Conan The Bluebarian (milkshake DIPA)

[elburrogrande]

Perfect color

 

[crusader1612]

Looks good!
Any notes for taste etc

 

[Ruckusz28]

Beautiful beer. Great job. I love Belma as a flavor addition

 

[elburrogrande]

Ill start with things ill adjust. 2.5 ozof hibiscus at 10 boil didnt do much for color. Ended up adding another 2.5oz to fermenter. I think next time ill just add 5 oz to dry hop schedule. Also did not use a big enough starter. Next time ill use a 2L 1.060 starter. It got stuck around 1.035, I used 3711 yeast to finish it out. Its a trick ive used with other big neipas with great success. Other than that the beer is gorgeous. Everyone keeps saying its the best they've had. My gf stated it couldn't be more than 6% alcohol when i asked her to guess. This is similar to others who have tasted it. I was worried it wouldnt taste like an ipa but bitterness is spot on. I did increase bittering addition to .82 oz of ctz. Ill post a full review tomorrow.

 

[crusader1612]

Ill start with things ill adjust. 2.5 ozof hibiscus at 10 boil didnt do much for color. Ended up adding another 2.5oz to fermenter. I think next time ill just add 5 oz to dry hop schedule. Also did not use a big enough starter. Next time ill use a 2L 1.060 starter. It got stuck around 1.035, I used 3711 yeast to finish it out. Its a trick ive used with other big neipas with great success. Other than that the beer is gorgeous. Everyone keeps saying its the best they've had. My gf stated it couldn't be more than 6% alcohol when i asked her to guess. This is similar to others who have tasted it. I was worried it wouldnt taste like an ipa but bitterness is spot on. I did increase bittering addition to .82 oz of ctz. Ill post a full review tomorrow.

Nice work. Your bittering addition was just at 60 not FWH or anything?

 

[indymedic]

Tasting notes please. Reading the recipe it seems like this beer would be a muddled mess of flavors. Are you able to identify all of the flavors in this beer?

 

[elburrogrande]

Nice work. Your bittering addition was just at 60 not FWH or anything?

it was .82oz of CTZ at FWH but boil time was 60 minutes.

 

[elburrogrande]

Appearance – Depending on how the light hits it, it is a beautiful cherry red to sangria color. Has about a finger of pinkish head that dissipates to half a finger pretty quickly. Took extra caution not to have any floaties as I have read in milkshake IPA's. Really wanted this too look appealing and I'd say I succeeded.

Smell – Just a ton of fruit and pine. You don't even have to get close to smell this one. You can smell it from 3 feet away. Don't smell much vanilla, Mostly smells of berries and pine. I had some olallieberry pie and the best way I can describe it is just fresh crushed olallieberries. Has some earthiness and wine characteristics.

Taste – The vanilla is there and so is the hibiscus but you have to know it is there to detect it. people have said it tastes like a raspberry smoothie. Flavor is on par with the nose. It is slightly tart with citricy cranberry, grape, blueberry, raspberry notes. Sweetness is minimal. Bitterness is spot on. Id describe it as mild. Really was worried it wouldn't taste like an IPA but definitely drinks like one.

Mouthfeel – very well balanced with moderate body. Not sure if it is the lactose or oats but I'd describe it as creamy. Has some silkiness to the texture. Don't get much alcohol, really does feel like you're drinking a low alcoholic brew.

overall – Dangerously drinkable for a 9.7%ish beer. slightly tart, earthy, piny, berry punch or sangria. I mean whatever berry you can think of you can probably detect it in this one. Id go with cranberries, blueberries, and raspberries as most dominant, but for sure there are hints of strawberry, gooseberries, wine, blackberry, amongst others. I was thinking this one would last a while due to the high alcohol but I can't stop drinking it. Next time Ill probably go with a full pound of lactose instead of 12oz although I am enjoying the fact that it finished out at 1.013 and sweetness is so low. overall this is just a gorgeous looking beer that tastes as good as it looks.

