Brewing Right Now, Need Hop advice

[jjward101]

Hi. I am without wife and kids until saturday, and i have the urge to brew...so i am. I am going to use some leftover ingredients, as i think i have enough to make a decent, if not lighter beer.

Here is What I have: 4 lbs of briess dme
6.6 lbs of extra light lme
1 lb. carafoam
1 lb. caramel
8 ounces of victory.

I pretty much know what I am going to do with the grains and extracts, but im looking for hop addition/schedule advice.

I have, on hand:
3 oz. cascades
1.5 oz. columbus

Im figuring on going with 1 ounce of cascades for sixty minutes, 1 1/2 ounce of the columbus for 30 minutes, 1/2 ounce of columbus for 15 minutes, and the last ounce of cascades @ flameout.

Any suggestions? Objections?

 

[Pappers_]

Looks good - have fun!

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Do you have brewing software? If not, what are your AA%'s, I'll pulg it in for you.

If your Columbus is fairly high in AA% then you may have a really bitter beer. However, using the Cascades for flavor, aroma and even dry hopping is a great idea.

You may even be able to throw some columbus in for flavor as well, again depending on AA%.

 

[jjward101]

Do you have brewing software? If not, what are your AA%'s, I'll pulg it in for you.

If your Columbus is fairly high in AA% then you may have a really bitter beer. However, using the Cascades for flavor, aroma and even dry hopping is a great idea.

You may even be able to throw some columbus in for flavor as well, again depending on AA%.

I havent gone with brewing software as of yet, mainly because it all seems more geared towards ag brewing...and i dont have my brew shack set up yet.

The cascades are 5.0% and the columbus are 14.4 %

 

[jjward101]

* the columbus are left over from an ipa i did a while ago. Now that Im looking at that 14.4% aa, im thinking i may just go with all cascades on this...i somehow think that the 14.4% may throw this beer way out of balance...but what do i know.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Well, depends on how big a fan of Columbus you are. Columbus can be a bit on the dank side. I would tend to use the Columbus as my 60 minute addition (maybe only an ounce even), and use the cascade for flavor, aroma, and dry hop, but that's me

SO 1 ounce Columbus 60 min (Could go at 45 min to cut final IBU down)
1 ounce of Cascade 20 min
1 ounce of Cascade 5 min or flameout
1 ounce of cascade dry hop (and maybe the other 1/2 ounce of Columbus as well)

 

[beerkrump]

Poopinhaha is onto something. Try this ...

1 oz Columbus @ 60
1 oz Cascade @ 20
0.5 oz Columbus. @ 10
1 oz Cascade @ flame out
1 oz Cascade @ dry hop

This would set up a pretty tasty IPA.

Edit: Darn phone. I'm slow. But, I think my hop schedule is better.

 

[jjward101]

okay, thats sounds good, but i have a question with regards to dry hopping.
Dry hopping, occurs in primary? or secondary? should i put the hops in a grain bag or just put them directly into the fermenter...havent dry hopped yet, and since i am approaching my boil temps, i need to weigh out an ounce of columbus.

Oddly though, my neighors are looking at me strangely through the picture window in the kitchen.... i cant imagine once i go all grain what they will be thinking, lol. II guess i should probably not haveset up the bottling bucket, starsan bucket, siphons, etc...right in the window.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Primary is fine, just don't plan o reusing the yeast, but make sure fermentation is complete, I would wait 3 weeks before adding dry hops to the primary, and then DH for 5-10 days depending on your preference.

I would say about 7 days total.

 

[jjward101]

Thanks. I kind of wussed out, and went with only 1/2 oz of the columbus, and 3/4 of cascade @ 60 minutes. Its all about learning, and since im using my leftovers i won't feels as bad if it doesn't turn out too well.
PLUS, i am brewing tomorrow night, and saturday morning as well
Tomorrow night will be a true lawnmower beer (gotta keep the swmbo happy), and a stout for saturday.

 

[beerkrump]

In my recipe book, that's a what's left ale. Sounds good. And, good luck.

BTW, your neighbors think you,re cooking meth.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Should turn out just fine. Holding back on the Columbus up front will just lighten up the harder bitter bite you would have gotten with a whole ounce.

I've had brewing weekend schedules like that LOL

Brew on

 

[davel57]

I havent gone with brewing software as of yet, mainly because it all seems more geared towards ag brewing...and i dont have my brew shack set up yet.

There is plenty of free software and it's pretty much indispensable for putting together or modifying recipes. Extract as well as AG. I've been using BrewMate lately, and while there are things I could criticize about it, it really does the job quite well.

 

[jjward101]

Im puzzled a bit now. It may have been the late hour, but my og was at 1.024. WAY lower than any brew i have done to date. I used nottingham (rehydrated) and I have a pretty darn active fermentation going this morning after only 5 hours, but my feeling is that iw will probably fizzle out. I cant see how I am going to end up with a half decent beer with that low of an og. I have read on here where people have gone and added table sugar for an abv boost, as well as a drier beer. Should I just ride this out, or look to get a boost?

Hmmm. Actually, if i figure 75% on the yeasties, i think this gives me roughly a 3.3% beer. am i wrong?

 

[RM-MN]

The most likely thing is incomplete mixing of the wort if you topped off with water to get to your proper volume for the ferment. With the amount of malt extract the only way to get that low would be to have made a 10 to 15 gallon batch.

 

[jjward101]

The most likely thing is incomplete mixing of the wort if you topped off with water to get to your proper volume for the ferment. With the amount of malt extract the only way to get that low would be to have made a 10 to 15 gallon batch.

I did only use 3.3 lbs of lme, and 3 lbs of dme, but even that should be enough with a 5 gallon batch to get me a higher og than what I had, right? I did aerate the wort pretty well, but I guess the incomplete mixture makes sense.

 

[jjward101]

Im pretty darned sure that you are right....my wort hadnt properly mixed yet when i took the hydrometer reading. This beer is giving me a more active, bubbling airlock than any other beer i have brewed.
+1 for rehydrating yeast!

I know airlock is absolutely not an indication that fermentation is complete, but it sure is a sign that it is happening.

Thank you for all the advice guys. oh, and im dl'ing brewmate right now.