AHS Magic Hop Dust IPA

[vinnythering]

I've read some mixed feelings about using AHS's Magic Hop Dust http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12792

I'm making an IPA with it. Well I think I am anyway. That's what I'm going for. 4 oz continuously hopped followed by another 4 oz dry hopped in the secondary. The bags say it is approx 7% AA but I'm sure it could very well be all over the board. Can't be dissuaded now. It's already come in the mail. Money's spent and I'm committed.

I decided to ditch my previous plan of using primarily Falconer's Flight for this brew because of two things:

1) The price, obviously. I got the Magic Hop Dust for 69 cents an ounce.
2) For the hell of it.

I'm making it with 9 lbs 2 row, 1 lb Munich, 10 oz Carapils, 6 oz Aromatic, 6 oz Honey Malt at 152 F for an hour and White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast.

I will update as necessary. I ferment two weeks at a time (2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 2 weeks bottled, drink). No reason for it other than it keeps my brewing schedule rolling along smoothly. Not a lot of room for temperature-controlled storage (I ferment all my ales at ~67).

I am planning on not straining this brew from the kettle. I usually don't just because it's a hassle. I siphon from the side and pick up minimal amounts of hops and break. I actually want to just dump the whole thing in the primary but I don't know if that will affect clarity or flavor. It will be sitting on that nastiness for two weeks mind you.

I would like to write more but frankly I'm tired of typing. Got a long day ahead of me. Lots of brewing and bottling.

Thoughts?

 

[smokinj]

I applaud your sense of adventure. Sounds like you should be fine. If it's only "around 7%aa" you may want a healthy dose at the beginning of the boil. Dumping the whole kettle in the fermenter should be ok, too. I've done so several times and had no problems with flavor or clarity. Especially with 2 weeks in a secondary vessel. I'll be interested to hear how it comes out.

 

[Bithead]

I did a dusty amber last year using their 7% hop dust, 14 g at 20 and 14 g at 5. Also used 21 g columbus for bittering and 14 g centennial dry hop. Tasted a bit earthy (read dirt) to me but my GF liked it.

 

[vinnythering]

Well that was annoying. I need to make a mental note that while continuous hopping SOUNDS good, actually doing it is a chore. There really is no doing anything else! I did ~30 additions every two minutes with a healthy dose during the last five minutes as opposed to a big dose in the beginning. Like I said before about this stuff, the AA could be all over the place and I wouldn't want to risk over bittering my beer. I think next time I am just going to do a dose at the beginning, at 15 mins, and at flame-out.

I decided not to strain, but I also did not just dump everything into the primary. I really REALLY wanted to, but for whatever reason I opted for a siphon from the side as usual. What kind of flavors would that impart? I mean there was a LOT of hop sludge left, much of which was added near the end of the boil. Would the difference have been noticeable?

Anyway, my OG was on target at 1.059. According to BeerSmith 2, bitterness is around 50 IBUs, and color is 6.1 SRM. It seems a little on the dark side, but that is okay.

Initial tasting was pretty good. The bitterness came through well, but not overpowering. I think the dry hopping will really add a welcome kick in the face. We'll see. I don't like to top-up my fermenter so I don't risk diluting my batch or contaminating anything, so it came out to around 4.3 gal. Eh. No big deal. I pitched and aerated using a 2 micron air stone until the foam damn near shot out the top of my fermenter.

smokinj - I wanted to take your advice, I really did, but I didn't trust the hop dust to actually be 7%, so I decided not to put a larger dose in the beginning. If I had assurances that it was then I totally would have.

Bithead - Dirt? Wow I wonder how that happened. I've read in a lot of hop descriptions that many have "earthy" flavors, but I never imagined that would translate to "dirt". Huh. Well at least it didn't go to waste.

 

[Bithead]

I wouldn't worry about much about a little hop sludge especially since you're going to dry hop and you'll probably be racking to secondary then anyway leaving sludge behind.

 

[vinnythering]

So it wouldn't add more hop flavor or anything significant like that? I'm sure a few weeks on the secondary followed by a crash cool would significantly drop out any particles, but I'm concerned about flavor. After all, isn't that the main reason for drinking beer? Well, besides the alcohol of course.

 

[smokinj]

I've done several of my regular beers both ways, with and without 'sludge' in the fermenter and there has never been any discernible difference in flavor. The biggest downside to it is more trub in the yeast cake. This leads to potentially less final product and makes yeast washing a tad more difficult. When i brew hoppier IPAs, like the 5 gallon batch last week with 12 oz in the boil, I put the hops in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag and adjust my recipe to account for all of the beer that the hops will absorb.