 

[elburrogrande]

Tasting notes please. Reading the recipe it seems like this beer would be a muddled mess of flavors. Are you able to identify all of the flavors in this beer?

You are right. I was thinking the blueberries would be dominant but there is a lot going on. The hops come through and produce a ton of flavors. Very complex beer.

 

[elburrogrande]

For those keeping track. I brewed this on 4/10, added dry hop and fruits on 4/13. removed belma prehop on 4/15. removed first dry hops and added second dry hop charge on 4/17. kegged on 4/21. grain to glass in 11 days.

 

[RevKev]

Ill start with things ill adjust. 2.5 ozof hibiscus at 10 boil didnt do much for color. Ended up adding another 2.5oz to fermenter. I think next time ill just add 5 oz to dry hop schedule.

Here's a suggestion too.. you could make hibiscus as a concentrated tea mixture and blend the tea that you held at 208-212°F for 5-7 minutes into your keg and then while carbonating the beer it will diffuse and mix. I used a half pound in a half gallon of water for a saison. Those proportions can be scaled.

I found that tart cranberry taste you mention to be primarily from the hibiscus.

 

[crusader1612]

Last night, I spent sometime looking through breweries who have or may have donesomething similar.
Strangely enough I stumbled upon Brewdogs DIY dog recipe book 2.0

they have a beer called Lizard Bride in there (not DIPA) but a normal APA/IPA with plenty of blueberries raspberries and sour cherries.

Strictly it is not an NEIPA, but it strike an interstign balance simialr to your i suspect (without the tart berries and cherries.
I definitely think it'dbe quite a c;lever ber to make, in a similar style.

plus i have a DIY Dog comp coming up (local comp for our HB club)

my thoughts were to give the recipe its dues (apart from the gigantic dryhop) and go with 4lbs blueberries 2lbs sour cherries and 1lb raspberries

then amend and change future iterations to head more NEIPA. (Its good to have a baseline of where the intention was, and get an idea of where you could take it)

 

[WiscoBrewer]

Brewing this one on Monday. Let me know if you have any thoughts. Thanks.



Batch size= 6gallons, 5.5gl into fermenter

ABV= 9.7%

OG=1.082

FG= 1.013





Grains:

pale 2 row 50.6%

pilsner 12.7%

flaked oats 17.7%

white wheat 10.1%

acid malt 3.8%



other:

12oz Lactose boil 10 minutes

Apple puree 1lb boil 10 min

5oz hibiscus boil 10min or dryhop

5g salt boil 10 min

yeast nutrient boil 5 minutes



Hops:

.75oz Columbus FWH (60 min boil)

1oz Mosaic/ 1oz Belma whirlpool 185° 20 minutes

1oz Mozaic/ 1oz Belma whirlpool 170° 20 minutes



preload fermenter with 2oz belma



3oz El Dorado / 1oz Nelson Sauvin day 2 of active fermentation

3oz Nelson Sauvin/ 1oz El Dorado 2-3 days before kegging



Fruit:

6lbs Blueberries added day 2-3 to fermenter



Yeast:

Conan, finish with 3711



Water:

100% distilled water

6g gypsum

7g CaCl



about 200 Cl / 100 SO4



Mash:

2 hour reiterated mash using grainfather @ 148°

I'm curious about a couple things; first the pre loaded fermenter how do you feel this effects the dry hopping as opposed to dry hopping in the middle of fermentation? Second I've heard that Belma is quite underwhelming especially when mixed with high flavor hop such as mosaic, citra, galaxy, etc. was this your experience at all?

 

[elburrogrande]

I'm curious about a couple things; first the pre loaded fermenter how do you feel this effects the dry hopping as opposed to dry hopping in the middle of fermentation? Second I've heard that Belma is quite underwhelming especially when mixed with high flavor hop such as mosaic, citra, galaxy, etc. was this your experience at all?

