First batch a success! IPA - Thank You!

[MatthewHall]

I just had to thank you guys for not knowingly helping me through this first brew process! It turned out quite good, and now I know exactly what I want to do with future IPA's! It was all extract, and I checked back here for EVERYTHING as I stressed my way through this process...

Fermentables: 9# Pale LME
Hops Used: Cascade 90, Simcoe 45 & 30, Amarillo 0
Other additions: 1# Clove Honey, .5 lb. Clear Belgian Candied sugar
Yeast: WLP001
3 weeks in Primary, bottled

Speedbumps/freak out points: Floating thermometer bulb bursted and the little black balls got all in my wort (the alcohol part of the thermometer was fine), Airlock stopped bubbling after x amount of days, California went through a ridiculous heat wave in the middle of process so a swamp cooler was needed.

It is highly drinkable! Awesome amarillo citrusy, tropical fruity, sweet aroma. Head and lacing are also great! The bitterness isn't huge, which is good because all of my friends/family who've tasted it are not huge hop heads like me. I'm just really glad I produced a solid IPA for my first shot. Even the wife (swmbo) liked it... and loved helping when I needed it (capper, malt packaging squeezer).

Things I want in next IPA: MORE HOPS! And more diverse selection of hops. More complexity on the malt side. Looking to do a big DIPA with friends similar to Maharajah (or even Gubna!) sometime this winter break.

In primary: Winter/Christmas Spiced Ale. Transferring to secondary this weekend!

Thanks again all! I couldn't have done it without you!

 

[Whut]

First off welcome to the Forums. Secondly congrats on your first successful brew. Sounds like you're definately hooked so welcome to the hood of homebrewers.

 

[powerfreak]

Congrats on the brew! Sounds tasty indeed.

With the first one out of the way, many, many more will follow.

Enjoy!

 

[duckmanco]

looks great in the glass, thats for sure, nicely done man. Also, how does it taste, and what did the honey and the candi sugar do for the flavor profile? Anything you could compare it to?

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Looks great in the picture and your description sounds awesome. I too am a newbie, with my first batch (american IPA) in the primary. What a great hobby, it's been a blast so far. Hopefully my first batch turns out as well as yours did. It has been 1 week in the primary and I'm racking to the secondary for another 2 weeks on Saturday. Then going for batch #2 already on Sunday. I'm customizing a tame English Brown Ale, by adding another 2lbs of light DME to increase the ABV to around 5.9% and amping up the hop additions (bittering and aromatic). Hoping to end up with an American Brown Ale of 5.9%, 40-45 IBU's, with a nice hoppy finish. What's on your docket for batch #2?

 

[MatthewHall]

Beeropotomus: I have a Spiced Christmas Ale in my primary as we speak. Its been in the promary for almost 2 weeks, and I opened it to take a gravity reading last night. There were still yeasties on the top, so I got scared and closed it! (my IPA didn't look like that). I'm not stressing it, but I don't have a proper wine thief, so I didn't want to mess with it too much last night. It smelled amazing! Sweet brown ale smell mostly. I'm going to transfer it to the secondary tomorrow... wish me luck. I too tinkered with a recipe on this one adding some brown sugar to the wort near the end of boil... and my 'mulling spices' which i tweaked just a bit.

What yeast are you going with on your brown? I have been increasingly intrigued by yeast since I got into this a couple months ago... and can't wait to see what my WLP028 (Scottish Ale Yeast) does to this Christmas beer!

Duck: I really have not analyzed it like I should. I tried a bottle a couple weeks ago, and then I've tasted a little here and there, but have mostly been letting others give me their opinion. I have a bomber in the fridge for tonight. I do get a residual little sweetness from it, not sure if it's the honey or crystalized sugar. It is somewhat, but not overly dry in the finish(product of the sugar/honey from what i've read), but it makes it way drinkable and refreshing. The simcoe and cascade hops really bring out the citrus, grapefruit tastes. The bitterness isn't too crazy, but it lingers on the tongue a little bit which is nice. I get the slightest malt taste right at the end, but nothing too prominent there. Like I said, the head and lacing are only overshadowed by how pleasant the aroma is. I will use Amarillo at the end of a boil any day! that citrus/tropical fruity makes this brew so inviting when I pour and hand it to somebody. It makes me want to stop giving it away.....

