Another double IPA attempt. This one - lighter & more balanced between malt sweetness, hop bitterness, and hop aroma/flavor. Planning on using citrusy hops, I used simcoe last time - 2 oz bitter, 2 oz dry hop... and the beer came out smelling and tasting a little too much like grapefruit. Using Centennial and Citra this time. Hoping that will give me the profile I want. Also using honey again, but a little less this time, only 1# compared to 3# last time.
Yeah I know, the name is cheesy, but whatever.
THE RECIPE:
14# Pale Malt
1# Crystal 10L (would like 40L but I only had 10 & 60 to choose from)
1# honey (late boil addition)
2 ounces Centennial (60)
1 ounce Citra (0)
1 ounce Citra (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056
4/17 BREWDAY
God this took too long to get brewed. Time is hard to find these days.
General: Single infusion mash, mashout, and batch sparge. 90 minute boil.
Targets: 15 total pounds x 1.25 = 18.75 qts @ 166 (target = 152), 60 minute mash,
pre-boil 6.43 gallons @ 1.060
Actuals:
Preheated mash tun with 2 pints boiling water, held for 15 minutes while strike water was reaching temp
18.75 qts @ 176 (to account for cooler - can always decrease temp, very hard to increase it)
Added strike water (176) to cooler, after 5 minutes temp @ 172, added 6 ice cubes, temp now @ 167
(~2PM) Doughed in immediately, temp @154 (a few spots at 152, but this was perfect)
After 30 minutes, I opened, temp @ 154 still, stirred up a little, temp still @ 154
After another 30 minutes (60 total), I started to vorlof (*I skipped a mashout this time and I'm regretting it. I got 10 qts 1st run, and 15 qts 2nd. That's not right. Should be equal or the other way around. The pre-boil gravity is lower than expected because of this. Probably left some sugar in the grains, which would have been washed out at a higher temp.)
1st runnings: Collected 2.5 gallons (10 qts), Brix 20/1.083 - total mash absorption = 8.75 qts
Added 15 qts sparge water @ 180, after addition temp @ 158 :-( target was 168/170
2nd runnings: Collected 15 qts, Brix 10/1.040
Total pre-boil - 6.5 gallons @ Brix 14.5/1.059
Boiled for 90, and added water at the end to top off at 5.25 gallons.
Hop additions:
2 oz Centennial (90)
1/2 oz Amarillo (45 - supposed to be 60 but the clock got away)
1 oz Citra (0)
Also added Irish Moss at 15 left, and 1.5# honey at flame out before I added the Citra.
The gravity (even after adding the extra water) was Brix 17.4/1.071.
Chilled to 66 degrees via immersion chiller
(~8PM) Pitched Wyeast 1056 yeast starter (~8PM)
FERMENTATION LOG:
4/18 8AM - a bubble every 10-20 seconds or so, temp @ 68F
4/19 2AM (yes, 2AM) - bubbling about twice a second, temp @ 70F, decided to soak a towel in cold water, wring it out, and wrap around carboy. That will hopefully maintain the temp around 68-70.
4/19 8AM - bubbling has slowed a little, temp @ 68F, took wet towel off and put t-shirt back on. Kinky.
4/24 - RACKED TO 2ND
1.012 Nice color, pretty good aroma already, great balance of bitterness and sweetness. Added 1.5 oz citra dry hops (whole). Can't wait for this to be done!
5/9 - BOTTLING
With the help of Jen's dad, got twenty-six 12 oz bottles and thirteen 22's. Sunshine on the caps.
5/22 - FIRST TASTING
Decided to try to open one of these while we were away on a 4 day weekend excursion. Popped open one of the 12 ounce bottles, just about completely carbed, not quite there, but enough to enjoy it. Definite citrusy & honey aroma. Wow, can't believe how much of the honey comes through... I'm having aromatic recollections of my honey rye, interesting. Everything is pretty much where I'd hoped it would be with the body, color, mouthfeel, and the whole nine. Will try another one next weekend and give it a full review.
A review from Mr. Don Osborn (starts at 3:24):
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