This is the first time I have preloaded the fermenter but I liked the results and will definitely do it again. This one basically got 3 dry hop charges. I got more of a pleasant green hop aroma than other beers I have made from this one. It is difficult to identify the Belma with so much going on in this beer but as I noted, the sample that had no blueberries and no other hops besides the belma and mosaic tasted and smelled like fresh berries. I have used mosaic before and it has not provided as much berry notes by itself or with other hops.

 

[elburrogrande]

lovely

 

[WiscoBrewer]

This is the first time I have preloaded the fermenter but I liked the results and will definitely do it again. This one basically got 3 dry hop charges. I got more of a pleasant green hop aroma than other beers I have made from this one. It is difficult to identify the Belma with so much going on in this beer but as I noted, the sample that had no blueberries and no other hops besides the belma and mosaic tasted and smelled like fresh berries. I have used mosaic before and it has not provided as much berry notes by itself or with other hops.

I brewed your recipe this weekend, but used 1.5lbs of applesauce and one peeled/cubed green apple, 1lb lactose, a mix of golden naked oats and flaked oats, replaced the Belma with Vic Secret, and used 1318 yeast. I just put the mid fermentation dry hops in last night, but chose to put the 6lbs of frozen/mashed/refrozen blueberries in secondary, after primary fermentation to try and save the aroma from blowing off. I will put 2 vanilla beans in at this time as well.

 

[elburrogrande]

I brewed your recipe this weekend, but used 1.5lbs of applesauce and one peeled/cubed green apple, 1lb lactose, a mix of golden naked oats and flaked oats, replaced the Belma with Vic Secret, and used 1318 yeast. I just put the mid fermentation dry hops in last night, but chose to put the 6lbs of frozen/mashed/refrozen blueberries in secondary, after primary fermentation to try and save the aroma from blowing off. I will put 2 vanilla beans in at this time as well.

Nice, Vic Secret should work well. What was your OG? Don't forget to use a mesh grain bag for the blueberries. I didn't feel I lost any aroma, if anything this was the most aromatic beer I can recall making. I chose to do it this way to get from grain to glass in the shortest amount of time. 11 days total if I remember correctly. Did you use Hibiscus at all? I would cut it back to 1 bean but that's just preference.

 

[WiscoBrewer]

Nice, Vic Secret should work well. What was your OG? Don't forget to use a mesh grain bag for the blueberries. I didn't feel I lost any aroma, if anything this was the most aromatic beer I can recall making. I chose to do it this way to get from grain to glass in the shortest amount of time. 11 days total if I remember correctly. Did you use Hibiscus at all? I would cut it back to 1 beans but that's just preference.

I'm not at my laptop, but I believe my OG was 1.078-1.080. I do not have a bucket, so I'm going to secondary right on top of them. I'm expecting a lil secondary fermentation as well. I use a screen, 2-3 micron, filter that fits over the whole length of my syphon that works well. I have 5oz of hibiscus, but haven't added it yet and made a tincture with 2 vanilla beans. Maybe I'll just add half and add more if I feel the need to.

 

[elburrogrande]

I'm not at my laptop, but I believe my OG was 1.078-1.080. I do not have a bucket, so I'm going to secondary right on top of them. I'm expecting a lil secondary fermentation as well. I use a screen, 2-3 micron, filter that fits over the whole length of my syphon that works well. I have 5oz of hibiscus, but haven't added it yet and made a tincture with 2 vanilla beans. Maybe I'll just add half and add more if I feel the need to.

Nice, come back with an update once it is all done. It will be interesting to see how much it attenuates with 1lb of lactose and 1318. At what day are you planning to transfer to secondary? are you just leaving the hops in there the whole time?

 

[WiscoBrewer]

Nice, come back with an update once it is all done. It will be interesting to see how much it attenuates with 1lb of lactose and 1318. At what day are you planning to transfer to secondary? are you just leaving the hops in there the whole time?

