- Recipe Type
- All Grain
- Yeast
- Safale US-05
- Yeast Starter
- -
- Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
- -
- Batch Size (Gallons)
- 4.2Gal/16l
- Original Gravity
- 1.070
- Final Gravity
- 1.014
- Boiling Time (Minutes)
- 60
- IBU
- 61
- Color
- 24 EBC
- Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 7 @ 21 deg C
- Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- Kept in primary until bottling, 4-5 weeks
- Additional Fermentation
- -
- Tasting Notes
- Citrus, some pine, develops in glass.
Grain Bill:
90% Pale Malt (I used Viking Malt)
10% Cara Plus 150 (again Viking Malt, I guess it's close to 60L Caramel malt?)
60 minute BIAB mash @ 65 C (light body). I sort of sparge my BIABs, first I lift the bag on a strainer and drain/gently squeeze out the wort to the kettle, then I place the bag into a separate container and throw in some sparge water, let it sit for about 15 minutes and then drain/gently squeeze again, and add that to the kettle.
Hops:
60 min: 25 g Chinook (12%), 8 g Citra (12%)
30 min: 8 g Citra (12%)
10 min: 8 g Citra (12%)
Dry hop - Add 7 days before bottling
42 g Citra, 5 g Chinook
Pitching:
I pitched two bags of rehydrated Safale US-05 at fermentation temp because I was worried about the relatively high OG, but considering the smaller batch size I could have probably gone with just one.
Fermentation:
21 degrees Celsius for about 4 weeks. All in primary, never used a secondary vessel. Primary fermentation took about 7 days, but very slow bubbling continued for around three weeks. At the start of week 4 since pitching I threw in the dry hops, let them hang around for 5 days, followed by lowering the temperature to around 2-3 degrees Celsius for two days (cold crash, I guess). After that all that was left was bottling it up, aiming for about 2.7 atmospheres. Carbonation took about 3 weeks, probably due to the cold crash.
Other:
This was my second ever brew. My first one was a somewhat underhopped Citra/Pale smash, and I wanted to utilize my leftover grains and hops from that batch while ordering as few extra ingredients as possible. I also wanted to try something a bit darker and stronger, to see how my brewing process holds up, whether I need to make significant changes for higher gravities. So I just took the leftover pale malt and Citra, ordered a 30 g bag of Chinook mostly for bittering and a 1 kg bag of Cara Plus 150 for color (used only half of that in this, together with 5 kg of pale malt) and had at it.
I've only now tasted it a couple of times (two undercarbed bottles to check how it's progressing and one that was properly carbed but hadn't been in the fridge long enough for the yeast to compact properly) and so far I've been completely flabbergasted: This stuff is so very very tasty. It's balancing on the line of American IPA and IIPA I guess due to being a bit high voltage (mine ended up hitting 8% ABV), and surprisingly it's one the most drinkable IPAs I've ever had. It definitely has an initial bitter kick, especially when cold, but rounds out quickly in your mouth and just wants to go down my throat. The nose is fairly dominated by the strong citrus (thank you Citra) but also a hint of pine mixed in. Mouth feel and body is pretty light which works with the hop forward taste, but it's by no means watery or lacking, there's a solid backbone on this. I'm not good with tasting notes really, but I can definitely taste citrus, light pine, a bit of caramel and a very light fruity tartness (apricot?). The vast majority though is all that lovely stuff that good American citrusy hops give you. I especially liked that I managed to get that quality of most IPAs that I personally enjoy drinking, namely that the beer changes quite a bit as you drink it. As the carbonation dies down and the beer gets warmer different aromas are mixed in different portions and almost every sip is a bit different. It is also quite an effective way to get drunk, it drinks almost like a session beer but you definitely notice the alcohol after a short while. Was not expecting that either. =)
If it sounds like I really like this beer, then you'd be correct: It's not my favorite (that would be BrewDog/Mikkeller's I Hardcore You), but I'd say it's comfortably in the top 5 IPAs I've personally had. I dunno, maybe it just hits my taste buds that perfectly. My buddy who also had a bottle to test the carbonation (that one had been in the fridge for a proper amount of time and had carbed faster than the others, so was closest to the finished product so far) also seemed pretty flabbergasted by how good it was.
