefront Brewery IPA.
I tend to make my homebrews for me, rather than the people I share them with so, when I do another IPA it will most likely be a double of some sort. Overall, I’m happy it turned out and will enjoy during the remainder of the football season.
I botttled my IPA at a FG of 1.010 after 16 days. Tasted it and was very pleasant and easy. Not as floral or hoppy as I really like but again, that wasn’t the goal of this brew. Didn’t want to launch into a double on the first go-round and read great things about this recipe. Like I noted before, I didn’t choose to put it in the secondary to clear. Therefore, it was pretty cloudy when bottling. I’ve peeked at the bottles and they’re firming up quickly and are a bit clearer. Excited to start tasting.
Northern Brewer’s store opens soon in Milwaukee, the 14th I think. I’m planning my shopping list for their grand opening already. Targeting an Imperial Stout. Mmmmm.
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.
