Amarillo Bomber IPA

I count 8 ounces of Amarillo total.

2.0# Marris Otter
0.5# Melanoiden
0.25# CaraPils
0.25# Crystal 40

Dough in at 97°F for (60) acid rest, in 2.5gal RO water + 1/4 teaspoon gypsum.

Heat to 126°F for (30) protein rest.

Heat to 153°F for (60) sacc rest, stir in ~6HBUs of FWH.

I started with a pound of Amarillo (9.8%) and went a little nuts. Total I left 5.0 ounces out in a bowl with no cover for about a month before brew day to knock the rough edges off them a little. I used one ounce of the air dried bowl at the start of the carbohydrate rest. 6 HBUs is a SWAG.

Mash out the usual way, I had 2.5 ozs of 9.8% Amarillo waiting in the kettle as the rest of the FWH, 3 ounces total.

(60) minute boil.

2.0 ozs air dried flavoring hops at (1)

At flame out I whisked in about:
4# of DME
1# (metric) can of wheat LME
8.4 ozs corn sugar.

Cover kettle, steep ten minutes.

Personally I stir the crap out of the hot wort to agitate some oxygen into it and then let the whirlpool settle the hot break and hops out. Then drain onto 16 pounds (2 gallons) of ice in the primary.

Yeah, yeah, I know, but I haven't been burnt yet.

This is nice thing about primary-ing in a Corny. Cap that beast and shake it to get the ice melted. Pour in a little more RO if you need the volume, then pitch.

On day 19 I racked out of the primary onto 1 oz fresh from the freezer 9.8% Amarillo and 2 ozs air dried Amarillo. And I had some priming sugar in the bottom of that keg too.

Cap and top with CO2 to seal the Orings.

From there I drove it from Dallas to Wilmington, NC. My friend stuck it in the hold of his boat and sailed it down to the Bahamas and back over the winter of 08-09. May 09 I hauled it from NC up to Alaska; brewed 03-28-2008, tapped 06-15-2009.

Awesome. My first brew good enough to put in my recipe drop down. I read a bunch of IPA recipes and just sort of winged it on the grain bill knowing the pound of Amarillo I scored was going to go stale if I didn't do something with it.

This goes really, really good with white boy Indian food too. nom-nom-nom-nom-nom.

why the air drying?

killian said:

why the air drying?

Click to expand...

I think it was Mosher, Radical Brewing. I was in Dallas from Feb to May 08 and was brewing out of that book at the time. I don't see it in the IPA section (pp 88-92) but I bet the melanoiden malt was his fault too.

I love your attention to detail, "dark yellow" LOL, you're my kind of brewmeister. Good looking bun also! Sounds great I'll have to try it. Personally I employ the "spaghetti sauce" approach to makin beer, "hmmmm, whats I gots in the cupboard today", I'm sure livin in BF Alaska you can relate.
BTW, you're withholding the name of the "air dried flavouring hops", family secret?

Not withholding. All the hops were from the same pound of 9.8% Amarillo.

I put five ounces of them in a mixing bowl on my nightstand for about three weeks. I remember Charlie said I would sleep better and have vivid dreams. I don't remember any of that, but Mosher said something about adding complexity and I got that in the beer I have on tap now.

EDIT: This keg just kicked on 07-12-09. For not liking IPAs this didn't last very long. When I have a due date for a keezer I'll brew this again HBU for HBU with Fuggles. Bitterness, flavor, aroma, it's all there, in spades.