Wort Challenge

[FireEmt37]

My local brewery is having a competition soon where we pick up 5 gallons of wort they have made that day and then we do with it what we want. I've never does this before.

My question is when I get it home how do I start? Do I reboil it for 60 minutes so I can additional hops? Do I add yeast and go right into fermentation? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks and happy brewing!

 

[Redtab78]

do you return some of the final product for a judging?

 

[FireEmt37]

Yes. They are making a NE IPA wort and we will be broken into groups that are assigned specific hops to use. We will bring our final product back 2 months after.

 

[Redtab78]

I am assuming that you would know the ingredients to start with as well as the hop schedule? Knowing that will make all the difference in the world as to what I would do here. I'm thinking its gonna come down to yeast used as well as dry hopping (both quantity as well as type).

If the beginning wort was at a set IBU (such as say 45 for example), then you could boil it a bit further and add some hop extract to bring the IBU up some, and then do a huge flameout/steep addition and shoot for IPA range, or you can add some corn sugar in there to dry it out some...unless its going to be a darker wort like a stout or a porter? There's just too many variables that can make the advice you get change.

 

[Auger]

Yeah a lot of the advice provided will depend on what they provide. I've seen some where the brewery is simply providing unhopped wort, leaving the door open for steeping grains, various hop schedules, even adding additional extract to boost gravity. Other provide a hopped wort with bittering only and leave the rest to the brewer. Try to get some more details about exactly what you'll be bringing home.

 

[Redtab78]

Yes. They are making a NE IPA wort and we will be broken into groups that are assigned specific hops to use. We will bring our final product back 2 months after.

well, if your assigned to a group and given a specific hop to use, then you can simply chose a hop schedule, and yeast and see what the result is, just talk with your group and make sure it is different then everyone else's.

OR you could ALSO make another smaller batch (~1 gal or so) of something similar and add to it to greatly increase fermentable sugars, and make it into a double IPA just up the bitterness and ABV (corn sugar, table sugar etc) there is tons of options here....I think it be best to decide what final product you want and work backwards kind of.

 

[pshankstar]

If they did the full boil and hop additions, then I would say select the yeast you want and pitch it. Then you add your own dry hops later on. Also, I assume they cooled the wort already. So I am not sure if it may cause any problems if you bring it back to a boil to add anything to it beside the yeast.

What we did a few months ago was a big mash on the brewery's production system, then we all drew numbers out of a hat as to what order we would get our runnings from the mash. From there we would start our own boil (we all brought our brewing equipment) and add our own hops and any other ingredients we wanted. Pitch our own yeast, dry hop (if you wanted) and bring back some to share with the group and trade with each other.

Sounds like you guys did a common wort, not a common mash like we did. Keep us posted as to what you decided to do.

 

[FireEmt37]

The provided wort will be just below 30 IBU'S and each group will be assigned 3-4 hops to use anyway they want.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

If they did the full boil and hop additions, then I would say select the yeast you want and pitch it. Then you add your own dry hops later on. Also, I assume they cooled the wort already. So I am not sure if it may cause any problems if you bring it back to a boil to add anything to it beside the yeast.

What we did a few months ago was a big mash on the brewery's production system, then we all drew numbers out of a hat as to what order we would get our runnings from the mash. From there we would start our own boil (we all brought our brewing equipment) and add our own hops and any other ingredients we wanted. Pitch our own yeast, dry hop (if you wanted) and bring back some to share with the group and trade with each other.

Sounds like you guys did a common wort, not a common mash like we did. Keep us posted as to what you decided to do.

I was about to note the same thing - if it were a common mash, then I could see where the brewer's style would make some interesting differences. If it were a common post-boil wort, that's a totally different deal. At that point your options are as the others have said - do a minimash and add, or reboil and add hops, dry hop, yeast variations, etc. etc.

 

[FireEmt37]

How long would you reboil for in order to add more hops...the full 60 minutes or less?

 

[Auger]

How long would you reboil for in order to add more hops...the full 60 minutes or less?

Depends on what you want the hops to do. If you want to jack up the IBUs, then you could use some high AA% hops and do a 45-60min boil. If you just want to add aroma/flavor, you could bring to a boil, add hops and boil for 5-15 min, or hell, even just heat to 180 degrees and do a whirlpool. IF you're boiling, you may still be able to get away with adding additional fermentables if the rules allow...turn it into a cascadian dark ale or something.