I wasn't originally going to post this recipe because it's just a simple 5 ingredient brew made up by a complete novice (and it's saved on my brewing software of choice anyway) and I expected it to just be a very "meh" effort, but I kinda want to know if this was just a fluke or if it actually works for someone else as well. =)
90% Pale Malt (I used Viking Malt)
10% Cara Plus 150 (again Viking Malt, I guess it's close to 60L Caramel malt?)
60 minute BIAB mash @ 65 C (light body). I sort of sparge my BIABs, first I lift the bag on a strainer and drain/gently squeeze out the wort to the kettle, then I place the bag into a separate container and throw in some sparge water, let it sit for about 15 minutes and then drain/gently squeeze again, and add that to the kettle.
Hops:
60 min: 25 g Chinook (12%), 8 g Citra (12%)
30 min: 8 g Citra (12%)
10 min: 8 g Citra (12%)
Dry hop - Add 7 days before bottling
42 g Citra, 5 g Chinook
Pitching:
I pitched two bags of rehydrated Safale US-05 at fermentation temp because I was worried about the relatively high OG, but considering the smaller batch size I could have probably gone with just one.
Fermentation:
21 degrees Celsius for about 4 weeks. All in primary, never used a secondary vessel. Primary fermentation took about 7 days, but very slow bubbling continued for around three weeks. At the start of week 4 since pitching I threw in the dry hops, let them hang around for 5 days, followed by lowering the temperature to around 2-3 degrees Celsius for two days (cold crash, I guess). After that all that was left was bottling it up, aiming for about 2.7 atmospheres. Carbonation took about 3 weeks, probably due to the cold crash.
Other:
This was my second ever brew. My first one was a somewhat underhopped Citra/Pale smash, and I wanted to utilize my leftover grains and hops from that batch while ordering as few extra ingredients as possible. I also wanted to try something a bit darker and stronger, to see how my brewing process holds up, whether I need to make significant changes for higher gravities. So I just took the leftover pale malt and Citra, ordered a 30 g bag of Chinook mostly for bittering and a 1 kg bag of Cara Plus 150 for color (used only half of that in this, together with 5 kg of pale malt) and had at it.
I've only now tasted it a couple of times (two undercarbed bottles to check how it's progressing and one that was properly carbed but hadn't been in the fridge long enough for the yeast to compact properly) and so far I've been completely flabbergasted: This stuff is so very very tasty. It's balancing on the line of American IPA and IIPA I guess due to being a bit high voltage (mine ended up hitting 8% ABV), and surprisingly it's one the most drinkable IPAs I've ever had. It definitely has an initial bitter kick, especially when cold, but rounds out quickly in your mouth and just wants to go down my throat. The nose is fairly dominated by the strong citrus (thank you Citra) but also a hint of pine mixed in. Mouth feel and body is pretty light which works with the hop forward taste, but it's by no means watery or lacking, there's a solid backbone on this. I'm not good with tasting notes really, but I can definitely taste citrus, light pine, a bit of caramel and a very light fruity tartness (apricot?). The vast majority though is all that lovely stuff that good American citrusy hops give you. I especially liked that I managed to get that quality of most IPAs that I personally enjoy drinking, namely that the beer changes quite a bit as you drink it. As the carbonation dies down and the beer gets warmer different aromas are mixed in different portions and almost every sip is a bit different. It is also quite an effective way to get drunk, it drinks almost like a session beer but you definitely notice the alcohol after a short while. Was not expecting that either. =)
If it sounds like I really like this beer, then you'd be correct: It's not my favorite (that would be BrewDog/Mikkeller's I Hardcore You), but I'd say it's comfortably in the top 5 IPAs I've personally had. I dunno, maybe it just hits my taste buds that perfectly. My buddy who also had a bottle to test the carbonation (that one had been in the fridge for a proper amount of time and had carbed faster than the others, so was closest to the finished product so far) also seemed pretty flabbergasted by how good it was.
I wasn't originally going to post this recipe because it's just a simple 5 ingredient brew made up by a complete novice (and it's saved on my brewing software of choice anyway) and I expected it to just be a very "meh" effort, but I kinda want to know if this was just a fluke or if it actually works for someone else as well. =)
