Foot in mouth brew

[BradTheGeek]

Okay, I am a beginner. I have only really done one extract brew that I added some honey and brown sugar to then dry hopped. It came out pretty good, and I have been collecting supplies for my next batches.

I was at the LHBS, getting a few things to add to my brew pantry, and was talking about their upcoming homebrew for hunger event. Well, I have now signed up to supply at least 4 gallons of my own brew. There is the foot in the mouth. I am not sure I am ready for this, beer geek that I am!

My idea for a personal brew was to try an IPA/DIPA that used some oats and/or honey. The oats to increase the body/head/retention, and the honey, well because I have 5 lbs on hand and I used it in my last brew. Since the event is in early November, I need to brew sometime soon, even though IPA's do not typically need a ton of conditioning time. So, playing around with BeerSmith, reading tons of recipes, and plugging in what I have, this is what I came up with, but I have no idea how well it will work. I will be making a 5 gallon batch that is extract and partial grain. This recipe that I have concocted uses all things I have now, but as long as the bill is low I may be able to add/change some aspects. My questions to the brewheads here, is does it sound feasible? What changes would you make? Keep in mind I am using an electric stove and not so huge pot (although I do have larger pats, including an immersion canner, but I want to make sure I can actually BOIL).

Boil 2.25 gallons, pour in carboy and cool.

Steep the following at around 150-160 in 2 gallons water:
1lb crystal malt 20l
.5 to 1lb rolled oats
Drain, then 'sparge' in a 1 gallon of 150 degree water in another pot.
Combine steep and sparge water in first pot (total 3 gallons).

Bring to boil, adding 3 lbs Amber DME.
Boil 90 minutes, (pellet) hopping as follows with the following:

10 minutes .5oz Citra
15 minutes .5oz Citra
20 minutes .5oz Citra
25 minutes .5oz Citra
30 minutes .5oz Simcoe
40 minutes .5oz Summit
50 minutes .5oz Summit

10 minutes before end of boil, (at 80 miuntes)add 1.5 lbs corn sugar and 1 lb honey

Chill (no wort chiller, so it will be sink water/ice baths), add to carboy and pitch Safale US-05.

I do not have the best control over fermentation temps, and only one carboy, so I do not plan to rack off after primary fermentation. This makes it easier for me (I could rack to bottling bucket, clean carboy and transfer back), and the yeast cake should remove the small amount of diacetyls that US-05 may make if temps get a little warm if I have read correctly.

After 5-8 days of fermentation, and the krausen has dissipated, dry hop with 1oz Citra and 1oz Centennial.


From BeerSmith I get a OG of about 1.075, IBUs of around 83, and close to 9% ABV, right in IPA/DIPA territory.

So, do I sound like a complete idiot? Or does this sound like a plausible recipe? Feel free to lash out at my newb status and any dumbness, as long as you provide constructive suggestions too!

 

[CBMbrewer]

That is a lot of oats. The beer will probably come out cloudy. If your going to use oats, stick to half a pound.
Honey, unless added to the fermenter after primary, will not give you any flavor or aroma. That, with 1.5lbs corn sugar will give you a pretty thin, very dry beer. I would cut the honey and keep the corn sugar around .5-.75 lbs. Or, a half a pound of each and add another couple of pounds of malt extract with a few minutes left in the boil. I recommend using a brewing software to fine tune you original gravity.
Increase all of you hop additions by at least 2X. Move the 50 min to 60 and take out the 30. Concentrate most of your additions to the last 20-15min.
Use Mrmalty.com to make sure you pitching enough yeast. Use a hydrometer.
If you really do want to go with a dipa, double the amount in the dryhop.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Thanks for the quick response. If I cut the oats down, will it still add a bit of creaminess to the beer?

I also understand about the honey, that's one reason I was adding it near the end. I would add it later, but I am worried about infection. I was hoping to catch a small amount of the honey character without that risk.

