First Brew Night

[MTate37]

K man thanks. Pliny is the hophoria of all hophorias lol once you try it if your clone is anything like it you'll be brewing it all the time

Sorry I haven't posted the link yet, but I'm rarely on a computer. Will try to remember to do it tomorrow. If my Midwest Ferocious IPA doesn't improve I hope the Pliny clone attempt provides a bit of redemption.

 

[MTate37]

Since it's a partial mash,you could just do a partial boil as well. That's what I do/did,& midwests' instructions sid as well. Got the right OG & FG too.

Is there any benefit to doing a partial boil? I've scaled the Pliny recipe down to 2.5 G because I can handle a full boil at that size. Everything I've seen says that a partial boil with top off reduces the IBUs. That's something I want to avoid as me and my beer drinking buddy are hopheads and I want a beer that smacks me around a little bit when it comes to the hop profile.

Do I need to use any LME , our will I be okay doing all DME? At this point I'm so unhappy with my Ferocious IPA that I want to get as far away from LME as possible. I'm sure the late addition would have helped but there is something in the flavor that just isn't agreeing with me. More on this beer in a different post.

 

[brewtus72]

You may have scorched the lme causing a carmrlization and s sweet tangy taste. Is this the flavor you are experiencing?

 

[MTate37]

You may have scorched the lme causing a carmrlization and s sweet tangy taste. Is this the flavor you are experiencing?

Oh, I know I scorched it because this IPA is darker than anything I normally drink. Think Newcastle and then go a little darker. As far as the flavor goes, it does come across a little sweet, and I guess tangy could be the right word. This is my second brew so I'm not really sure what the "extract twang" tastes like, but if this is it I never want to duplicate it. My first brew was all LME as well and it was dark for the style but it tasted a hell of a lot better than this beer.

 

[brewtus72]

Yea this is wat has happened. Make sure next time remove the pot from burner and stir rather vigorously as you poor in to make it dissolve before it has a chance to drop to bottom and scorch. Also helps to put you lme in hot water and set as your setting up so when you are ready to add it it will be warmed and thin this makes it much easier to dissolve and highly less likely to cause scorching

 

[unionrdr]

The LME hitting the hot bottom wil taste scorched. Adding all the LME at the beginning will caramelize the LME to darken the brew & produce tha twang mentioned so often. So scorching is different from caramelization from mailard reactions.
Using all DME is fine,but I think you need 20% more DME to equal the amount of LME used. But most kits instructions are for partial boils. My partial mash ale kit was no exception. Partial boil with partial mash & top off in the fermenter after chilling the wort.

 

[iphonedylan]

Well after much delay and a slight case of food poisoning in Mexico, which makes any trip South of the border complete, the IPA is kegged. The OG and TG were 1.055 and 1.014 respectively. It tastes and smells great and I'm going to put it on CO2 this evening after it cools in the chest freezer. I'm tempted to carbonate at 30 psi for 24-48 hours or I may let it sit at 12 for a week. Haven't made my mind up yet. The color is similar to a pint of blue moon but I'll post a couple pics up with I pour a full carbonated glass.

With those two gravities my formula gave me an ABV between 5.3 and 5.4%
Does this sound correct?

 

[unionrdr]

I got 5.99% by Cooper's formula of (OG-FG)/7.46 +.5=ABV%. Seems each formula gives a bit different answer. But you're in there.

 

[iphonedylan]

I got 5.99% by Cooper's formula of (OG-FG)/7.46 +.5=ABV%. Seems each formula gives a bit different answer. But you're in there.

Awesome. I got impatient now that I'm at the house and it's in the keg so it's going to sit on 30 psi for 24 hrs before I have the first glass. I cooled it first for a few hours. I'm expecting it's going to taste awesome regardless of my less preferred carbonation method since it's my first brew.

 

[unionrdr]

I've read on here where keggers condition their beer in the keg for 2 weeks. you can't short cut some things. But try it & see what you think.