So its 4:35 am right now as I was laying in bed tossing and turning and I had an idea. I would like to make an IPA for me a sleep tonic. Most of the IPAs I've had, have put me to sleep pretty quickly.
So I was thinking of making an IPA probably pretty high in ABV probably around 6.5% and using chamomile tea in it. I was thinking of doing Summit and Columbus or if I cannot find Columbus use a Cascade. Would that go well with the chamomile?
I was also thinking of using BMs Centennial blonde as a base for my grain bill and tweaking it a bit.
Maybe something like this?
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.51 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 12.24 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.50 oz Summit [18.00 %] (60 min) Hops 29.5 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.8 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (20 min) Hops 13.9 IBU
0.25 oz Summit [18.00 %] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
0.25 oz Summit [18.00 %] (2 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
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Dude, it's bedtime. I know you want to be teabagged, but that won't help you sleep at all.
Oh man, you owe me a new keyboard! I just spit my IPA all over it (Goose Island IPA, if you're wondering).
(Oh... and I work third shift so the fact that I'm drinking at 8:15am isn't as weird as it might seem...in case you're wondering)
I'm drinking an IPA to fall asleep right now as a matter of fact, but I say forget the tea bags. It might be good, I don't know, but IPA's already have lots of hops. Hops are used in pillows to induce dreams. Hops are somnambulistic, or catatonic, or something like that. They make you sleep and dream. In pillows, of course, it's the aroma you're getting, not the bitterness. And sipping on this goose island IPA, I have to say it's my favorite IPA. It's not really bitter, maybe about 50 IBU's, but it's got this brilliant hop aroma and hop flavor.
I say you capitalize on the sleep-inducing qualities of hops. Load that puppy up with 15, 10, and 5 minute additions. Skip the 60 minute addition and do a FWH instead. Then dry-hop the heck out of it. I'm halfway through my beer and I'm already starting to yawn.
Seriously, if you haven't already, try the Goose Island IPA. It's fantastic!
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I have a third shift job too and have a nice IPA sleep aid as well. All the aroma is gone and it's all bitterness, just like my job. Or maybe it's the 8% ABV that helps me get to sleep. It is a mystery.
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I'm jealous, when I worked 3rd shift, I hadn't even begun exploring "real" beer. So my sleep aid was a 30pk of High Life. Does the body "good"!
I'm with those guys. Load up on the front-end hop additions. See BM's recipe dropdown for his Six Shooter Pale Ale for a little inspiration if needed - he crammed in 6.25oz with the *earliest* addition taking place at the 20 minute mark. If you do chamomile... I'd probably steep the teabags at flameout? That might work. You're gonna want to use a *lot* of tea, I'm guessing, since chamomile is fairly weak. I used most of a box, probably 15 tea bags, on my Mint Julep (using Bigelow Plantation Mint) and it's only present in the flavor. Definitely not there at all in the aroma.
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I'm jealous, when I worked 3rd shift, I hadn't even begun exploring "real" beer. So my sleep aid was a 30pk of High Life. Does the body "good"!
I'm with those guys. Load up on the front-end hop additions. See BM's recipe dropdown for his Six Shooter Pale Ale for a little inspiration if needed - he crammed in 6.25oz with the *earliest* addition taking place at the 20 minute mark. If you do chamomile... I'd probably steep the teabags at flameout? That might work. You're gonna want to use a *lot* of tea, I'm guessing, since chamomile is fairly weak. I used most of a box, probably 15 tea bags, on my Mint Julep (using Bigelow Plantation Mint) and it's only present in the flavor. Definitely not there at all in the aroma.
Holy Jesus!
BMs IPA would cost me like $30 in hops alone
His OG was pretty low also.
I really just want to try and stick with 2 oz of hops on this(cause I'm a cheap @$$) with an OG of about 1.066 I want to keep at least 30 IBUs for bitterness.
I will ditch the 30 min addition though and use it at the 15 min mark.
Do you get all flavor from a 1st wort hopping or does it end up bittering after a boil anyways?
Also, did the mint julep make you tired at all Chriso? I've heard of people using the chamomile in Wits, so I'm guessing the flavor will go pretty well especially with the summit hops.
yeah, dont go for the tea. Just use the spice alone. Mosher in the Rad Brew book calls for .25 oz at 5 min in his wheat (pg. 207). I would bump it a little up for such a big beer but thats how he adds it and in an approx amount. When it comes to the teabag I say try to control your inner ugres.
IPA sleep aid
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