Latest Brew... Big Double IPA

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tampa911

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I don't know when I will stop posting to the beginners forum, but I still feel like a novice so here it is.

Yesterday, I started my 3rd brew (4th if you count my cider) and it was a Big Double IPA recipe from one of my local Homebrew supply stores.

The recipe is below, 10+ pounds of extract, 8oz of hops in 5 seperate additions and this one tested my newbie skills.

OG: 1.086 (I got a reading of 1.082, but that was likely due to not being fully mixed at the time of the sample)
FG: 1.020
Alcohol: 8.5%
IBU: 90
SRM: 9.5

Fermentables:
7 lb. Golden Light Dry Malt Extract
3.3 lb. Golden Light Liquid Malt Extract

Specialty Grain
.75 lb. Castle Caramel Pilsner
.25 lb. Briess Caramel 120

Hops
2 oz. Chinook (60 min.)
1 oz. Centennial (15 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (10 min.)
2 oz. Amarillo (0 min.)
2 oz. Cascade (Dry Hop)

Yeast
2 packs US-05

The boil was nerve racking early on as it wanted to boil over even before any of the hop additions. I finally got the temperature under control, and had a nice steady boil for about 45 minutes.

I pitched a 1/2 gallon starter after steeping the specialty grains and mixing in all of the extracts, and in a little over 24 hours she is bubbling like a mad-man.

:tank:

I will keep everyone posted as the beer progresses.
 
Have you ever used the "Spray bottle" trick for your hot break? Use a regular spray bottle filled with cold water and it will knock down the foaming that happens right before you get to a good rolling boil. It helps control boil over, and you don't need to worry about microorganisms since you're going to be going through a long boil period.
 
Have you ever used the "Spray bottle" trick for your hot break? Use a regular spray bottle filled with cold water and it will knock down the foaming that happens right before you get to a good rolling boil. It helps control boil over, and you don't need to worry about microorganisms since you're going to be going through a long boil period.

I dont consider myself a begginer anymore (about 40+ batches) but its amazing how much you can still learn from checking out the begginers forum!! thx for this idea. Had a boil the other day that was contiually hop breaking 20min into the boil wanting to spill over each time...even with fermcap.

To the OP.Nice citrus bomb!
Absolutly love chinook cascade and cenntennial together
Cheers!
 
I guess starter is not the proper term. After I mixed in all of my extracts, I pulled a few cups of wort out, cooled it in a sealed container and added the yeast while the boil was underway.
 
Did you add all the extract at the beginning of the boil or did you add most at the end? That was my first lesson in my first brew (another big ipa).
 
I guess starter is not the proper term. After I mixed in all of my extracts, I pulled a few cups of wort out, cooled it in a sealed container and added the yeast while the boil was underway.

My understanding is that's still not optimal for dry yeasts. Dry yeast lacks the ability to regulate flow into and out of its membranes as its rehydrating, so the ideal liquid for this step is plain old distilled water. Wort matter in the liquid damages the cell membranes and kills a high percentage (~ 50-ish %)of the yeast as it passes in and out of the cells.

In the future, rehydrate dry yeast with plain old distilled water, at room temperature, in a sanitized measuring cup, covered with sanitized cling-wrap or aluminum foil. Don't stir it - just sprinkle it in. 20 minutes later, give it a little stir. Another 20 minutes later, you should be ready to pitch. I've read that a small amount of plain table sugar dissolved in the water is acceptable in order to "proof" the yeast, but I never add any, personally.
 
kombat said:
My understanding is that's still not optimal for dry yeasts. Dry yeast lacks the ability to regulate flow into and out of its membranes as its rehydrating, so the ideal liquid for this step is plain old distilled water. Wort matter in the liquid damages the cell membranes and kills a high percentage (~ 50-ish %)of the yeast as it passes in and out of the cells.

In the future, rehydrate dry yeast with plain old distilled water, at room temperature, in a sanitized measuring cup, covered with sanitized cling-wrap or aluminum foil. Don't stir it - just sprinkle it in. 20 minutes later, give it a little stir. Another 20 minutes later, you should be ready to pitch. I've read that a small amount of plain table sugar dissolved in the water is acceptable in order to "proof" the yeast, but I never add any, personally.

I think the proper temperature for rehydrating yeast is 95-100 F. The higher temp gets those buggers going.

Also, crystal 120 for a DIPA? Lower roasts are usually used, so I'm a bit surprised at this. Could be interested though, a little raisin character in there.
 
I would spilt up those hops to get a little of each at the late hop additions. I think an oz of each for dry hop would give a nice aroma.
I would also add about a lb of corn sugar to drop that FG a little.

Looks like a good IIPA!
 
I'm on my 15th batch this weekend and I'm still a newb... Tried learning everything possible, but its impossible
 
Thanks for all the feedback on this. I racked this to a secondary mid-week last week and was sitting just slightly above the specified 1.020 FG. I am planning to cold crash and bottle this weekend. I will let everyone know how it is looking at that time.

I will definitely take the advice on rehydrating dry yeast going forward, and will play around with the recipe using the feedback on hop additions and grains.

My brother in law is in town in the middle of June so I am hoping to clear out a BUNCH of bottles, and will be doing quite a few brews following that visit.
 
Actually after doing a little more reading, I am second guessing myself.

I brewed this on 04/28 so it has been fermenting 3 weeks. I dry hopped in my primary and racked to a secondary about 10 days in. From the reading I have done today I am thinking that I may have lost some of the dry hop aroma/flavor by dry hoping so early.

I am thinking about grabbing another 2 oz of Cascade (or an oz of Cascade and an oz of something else) tomorrow and tossing them in to dry-hop for a few days. I will start the cold crash on Thursday night of next week and bottle next weekend.

Option A is to cold crash it and bottle this weekend as is.

Option B dry hop for a week, cold crash and bottle next weekend extending the fermentation out to 4 full weeks.

Opinions?
 
OK I dry hopped this again last Saturday with 1oz of Simcoe and 1 oz of Amarillo. Dropped the temp down to 35 last night to cold crash and will be bottling this over the weekend. The aroma is fantastically hoppy, I hope it is maintained through bottle conditioning and I can't wait to taste this one.
 
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