 

[Hoppopotomus]

MatthewHall: I have been talking about starting to brew at home for some time and have been a big fan of craft beer for years. I have been reading John Palmer's book for a few weeks now along with every other bit of information that I can get my hands on. I just found this site yesterday! My wife surprised me last last week with a deluxe kit, multiple accessories, a really nice stainless brew pot, and an American IPA kit. I have a good working knowledge about the brewing process, but do not have enough experience thus far with different yeast strains to discuss intelligently. I will say that the yeast that came with the kit is a dry packet of Sachet. I called my HBS and the guy there said that it would be more than enough yeast to handle the extra 2 lbs of DME that I'm throwing into the mix.

During my first batch, I used the same yeast. I rehydrated and then proofed the yeast to make sure they were viable. The airlock started bubbling within a few hours and by the next morning it was going crazy! My wife and I both went to work monday (the day after pitching the yeast) and my wife came home to a laundry room sprayed with krauesen and hop residue. The airlock got plugged with residue and it created a beer bomb! Luckily it appeared to have happened fairly recently, as the foam was still wet. She called me at work in a panic, so I had her resanitize the lid and clean the airlock + resanitize it as well. She said that there was a thick layer of krauesen, so everyone tells me that the beer will be fine and the yeast were just really, really happy. Lost minimal beer volume, so all is well. It's almost ready for the secondary, so I'll probably rack it sunday, clean/sanitize the primary and start batch #2. Good luck! I'm using a blow off tube from this point forward. No more beer bombs for me!

 

[MatthewHall]

hahaha! I gotta say, if anything, it's a great first brew story! And yeah, from all the research I've done since I started planning months ago, you'll be fine. If there's one thing I've learned on this site from experienced hbrewers like Revy, starfish, etc., its to just relax and roll with the punches. In the end, it'll probably come out better than we expected!

Yeah, when my floating thermometer bursted (the little black balls went everywhere in the batch) while I was in the cooling stage of the process, i didn't know what to do. I strained the hell out of my batch with an awesome triple mesh strainer (thanks HBS guy who convinced me to spend the extra $10 on it), and it turned out great! Later reading that all would be well from this forum, i kinda forgot that it happened.

And in terms of yeast, I have only used the liquid White Labs stuff (my hbs stocks it pretty well) with no starter. When you start researching the little flavors it can add, or the ferm temps that it can handle, or even just touching on the Belgian strains... it's all an incredible living creature that provides us with this nectar from the gods. I'm only on my second batch and I'm already planning the next 3 or 4 that I want to do! Exciting, somewhat pricey at first, but well worth the effort. Keep me updated on how things go... I'll be in this extract forum for a while learning... then eventually AG when I have the space and time.

Cheers!

 

[pjcampbell]

reminds me sort of of stone IPA.

 

[duckmanco]

well I said I'd brew this or something like it and I did, with some tweaking of course.

HONEY WEST COAST IPA

2 gallon batch in the fermentor @ 1.063 roughly 6.3%ABV

3.3 pounds of extra light malt (1st third at 90 min. last 2/3rds at 10 min.)
.4 pounds of clover honey at flame out (meant to use orange blossom, store was out)

Hop Bill - 84 IBU's (percieved might be higher, possibly 100 or so, to due to honey and last 2/3rds or so late LME addition)
.2 oz Citra 90 min.
.2 oz Simcoe 90 min
.2 oz simcoe 45 min.
.2 oz cascade 30 min.
.4 oz citra 15 min.
.4 oz columbus 10 min.
.2 oz amarillo 1 min.

Dry hopped with .2 oz each of cascade, citra, simcoe, and amarillo for 6 days

WLP001 vial (no starter) - 4 weeks primary, no secondary.

This is my best brew yet and one hell of a sweet citrus hop bomb. It has that WCIPA sweet hop flavor and robust bitterness I wanted and hoped was possible at home. Head retention is not bad at all, especially considering that NO specialty grains were used, this was straight liquid malt extract. This single brew has put me down the path of refining my IPA's and learning hop flavors and schedules but using simple malt bills.

Changes I would make next go round:
1. 60 min. boil instead of 90
2. hop additions would be 60 min. then go straight to 20 min. 15, 10, 5, and flame out.
3. Brew a larger batch...

Thanks to MatthewHall for posting his luck with his recipe.

(Pic taken after a few sips, an excuse for head retention of course, but the lacing looks nice anyway.)

 

[MatthewHall]

That's awesome! Looks and sounds like a great beer! I'm definitely going to use citra and columbus the next time I brew my IPA. Love the color on yours too! My IPA palette has gone with the season, but I plan on brewing one again once spring hits. It's amazing what could be had with no specialty grains! Well done, and glad I could help! Us new brewers have to stick together!..... well, all home brewers have to stick together!