 

[Redtab78]

How long would you reboil for in order to add more hops...the full 60 minutes or less?

Heres what I would do:

Clear crisp IPA:
If I was wanting a clear beer and I was wanting to get the IBU's up to over 50-60 IBU's, then I would bring it to a boil, throw in 1 oz of whatever you get in your hops selection (based of AA%), 1/2# of corn sugar as well as either an irish moss/whirlfloc tablet, then let it boil for 15 min (any longer and your going to likely skyrocket the IBU's) then cool it to about 170, add another oz of the hops let it sit for 15 min, then cool the rest of the way, and pitch a clean ale yeast (1056 perhaps?) then save the ramining hops, and after about 12 days, I'd secondary and then dry hop for 5 days, then keg/bottle


or If I was wanting more of a hazy NE style IPA perhaps add a tad bit of Wheat DME (maybe 1#) and 1/4 gallon of water boil for 15 min, then at flame out add 1.5 oz, let it sit for 15 min, then cool to 160 or so add another oz, let sit another 15 min, then cool, and pitch yeast, at about day 4 into primary fermentation, add 1 oz of hops and then 1 last oz at about day 12, then after 5 more days (no secondary), I would bottle or keg.

BUT that all depends on what hop you get

 

[csurowiec]

Is this the event at Independent?
If so, the wort will be ready for you to pitch. No boiling necessary unless you really want to for some reason.
The idea this time around is to take the NEIPA wort, use whatever yeast you want and dry hop with the prescribed hops.
BUT you can do whatever you want. Hell turn it into a sour if you want. Get creative.

 

[FireEmt37]

Is this the event at Independent?
If so, the wort will be ready for you to pitch. No boiling necessary unless you really want to for some reason.
The idea this time around is to take the NEIPA wort, use whatever yeast you want and dry hop with the prescribed hops.
BUT you can do whatever you want. Hell turn it into a sour if you want. Get creative.

It is indeed

 

[csurowiec]

Ok I entered the previous 2 wort challenges there. I bought 2 tickets for this one. One batch will be a NEIPA when I'm done with it. I think I may go off script with the other but I'm not sure how yet.
Good luck to you.

 

[FireEmt37]

Cool, this is obviously my first lol. Thanks and good luck.

 

[mrdauber64]

Go for a true NE IPA. Do a two stage whirlpool hop addition. One at 180 degrees for 30 minutes and one at 145 degrees for 30 minutes. Then pitch 1318. Do a biotransformation dry hop(dry hop on 3rd day of active fermentation), then a second dry hop after fermentation is over.

Depending on the hops they give you and how much, that is what I would do.

 

[csurowiec]

To do the whirlpool though you would have to reheat the wort. It is supplied boiled chilled and ready to pitch.
I like the idea of the bio transformation dry hop. When I do this style I add my first dry hop at high krausen.

 

[IslandLizard]

Is the competition bound to one style, or can you make any beer from it and still submit for judging? Sometimes they have rules as to what you may use or add. If they brewed a NE IPA wort, wouldn't it make sense to finish it as a NE IPA? So all results can be compared and judged as such?

From what I understand, what @csurowiec wrote, the wort was boiled and hopped creating some NE IPA base. It's not clear if it has whirlpool hops in it. If it's ready to pitch I'd say it should. Then pitching your yeast, dry hops and process will make it unique.

If the rules allow you could heat it up to 145-160F and add more whirlpool hops. Then re-chill, ferment, dry hop, etc.

Whatever you do, process that wort ASAP. It doesn't get better from sitting in a bucket, it will spoil.

 

[Auger]

How did this turn out for you guys, @FireEmt37 and @csurowiec ? What exactly were you given, and what did you do with it?

 

[csurowiec]

I drew Group 1 which had Admiral, Delta, Ekuanot, and Calypso as the hops and Group 5 which had Azacca, Mandarina, Huell Melon, and Meridian as the the hops. Base wort was what the brewery uses for their take on a NEIPA it was 35 IBU and 1.060 OG. I used W34/70 for my Group 1 beer and it will get 1/2 oz of each at high krausen for bio transformation dry hop and another 1/2 oz as a traditional dry hop. Group 2 is US-05 yeast and an ounce of each hop at high krausen then another ounce of each as a traditional dry hop. The LHBS down the street had the hop lists for each of the 6 groups in advance so they could have plenty in stock.