Falconers Flight IPA

Here's my next 2.5 gl batch I want to try. I'm cutting back my boil time to 30 minutes and adding a 30 minute steep after I chill the wort down below 180. Usually I mix the extract with 3.5gl warm water, bring to boil, add hops, boil 60 min and add other hop additions, cool with imersion chiller, add to 3gl carboy, pitch yeast, ferment in mid 60's for 2 weeks, and transfer to keg. This time I want to try something a little different. Feel free to critique.

Briess Gold DME 3LB
Briess Amber DME .5lb
Clover Honey .5lb
OG 1.73

Falconers Flight Pellet 1oz 11.4AA 30min 51IBU
Flaconers Flight pellet 1oz 11.4AA Steep 30 min
Falconers Flight pellet 1oz 11.4AA Dry Hop 5 days

White Labs 090 San Diego Super Ale Yeast

Dissolve extract in 3gl hot tap water, bring to boil, add 1st hops, boil 30 min, chill down to 180, add steeping hops for 30 min along with honey, chill down to 68, transfer to fermenter with yeast and ferment 2 weeks.

Sounds like an interesting experiment. If I were doing this, a couple things I would do would be;

- Late extract addition.
- Add honey at flame out.

I would toss the .5pd of amber in first and boil for 30 min with the 1 oz @30 and .5oz @5 for some flavor then flameout finish with the other .5oz of hops first and then the rest of the malt extract and honey.
....I hate twangy extract caramelization.
Reasoning is if you throw the hops in at 180 and they have bugs on them then you just contaminated your batch, throw them in a flameout to sanitize.

Not sure what your trying to accomplish here but if your looking for a smoother bitterness you can simulate a FWH by tossing the 30 min addition in 160* water with the .5lb of amber and let them steep for about 10min before starting the boil.

I guess I'm trying to accomplish a smoother bitterness and more hop flavor and aroma. I've read a few recipies where there was only 30 minute hop additions for bitterness and also a long steep at flame out under 180 brings out more flavor and aroma without leaking out more bitterness.

I'm going to have to read up on these later extract additions. It makes sense to wait longer to add it, that's why Iwas going to cut it down from 60 to 30. I like the idea of only adding the .5lb of amber at 30 and the rest later. Thanks for the tips.

If you want to smooth out the bitterness you can do a couple of things. Steep your 60 minute hop addition for 20 minutes before you start your boil when the wort is about 150F this can effectivly give you a "First wort" hop addition that can be common in All-Grain brewing. Also you can skip the 60 min addition and add all of your hops between 20 minutes and flame out. You still will get bittereness because the Alpha acids will start to isomerize but you won't have the total utilization like you would from a 60 minute addition (Doing this you need to compensate with a larger quantity of hops to achive the same number of IBUs). Lastly you can do a whirlpool addition, Essentially you add all of your hops in 1 go at flame out then spin your wort in boil kettle and let it rest for 20 -30 minutes the AAs will isomerize due to the high temp and because you are no longer boiling you will retain more aroma and flavor. After the 20 minute rest is up start cooling your wort. Whirlpool hopping is a common practice for Pro brewers.

Brewed this up last night. Stuck with a 30 min boil with hops and a 30 min hop steep between 160-180 degrees.

Everything went well brewing on my new 1800w induction burner, took about 45 min to reach boil. Yeast took off fast and is bubbling away nicely this morning.

Had my first taste today, it's been in the keg for 19 days. Nice IPA, light copper color, smooth bitterness, great fruity citrus aroma. I likey!

wobdee said:

Had my first taste today, it's been in the keg for 19 days. Nice IPA, light copper color, smooth bitterness, great fruity citrus aroma. I likey!

Click to expand...

...but how closely does it match WB's Falconer's Flight IPA? I really like that beer and am considering cloning it myself. So far the only part I've figured out is - duh - the Falconer's Flight hops (which I now see are out of stock at Northern Brewer... dammit, I knew I should have ordered them last week!).

MagicSmoker said:

...but how closely does it match WB's Falconer's Flight IPA? I really like that beer and am considering cloning it myself. So far the only part I've figured out is - duh - the Falconer's Flight hops (which I now see are out of stock at Northern Brewer... dammit, I knew I should have ordered them last week!).

Click to expand...

Ive never had that beer, but I'll look for it and compare if I can.