first all grain...ipa

[Indyoshi]

What do you think of the recipe? 90 min boil. I didn't hit the OG. It came in at 1.066. Probably because of poor sparging? I batch sparged starting with 5 gallons of water and it stayed at 154 degrees for 75 minutes then I slowly ran off that and when it slowed dramatically (to a trickle) I added another w2.5 gallons slowly at 175degrees to get a preboil of 5.5 gal. Boiled and had 4 gal post boil so added 1 gallon cool water to help get temp down before pitching. Pitched at 68 and threw in the ferm chamber at ambient of 59. I also plan to dry hop after two to three weeks. Any suggestions on a type and amount of hoops for that to meld with what I already did?

Yahoo for my first all grain. It's my third batch. The first was a milk stout that has off flavors and bad aftertaste. The second was a hefe that turned out great after a month of ageing. It is getting better with age.

-Yoshi

 

[Indyoshi]

Sine pics from brewing today. Ferm chamber temp controller (before set to correct temp) and a glass of the hefe. Sorry the pics are sideways. For some reason when I load pics from my phone the do that

 

[Yooper]

Your lower OG probably does come from the batch sparging procedure. I'm not sure what you did, exactly, but normally when you batch sparge, you add the sparge water and stir it up like it owes you money, then drain. No need to drain slow.

I don't think your recipe is anything like an IPA. It's all bittering hops, with only a tiny bit of saaz for the aroma addition. The grainbill has WAY too much crystal malt (almost 14%). I'd call this more of a Czech bitter, as it should have plenty of bitterness but also some balancing sweetness from the large amount of crystal malt. An American IPA is all about huge hops flavor and aroma, and usually very little (to 0) crystal malt. There aren't any flavor hops added here, and not much for aroma hops, and German and Czech hops don't have big hops flavor and taste anyway.

I probably wouldn't dryhop until tasting, to see what you've ended up with.

I like the sideways pictures- they made me think for a second!

 

[billl]

For future batches, you've just collected some important info. You boiled off about 1.5 gallons in 90 minutes or 1 gallon per hour.

For future brews, you can use that to figure out how much you can sparge. eg for a 90 minute boil, you need to start with 6.5 gallons to end with 5. That means you should have upped your sparge water 1 gallon - and that would have increased your efficiency and og.

 

[eltorrente]

I agree with Yooper - you need more hops at the end, and less crystal malt. 2 lbs is bit too much. I generally keep it to .75lbs max, but sometimes go with a pound if it's light crystal and very bitter.

I think it's good that you are using your own recipe. You'll learn pretty quick that way and get some good experience. Next time you can adjust the grains a bit and use more hops, and you'll see how much better it gets.

 

[brewmax25]

Your low OG could also be due to the high rye malt percentage. When you start to get near 15-20% (I know you're not quite there) it's hard to get full starch conversion. Should be an interesting beer! Next time load the last 15 minutes with tons of hops. I like to space out IPA hop additions in 60, 15, 10, 5, 0 and even when I'm chilling the wort. And of course a healthy dry hopping!

 

[Indyoshi]

I'm assuming the caravienna is crystal malt? Lol. I didn't know that... I thought it was just a different kind of grain more for color.. Oh well. So when you say no flavoring hops, do you mean a specific type? Specific AA%? I thought bitter, flavor, and aroma hops were determined on when you add them... My lhbs is lame. I'm going to be ordering everything online from now on. The last time I went in the guy working the counter didn't even know what a fining agent was. Not blaming them for my misuse or overuse of crystal, but it would be nice to have staff that knew what they were talking about rather than look at my recipe and just say"yeah looks like beer".

 

[Yooper]

I'm assuming the caravienna is crystal malt? Lol. I didn't know that... I thought it was just a different kind of grain more for color.. Oh well. So when you say no flavoring hops, do you mean a specific type? Specific AA%? I thought bitter, flavor, and aroma hops were determined on when you add them... My lhbs is lame. I'm going to be ordering everything online from now on. The last time I went in the guy working the counter didn't even know what a fining agent was. Not blaming them for my misuse or overuse of crystal, but it would be nice to have staff that knew what they were talking about rather than look at my recipe and just say"yeah looks like beer".

Yes, cara malts are always caramel/crystal malts.

the hops generally are considered as:

60-30 minutes= bittering hops (but less bittering at 30 minutes)
20-15 minutes = flavor hops
10-0 minutes= aroma hops

IPAs generally are full of flavor and aroma hops. A typical hops schedule for an IPA might be 60/15/10/5/0/dryhop.

 

[Indyoshi]

One more thing. How long does it take you to brew all grain? From start up (getting supplies together and out to the garage) to finished (all pots, mash tun, equipment cleaned)?

 

[gwsiegfried]

As far as thinking flavor/aroma hops has only to do with when you add, you'll want to check out Palmer's How To Brew chapter five. It has many examples of different hops and what type they are considered.

 

[eltorrente]

It takes me a around 6 hours usually, from the time I first turn on the heat for my strike water, until I pitch my yeast and clean up.

 

[cank]

Long answer.

My first 4 AG batches have been 7 - 8 hours but every one of those I added something new. The first batch was with a BK and a cooler using gravity. Second batch I added a MLT. Third, I added a pump, then I added a HERMS coil in the HLT. And just after this last brew I upgraded my 12' copper coil with a 25' stainless coil and bought a second pump. I hope to finally have my system they way I want and hope to eventually get brew day down to 6 hours or less. I'm probably going to start doing 10 gal batches too, just to end up with more beer for the time put in. Plus it sucks when you make a great beer and kick the keg in a month. I'd love to just plug in another keg and say, "I got more where that came from".

Short answer 7 hours.

 

[Yooper]

One more thing. How long does it take you to brew all grain? From start up (getting supplies together and out to the garage) to finished (all pots, mash tun, equipment cleaned)?

It takes me about 4.5 hours. But I have everything pretty much set up on a stand inside and brew indoors.

 

[Indyoshi]

So I kegged this Sunday... It was cold crashed at 34 degrees for 2 days and then racked direct to the keg. I force carved at 26 psi for 36 hours and put at serving pressure of 12psi. I pulled a draght and it has little to no hop aroma. The color is nice, but it isn't clear. First sip is a tad under carbed but has a nice mouth feel and body. It isn't malty and it isn't sweet. It seems like a plain Jane pale ale or almost a like a lager.... There is no hop flavor that stands out. It finished at 6.7%abv and seems like it will be a very easy to drink beer. It's good, but I was expecting it to be more bitter. There is barely any bite to it at all. Maybe time will help. Once it is fully carbed and conditioned a week or two...


Primary 21 days
Cold crash 2 days


Just thought I'd post since this was my first all grain and while it isn't a bad beer at all, in fact its quite good, it just isn't what I expected.

 

[Indyoshi]

Holds head and is tasty. I say a success for my first all grain