 

[vinnythering]

That clears it up, thanks. I don't do yeast washing but if I ever do then that's good to keep in mind. I think next time I will strain because I really didn't like how much beer was left behind after siphoning.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

i turned one of my belgium wit recipes into a White IPA with the AHS hop dust one week...prob the best IPA ive done so far (figures i cant replicate it)

After your first few recipes you learn to accommodate for sludge. use hop sacs or paint strainer bags to help in the removal of the trub and you should be fine.
I just bottled a coconut brown that got down to about 4.25 gallons with all the beer i lost to sludge, ended up getting 41 bottles so it aint the end of the world just learn from your mistakes and fix it next batch, thats the beauty of homebrewing!

 

[vinnythering]

Yeah I seem to always end up doing the same thing. It's a little frustrating to be perfectly honest. Can't really do much without getting a larger boil kettle though. Like I said earlier, I don't like to top-up my fermenter with water and I also can't boil more because my kettle just isn't large enough. Oh well. ~4.5 gallons is plenty! And I also get around 40-45 bottles from my batches.

Update for the Magic Hop Dust IPA: It's fermenting really well and smells amazing. Took about a day and a half to start up but now it has a nice thick kraeusen. I think I may have a winner here. If it drops before Friday, I may go ahead and rack to secondary early. If not I am going to give it the extra week.

Question: Are there any benefits/risks of racking from under the kraeusen before it drops? I did that with a hefeweizen a couple weeks ago. It had been in the primary for a week and still had a big layer of kraeusen when I racked it. I bottled it two weeks after that. It smelled, looked, and tasted great at bottling so I'm not concerned, I am just wondering.

 

[smokinj]

If you rack too early, before the yeast has a chance to clean up after itself, you run a risk of diacetyl in your beer. Butter flavor. Chances are you'll transfer enough yeast to secondary to take care of it, but putting a bunch of yeast in the secondary kind of defeats the purpose. I guess my question would be what do you hope to gain from racking that early?

 

[vinnythering]

Oops. Well I didn't notice a butter flavor with the hefeweizen at bottling, but then again that has a ton of suspended yeast anyway and it spent a total of three weeks fermenting before bottling. I don't want to rack under the kraeusen with this IPA which is why I said that I will rack this Friday only if it has dropped. If it hasn't then I will give it another week. I definitely don't want diacetyl in my IPA.

Edit: I just realized you were referring to my saying I might rack early. What I meant was early in relation to my brewing schedule, which is two week steps. Two weeks primary, two secondary, two in the bottle. The last couple batches I made took just over a week to drop the kraeusen (I'm assuming because of the temperature? My fridge is set at ~67).

 

[vinnythering]

The kraeusen still hasn't dropped. I will rack and taste next Friday. I'm positive, even without taking a hydrometer reading, that fermentation is complete. I mean, come on, it's been a week. Primary is supposed to be done within a few days, right? Whatever. I was going to wait four weeks to bottle anyway. I'll keep this posted. Maybe if it drops before Friday and I have the time I will rack and taste then.

 

[vinnythering]

IT TASTES AMAZING.

Gravity is 1.015 which is a little higher than expected but oh well. I almost want to just bottle it now, but I have 4 more ounces of Hop Dust to add to it. It might almost be too much. I LOVE hops but it is already very hoppy. I mean, it's too late; I already dumped the rest in there. No bag. Just dumped em. I don't think I've been this excited for a batch before!

It has an amazing aroma and just the right amount of bitterness, which is not harsh or lingering. The taste is EXACTLY what I look for in an IPA.

 

[Bithead]

I love it when a beer comes together. Now repeat it!

 

[vinnythering]

I wish I could! I highly doubt that the AHS Magic Hop Dust will be the same mix the next time they offer it. Actually it is probably a different mix NOW.

 

[vinnythering]

My, oh my. This is one tasty brew. I bottled today and couldn't help but keep more than I needed for a hydrometer reading. I wanted to just sit there and down a bottle or two of it flat and warm and unconditioned because it was so good. HUGE hop aroma and an absolutely wonderful flavor. I am very happy with this one. Now let's just hope that I didn't screw it up and oxidize it on the way to the bottling bucket.

 

[vinnythering]

UUUGGGHHHH what is with my obsession with Aromatic and Honey Malts??? I didn't even realize it but I include it in EVERYTHING. While this is one delicious beer, with an astonishing amount of hop flavor and aroma, the grains I used are really, very overpowering and causes this beer to border on disaster. The messed up thing is that this tastes a lot like the failure of an Imperial IPA I made previously with a ridiculous amount of biscuit and caramel malts (a pound here and a pound there, throwing caution to the wind). Granted, this one is very drinkable, unlike the other, but I just wish I wouldn't add these same malts to my beer over and over again. They are just too strongly flavored, even in small amounts. All of that said, I am mostly happy with the end result. It is a full-flavored beer that satisfied my hop-addicted palate for a few minutes, and although I obviously have a few gripes about it, I doubt it will last long. Bottoms up!