Not done yet, but the last dry hop after blueberry. As of right now I would illuminate the hibiscus completely next time....It gets too much tart from it, that over shadows the blueberry. More vanilla if your going for "milkshake" and the mouthfeel doesn't seem thick enough. Keep in mind, I did 5oz of hibiscus dry-Hop, this may differ from the original results.

 

[elburrogrande]

Not done yet, but the last dry hop after blueberry. As of right now I would illuminate the hibiscus completely next time....It gets too much tart from it, that over shadows the blueberry. More vanilla if your going for "milkshake" and the mouthfeel doesn't seem thick enough. Keep in mind, I did 5oz of hibiscus dry-Hop, this may differ from the original results.

interesting. I would wait for it to carb up and be cold. What was your water profile? so far I think you're on day 18-19. I went from grain to glass in 11 days. I think that will have a huge effect on flavor and might have more of the hibiscus shine through. I think next time Ill make it without hibiscus and puree the berries. that should give a deep red without the need for hibiscus. What was your FG?

 

[crusader1612]

interesting. I would wait for it to carb up and be cold. What was your water profile? so far I think you're on day 18-19. I went from grain to glass in 11 days. I think that will have a huge effect on flavor and might have more of the hibiscus shine through. I think next time Ill make it without hibiscus and puree the berries. that should give a deep red without the need for hibiscus. What was your FG?

I'd love to see more pics of it, and I'd liketo know how it tastes after a few weeks of age.

 

[elburrogrande]

I'd love to see more pics of it, and I'd liketo know how it tastes after a few weeks of age.

unfortunately it did not last that long. Its all gone already. lol

 

[WiscoBrewer]

I'd love to see more pics of it, and I'd liketo know how it tastes after a few weeks of age.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1495153158.437060.jpg

Here is mine

 

[WiscoBrewer]

interesting. I would wait for it to carb up and be cold. What was your water profile? so far I think you're on day 18-19. I went from grain to glass in 11 days. I think that will have a huge effect on flavor and might have more of the hibiscus shine through. I think next time Ill make it without hibiscus and puree the berries. that should give a deep red without the need for hibiscus. What was your FG?

Water profile was similar to yours. FG was 1.016, tastes dryer though. The tartness seems to be fading, I'd still skip the hibiscus completely next time though. Still needs a thicker mouthfeel, perhaps the tartness from the hibiscus giving a perceived thinner mouthfeel?

 

[elburrogrande]

Water profile was similar to yours. FG was 1.016, tastes dryer though. The tartness seems to be fading, I'd still skip the hibiscus completely next time though. Still needs a thicker mouthfeel, perhaps the tartness from the hibiscus giving a perceived thinner mouthfeel?

Beer looks great! I agree with the hibiscus, Ill try it next time by pureeing the blueberries. Interesting about the mouth feel because you went with a full pound of lactose. Perhaps switching some of the wheat for more oats but I didn't really feel it was thin. I just had a Guava milkshake IPA from a local brewery and mouth feel was very similar if not thicker than theirs. Cheers man! good job on the brew

 

[isomerization]

1.016 with a lb of lactose is like 1.008 without it, so something went wrong with your mash temp?

I'm brewing a mango milkshake DIPA right now, targeting 1.024 in my 5 gal batch with a lb of lactose.

 

[elburrogrande]

It was on purpose. Wanted a dryer milkshake IPA inline with a normal NEIPA. Targeted FG was 1.014-1.018

 

[elburrogrande]

This was by far my most requested IPA amongst friends and family so I brewed another batch on Monday. This time around I omitted the hibiscus, used 3 cans of Oregon blueberries (for color) along with 3lbs of frozen blue berries, and moved fruit addition and first round of dry hops to 4th day of fermentation. Also increased bittering charge to 1oz and added 1 additional oz of mosaic at flameout. will post pics soon.

 

[elburrogrande]

Also did not use any apple this time around. I just didn't feel like it made much of a difference.