Maharaja Clone

**Saccharomyces** · 12-15-2008, 11:54 PM

Dangit BierMuncher, had to get the IIPA thing going.

Since my 15 gallon pot will be delivered by the brown santa tomorrow, I figured no better way to break it in than to do 10 gallons of Maharaja. SoperBrew and I both love this beer, and I nearly cried when I discovered the local beer store was already sold out! .. so we will split the batch and all will be well with the world again. In a few months, anyway.

Note that Avery uses a staggering 42# of hops per batch to dry hop the Maharaja. Granted, anyone who has seen my freezer blames the hop shortage on me

but I still don't think it's NECESSARY to dry hop with that many hops. Instead, I'll use a mere 8 ounces for dry hopping, and apply a slick innovation I came up with for this beer: I'll be stuffing sachets with the blend they use to dry hop the beer. Plunk a sachet in the glass, let it sit for a few minutes.. and voila. Should be able to smell the hops from the next room!

Here's the recipe as I will be brewing it. I planned for 11 gallons after the boil, since I will lose a lot of beer to dry hopping; depending on my brewhouse efficiency (I planned for 65%) I may boil extra wort on the stove top to add after the boil to bring up the volume. At 133 IBUs, I don't think a small change in hop utilization will be noticed!

38# Rahr 2-row
3 3/4# Victory
1 1/4# Crystal 120L
3oz Simcoe 90
3oz Centennial 90
1.5oz Zeus 30
1.5oz Zeus 15

OG 1.090 / FG 1.012 / 133 IBU / SRM 15

Dry hops:
4 oz Simcoe for 2 weeks
2 oz Centennial, Crystal for 2 weeks
1 oz Simcoe + 1/2oz each Centennial and Crystal for hop sachets

Wyeast 1028 London Ale, 1.5 gallon starter, split between two pails

Oh, and a big *** blow-off tube x2.

Per Avery, this beer will be mashed at 151*F. Probably for 75 minutes. With this much grain, I will probably dough in at 130-140*F by adding 75% of the strike water, and then step to 151*F once I get the rest of the strike water heated! I plan to pitch around 62*F and ferment as close to 64*F as I can keep it for a week. It will remain in the primary three more weeks, and get secondaried for another two weeks before bottling in 22oz bottles.

scinerd3000 · 12-16-2008, 12:33 AM

all i can say is holy ****. BTW if you drop hops into carbed beer be prepared for a foam cascade. I had a pale ale i would drop a single pellet into the glass for additional nose which was interesting....As for the IBU's isnt a human tongue not capable of percieving greater than around 80 Ibu's? 133 is huge

**Saccharomyces** · 12-16-2008, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scinerd3000

all i can say is holy ****. BTW if you drop hops into carbed beer be prepared for a foam cascade. I had a pale ale i would drop a single pellet into the glass for additional nose which was interesting....As for the IBU's isnt a human tongue not capable of percieving greater than around 80 Ibu's? 133 is huge

Yes, it is a lot, but this beer is really malty so it tastes surprisingly balanced.. that's why I like it. Avery claims 102, I guess it depends on what formula you use. Eitherway it's an @$$load of hops.

McKBrew · 12-16-2008, 02:46 AM

Wow, I bow in reverence.

ohiobrewtus · 12-16-2008, 04:00 AM

Looks good, Sac

(he he, I said sac). The only thing I have to add is that I've 'step' dry hopped like that before and quite honestly I got more hop nose out of beers that I just threw everything in all at once and let it sit for 2-4 weeks.

**Saccharomyces** · 12-16-2008, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohiobrewtus

Looks good, Sac

(he he, I said sac). The only thing I have to add is that I've 'step' dry hopped like that before and quite honestly I got more hop nose out of beers that I just threw everything in all at once and let it sit for 2-4 weeks.

Cool... Since it will be bottled, maybe I'll just throw it all in and let it sit in the primary and rack out of there (carefully) to bottle. I figured I'd have some trouble fitting 4.5 ounces of leaf hops in a bag though the opening of a Better Bottle.

ColoradoXJ13 · 12-16-2008, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saccharomyces

SoperBrew and I both love this beer, and I nearly cried when I discovered the local beer store was already sold out! ..

You do realize Maharaja is released in February....so the 2009 batch is on its way very soon...

**Saccharomyces** · 12-20-2008, 05:37 PM

Website says March.

So that just means we'll have more to drink..

Unfortunately the big storm in the PNW means my hops didn't arrive this week, so this brew will not happen until next Saturday, which happens to be my B-day, so happy B-day to me, 10 gallons of Maharaja makes me giggle with glee...

Nablis · 12-23-2008, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saccharomyces

Website says March.

So that just means we'll have more to drink..

Unfortunately the big storm in the PNW means my hops didn't arrive this week, so this brew will not happen until next Saturday, which happens to be my B-day, so happy B-day to me, 10 gallons of Maharaja makes me giggle with glee...

The 27th is my bday too!

I will be making Stone xi though

**Saccharomyces** · 12-23-2008, 05:38 PM

Happy birthday to both of us then!

Drat, the 50' chiller won't get here for another week. Plus I'm going out of town for 10 days on the 29th. I talked myself out of brewing this on Saturday, I have visions of returning to find blowoff has clogged both tubes and caused the lids to explode. Instead I think I'll do the recipe kit SWMBO got me for Christmas (AHS Raspberry Chocolate Stout.. yum!) and brew the Maharaja when I get back. Plus, Soperbrew will be around as a backup sampler. Err, I mean assistant brewer.