As for the AHS Magic Hop Dust, I am extremely glad I used it. The hop flavors are complex, unidentifiable, and gorgeous. Each sip offers a new flavor profile that I hadn't noticed in previous tastes, and the veritable jungle of flavors is actually very pleasant without being overpowering or weird. I will definitely be making this one again, hopefully with equally varying and satisfying results.

 

[vinnythering]

Update:

I revamped this recipe and am going to be attempting it again this coming Friday. This is how it looks now:

OG: 1.063
FG: 1.015
IBU: 53.8
SRM: 6.4
ABV: 6.2%

10.0 lb 2-row
1.00 lb munich
12.0 oz crystal 20
4.00 oz aromatic

Mash at 152F for 1 hour

Boil 60 mins

1.50 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ FWH
1.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ 15
1.50 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ 5
2.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ Knockout

4.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust dry hop - 10 days
6.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust dry hop - 4 days

WLP008 East Coast Ale

68F 2 weeks primary
68F 2 weeks secondary

As I typed this out, I was wondering if a full pound would be wise. It seems like an awful lot. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[smokinj]

A pound is a lot. I won't say not to do it, but i think your results would be pretty similar using half that. A pound of hops is going to soak up a LOT of beer, too.

 

[vinnythering]

I didn't think of it that way... Maybe cut the dry hops down a bit? To what would you suggest? I don't want to lose too much beer.

 

[vinnythering]

Screw it. I'm doing a pound. Schedule suggestions?

 

[CityOChampBrew]

I would cut your dry hopping by half and leave the rest as is

 

[beerspitnight]

Update:

I revamped this recipe and am going to be attempting it again this coming Friday. This is how it looks now:

OG: 1.063
FG: 1.015
IBU: 53.8
SRM: 6.4
ABV: 6.2%

10.0 lb 2-row
1.00 lb munich
12.0 oz crystal 20
4.00 oz aromatic

Mash at 152F for 1 hour

Boil 60 mins

1.50 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ FWH
1.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ 15
1.50 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ 5
2.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust @ Knockout

4.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust dry hop - 10 days
6.00 oz AHS Magic Hop Dust dry hop - 4 days

WLP008 East Coast Ale

68F 2 weeks primary
68F 2 weeks secondary

As I typed this out, I was wondering if a full pound would be wise. It seems like an awful lot. Thoughts/suggestions?

I would cut the aromatic out and mash at 154...
That is a ton of dry hops for a 5g batch (I am assuming it a 5g batch by the amount of grain you are using). I just did a split dry hop on an American IPA that we made - it is a 10g batch and I used an ounce each of centennial, cascade, and chinook for a 10 day soak and an ounce of cascade and chinook for a 5 day soak.
Have you used the 008 before? I will be using it for the first time this weekend and wonder how it is going to turn out.

 

[CityOChampBrew]

008 is a good yeast, I use it a lot for blond and cream ales. Not the best choice for an ipa or hoppy beer though as it tends to mellow out hop bitterness and flavor

 

[vinnythering]

I'm back and forth like ping-pong with the dry-hopping amounts. I really want to do the full pound, but that is a hell of a lot. I think I am going to go with CityOChampBrew and beerspitnight and cut the dry hops by half for 2.5 oz at 10 days and 2.5 oz at 4 days. I will hold onto the extra 5 oz for a rainy day. I will also leave out the Aromatic malt and either add a half pound of Crystal 40 or bump up the Crystal 20 to a full pound. I still want to mash at 152F. I was hoping to have this be very very hoppy and lighter in both color and mouthfeel. Also, after doing some additional reading on 008, I decided to stick with 001 because of the reports of 008's sourness and subdued hop flavor. I will hold onto it for another batch in the future.

 

[vinnythering]

Well, I tried to mash at 154 but missed it. Ended up at 152 with no more room in my mash tun so I went for it. I've been having a problem missing my OG lately. I think I'm oversparging. I planned for an OG of 1.066 but ended up with 1.054. This has been happening nearly every time. Even my pre-boil gravity was 7 points off.

Anyway, I changed to recipe a little prior to brewing:

11 lbs 2-row
1 lb Munich
12 oz Crystal 20

The hop schedule was left unchanged but I will dry hop 2oz for 10 days and 2oz for 4 days.

 

[vinnythering]

Changed my mind again. Dry hopping with 4oz for five days. When I took a sample a few days ago I was very impressed with this batch. It was very balanced and not overly bitter, also possibly one of the clearest beers I've made yet. It is almost a shame that I had to cloud it up with my dry hops. I also realized that I no longer have the capability to cold-crash, so this is going to be a hazy, hoppy concoction. Oh well, I have high hopes for this batch anyway.