Brew Day 4-4-09 (American IPA)

[Beerthoven]

It's been a long time since I posted any brew day pics, so I thought I would take some of my latest. I brewed an IPA on Saturday, April 4 in honor of the birth of a friend's son. This is the second time I have brewed this recipe, tweaking the grain bill slightly from the first time. I really like this beer, and so does my friend.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Matthew's Baby IPA (In honor of the birth of MF's second son, Jacob)
Brewer: Beerthoven
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 7.47 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 80.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 85.00 %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
9 lbs         American Pale Ale Malt (3.0 SRM)          Grain        75.00 %       
2 lbs         Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                     Grain        16.67 %       
1 lbs         Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)             Grain        8.33 %        
1.25 oz       Pacific Gem (2007) [14.09 %]  (60 min)    Hops         64.5 IBU      
1.50 oz       Cascade (2008) [6.00 %]  (10 min)         Hops         7.3 IBU       
1.50 oz       Amarillo Gold (2007) [8.09 %]  (10 min)   Hops         8.9 IBU       
1.50 oz       Amarillo Gold (2007) [8.09 %]  (0 min)    Hops          -            
1.50 oz       Cascade (2008) [6.00 %]  (0 min)          Hops          -            
1.00 items    Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min)          Misc                       
1 Pkgs        SafAle US-05 (Fermentis #US Ale Yeast)    Yeast-Ale                  


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 12.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
60 min        Mash In            Add 15.00 qt of water at 165.9 F    154.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Add 8.40 qt of water at 196.6 F     168.0 F

Ingredients

Getting the kids involved. They love the BC

Mash

Drain the first runnings while the sparge water heats on the burner

 

[Beerthoven]

Drain the second runnings while the first runnings heat in the kettle

My backyard. A nice place to hang out and brew on a spring evening in NC

The boil. No need to worry about boilovers in the 15-gallon kettle

During the boil, rehydrate the dry yeast, ...

 

[Beerthoven]

... clean up the MLT, fermenting bucket, and anything else that needs it ...

... and bring out the other bits of gear that will be needed

Chilling the wort to 65 degrees with recirculated ice water

Strain the cool wort into the fermentation bucket

 

[Beerthoven]

Hit the wort with 30 seconds of O2

In the fermentation freezer, next to 5 gallons of Apfelwein

The fermentation freezer in the garage, at a steady 65 degrees

The gravity sample. Missed my OG by 5 points. That hasn't happened in a long time!

I'll update this thread with pics of racking/dry-hopping, bottling (or I might be kegging by then), and, of course, drinking!

 

[Yooper]

Wow- great pictures! Thanks so much for posting them.

I've never used Pacific gem hops. What kind of flavor/bittering do they give you?

 

[Beerthoven]

Thanks, Yooper.

The Pac Gem give a pronounced, resinous bittering. I used them for flavor and aroma one time, and they give a mildly fruity, blackberry-like flavor and aroma.

 

[JPicasso]

Holy Cr@p, you run a neat shop.

There is no way I'd be able to do that, and not spill a pint or two of wort / sanitizer all over that nice floor. (even with the towels) I have to do EVERYTHING in the garage, and don't bring nuttin in the house until the bucket has a lid on it. Awesome pics.

(watch your fingers, kids!)

 

[AnOldUR]

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Is that one of the brewpots from Royal Palm?
First batch in it?
What'd ya think?

 

[Beerthoven]

Thanks for the comments!

I do make more of a mess than is shown in the pictures. The floor is laminate, not wood, so I don't care how much starsan gets spilled, but I do try to get all the wort into the bucket.

My brewpot is a 15-gallon aluminum kettle I got from some place on the internet. I'm not sure of the brand name, but it's not Royal Palm. I've used it 15 or 20 times now. I used to use an 8-gallon pot and got sick of watching for boilovers. I just use the old pot for heating water now, as shown in the pics.

The beer is fermenting like crazy. Love that smell of CO2! I expect the krausen to fall in the next few days.

I'm brewing an Apricot Wheat for SWMBO this weekend, so I'll have to move the Apfelwein into my clothes closet to make room in the chest freezer. I'll rack the AW to secondary since it's been going for about a month.

 

[Beerthoven]

Racked to secondary and dry hopped with an ounce of Cascade. The beer tastes and smells fantastic. Very bitter, with lots and lots of citrus, supported firmly by the malt (all that Munich and crystal was in there for a reason). FG = 1.013, 77% apparent attenuation, ABV = 6.13%.

Dry Hopped in the Secondary

Fermenter Trub

 

[N5629]

Beerthoven - you recirculate your chill water - how well does that work for you? Do you have to pour off warm waste water and add more ice or is the one bucket enough?

 

[Beerthoven]

Beerthoven - you recirculate your chill water - how well does that work for you? Do you have to pour off warm waste water and add more ice or is the one bucket enough?

I start with the IC hooked up to the faucet, and just run cold tap water until the wort gets down to about 100F. At that point I switch over to recirculated ice water. 10# of ice is enough to finish the job. I have to do it this way because in NC my tap water is pretty warm most of the year (85F in the summer).