Electric Ray IPL in the Beer Camp box

[TrickyDick]

Howdy,

Last night I oened a box of beer camp I had bought at the SN brewery in Mills River about a month or two ago. I know I should have opened it up and drank everything fresh, but anyway...

I picked the electric Ray to drink last night, a India Pale Lager collaboration with Ballast Point.

WOW! I gave my wife a sip and she almost didn't give me back the glass! and she HATES hoppy beers!
The flavor and aroma reminded me of dumping out the spent hop bags after brewing.

I've GOT to find out out what hops they used in this because ai loved it and so do my wife. I'm sort of wondering if it could be a newer variety like el dorado maybe. It was almost candy-like fruitiness. Not overly bitter, but with some lingering bitterness in finish at the back of the tongue.

Please help if you know what is in this brew.

By the way, my box also had a duplicate beer: Yvan something or other collaboration with Russian River. It has two bottles of that one. Wondering which beer got left out...

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Found this at brewer street journal I think it was:

70 IBU
8.5% ABV

Hops: cascade, Zeus, nugget, Northern brewer
Aroma hops: Amarillo, crystal, centennial, cascade
Malt: 2 row pale, Pilsner, oats, munich,crystal
Lager yeast

Also, apparently the electric Ray scientific name is torpedo something or other, so they probably used the Sierra Nevada hop torpedo to dry hop the beer. I've sent emails to both commercial breweries inquiring about the beer so will see if I get any response.

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Continuing the one-man thread...

Heard back from one of the guys involved in design and brew of this and the above is pretty accurate.

Here is a revision:

Hops:
Beginning of boil (60 min ?) cascade, Zeus, nugget, Northern brewer
Mid Boil (30 min)- Amarillo, crystal
Knockout- centennial, cascade (added below 205º)
Dry Hops- Amarillo, Centennial and Crystal.

Malt: 2 row pale, Pilsner, oats-flaked, munich, crystal (60º), some rice hulls.

Yeast: lager

Fermentation: WL German Lager (I think this is the same as Saflager 34/70) pitch at 62º until visible fermentation signs then chill to 50º until reaching 1.025 then let free rise to ambient temp for diacetyl rest.

Not sure if they're using a 90 minute boil with the Pils malt. I have a hard time with 90 minute boils due to brewing 10 gallons in a 15 gallon kettle.

TD

 

[Larzean]

Great info, I recently blew thru my 12 pack that was hiding in my beer fridge and really enjoyed this one.

 

[TrickyDick]

I am very tempted to ferment this with the wyeast west coast IPA strain instead of a lager yeast, and run it at the low end of the recommended range. For an eleven gallon batch to get ten gallons, my usual size, that's 8 packs of dry yeast for this beer...

 

[Brettomomyces]

That's a lot of yeast, my lhbs sells 34/70 for almost $7 a pack and the guy balked so bad when I proposed making a starter from it once

 

[Weezy]

Amarillo-Crystal is a nice combo.

 

[TrickyDick]

That's a lot of yeast, my lhbs sells 34/70 for almost $7 a pack and the guy balked so bad when I proposed making a starter from it once

Yeah, I'm having a hard time considering spending fifty bucks on friggin yeast, when I have a crapton of it at the base of the conical now (that's the west coast IPA allegedly the stone strain. I think I might use it for my AB clone attempt also.

The yeast experts generally discourage making starters with dry yeast. I think the rationale is that it is unnecessary and possibly detrimental for reasons that frankly don't make much sense to me. These experts seem not to take into account the expense aspect from what I've read.

TD

 

[Brettomomyces]

I'm using the west coast ipa yeast right now, 2nd Gen. I think it is stone yeast, the pale I brewed with it tastes a lot like a stone beer and I've had a lot of stone beers. It's got a strong ester profile, but it blends well with hops flavors as well.

 

[TrickyDick]

I'm using the west coast ipa yeast right now, 2nd Gen. I think it is stone yeast, the pale I brewed with it tastes a lot like a stone beer and I've had a lot of stone beers. It's got a strong ester profile, but it blends well with hops flavors as well.

I've got a IPA dry hopping in the primary with it (wyeast west coast IPA) now. Hydro sample was awesome.
What temperature are you fermenting at?
I'm planning to wash that yeast and use in an arrogant bastard clone and also in this electric Ray recipe. Back to back brews next week.
I do need to visit the LHBS. If there is a decent price on the SafLager I might get some, otherwise plan to use the wyeast and ferment at 62°

TD

 

[Brettomomyces]

First beer I fermented at 64'ish and the yeast kind of crapped out at 1.020, took some rousing but really only made it down to 1.014, with a starter. This new beer was the first since getting my new oxygen setup and I'm hoping for a little dryer. Running it at 68F for this beer also, I pulled a hydro sample when it was 1.040 from 1.060 and it tastes really clean so far.

 

[TrickyDick]

So when you say it's clean, you mean not much esters in second "generation"?
Mine is at between 1.014 and 1.015 now, which is the target FG per beersmith. Don't recall the OG off the top of my head.

I think that the whole point of an IPL is to have a really neutral yeast that contributes little of its own character to the beer so that the hops can shine through. If you think it's really estery, maybe I should pick something else.
I've heard Yooper comment about BRY97 being very clean. I've never used that one before. I just thought that I'd use what I have on hand and save some money on the yeast is all. Plus lagers have been a pain in the butt for me in the past. Maybe I need more patience with them. Some have turned out very well, but take far longer than expected to finish.

This is from Wyeast

Wyeast 1217-PC West Coast IPA™

Beer Styles: American IPA, Imperial IPA, American Pale Ale, American brown ale, Red Ales, Scottish Ales
Profile: This strain is ideally suited to the production of west-coast style American craft beers, especially pale, IPA, red, and specialties. Thorough attenuation, temp tolerance, and good flocculation make this an easy strain to work with. Flavor is balanced neutral with mild ester formation at warmer temps, allowing hops, character malts, and flavorings to show through.

Alc. Tolerance 10% ABV
Flocculation med-high
Attenuation 73-80%
Temp. Range 62-74°F (17-23°C)

Seems to indicate that is neutral and only mild esters and points out those come at warmer temps.
I think it'd probably be a good pick for this recipe, but i would have to call it an IPA not an IPL.

 

[Brettomomyces]

I'm not sure what happened the first time around tbh, 3.5L starter for 10g of a 1.056 beer and it struggled a little. It got good physical aeration, but now I'm using pure O2. Compared to S-05 it had a bigger ester profile; I brewed the exact same beer a month before with 05. I wouldn't say it was over the top estery, but definitely different profile.

But yeah, 2nd time with this yeast is less estery, very neutral profile so far. I remember hearing it's recommended to run this yeast around 68 so I decided to try that as well. I don't usually take samples so quickly but the krausen has been up for a couple days and the airlock kind of quiet so I wanted to take a peak.

 

[Hello]

I'm headed downstairs to look through what I have of the box and get that one. I was given the chance to buy it months after release because a customer didn't pick it up. I've enjoyed every single one of them thus far.

 

[TrickyDick]

I ended up brewing a clone version this a while back. It finishing up fermentation and should be finished with primary by the end of the week. The hydro sample tastes like orange juice with a bitter finish. Very excited about this brew. Began diacetyl on Saturday morning by turning off freezer and cracking open door. Ended up using Saflager-23.

TD