I would like the beer to be a bit on the dry side, but not too dry, so I suppose cutting the honey and dextrose and adding some sort of malts would increase the amount of unfermentable sugars in the wort.

I am hoping to boil tomorrow or the day after, so my brain is spinning trying to wrap around all this info

Again thanks for the input!

 

[RM-MN]

Okay, I am a beginner. I have only really done one extract brew that I added some honey and brown sugar to then dry hopped. It came out pretty good, and I have been collecting supplies for my next batches.

I was at the LHBS, getting a few things to add to my brew pantry, and was talking about their upcoming homebrew for hunger event. Well, I have now signed up to supply at least 4 gallons of my own brew. There is the foot in the mouth. I am not sure I am ready for this, beer geek that I am!

My idea for a personal brew was to try an IPA/DIPA that used some oats and/or honey. The oats to increase the body/head/retention, and the honey, well because I have 5 lbs on hand and I used it in my last brew. Since the event is in early November, I need to brew sometime soon, even though IPA's do not typically need a ton of conditioning time. So, playing around with BeerSmith, reading tons of recipes, and plugging in what I have, this is what I came up with, but I have no idea how well it will work. I will be making a 5 gallon batch that is extract and partial grain. This recipe that I have concocted uses all things I have now, but as long as the bill is low I may be able to add/change some aspects. My questions to the brewheads here, is does it sound feasible? What changes would you make? Keep in mind I am using an electric stove and not so huge pot (although I do have larger pats, including an immersion canner, but I want to make sure I can actually BOIL).

Boil 2.25 gallons, pour in carboy and cool.

Steep the following at around 150-160 in 2 gallons water:
1lb crystal malt 20l
.5 to 1lb rolled oats
Drain, then 'sparge' in a 1 gallon of 150 degree water in another pot.
Combine steep and sparge water in first pot (total 3 gallons).

Bring to boil, adding 3 lbs Amber DME.
Boil 90 minutes, (pellet) hopping as follows with the following:

10 minutes .5oz Citra
15 minutes .5oz Citra
20 minutes .5oz Citra
25 minutes .5oz Citra
30 minutes .5oz Simcoe
40 minutes .5oz Summit
50 minutes .5oz Summit

10 minutes before end of boil, (at 80 miuntes)add 1.5 lbs corn sugar and 1 lb honey

Chill (no wort chiller, so it will be sink water/ice baths), add to carboy and pitch Safale US-05.

I do not have the best control over fermentation temps, and only one carboy, so I do not plan to rack off after primary fermentation. This makes it easier for me (I could rack to bottling bucket, clean carboy and transfer back), and the yeast cake should remove the small amount of diacetyls that US-05 may make if temps get a little warm if I have read correctly.

After 5-8 days of fermentation, and the krausen has dissipated, dry hop with 1oz Citra and 1oz Centennial.


From BeerSmith I get a OG of about 1.075, IBUs of around 83, and close to 9% ABV, right in IPA/DIPA territory.

So, do I sound like a complete idiot? Or does this sound like a plausible recipe? Feel free to lash out at my newb status and any dumbness, as long as you provide constructive suggestions too!

Do not put hot water into your carboy or you will have none. Carboys will break from the thermal shock if you pour hot liquid into them.

Why do you intend on a 90 minute boil? If you were using Pilsner malt you would have the long boil to drive off the precursors to DMS but I don't see Pilsner mentioned.

To me, your hop schedule seems much more complicated than needed. I would have just one bittering addition at the start of the boil, then perhaps a flavor addition 5 to 10 minutes before the end of the boil. That could be one or 2 hops, depending on the flavors you want.

For whom is this beer? Instead of an IPA or DIPA, make a pale ale. More people will appreciate this than a DIPA. Save the DIPA brew for yourself.:rockin:

Wait longer to add your dry hops. You don't want any fermentation going on when you are dry hopping. Use your hydrometer to verify that the ferment is over. I would expect that to be at 2 weeks or a bit longer. Some brewers have reported that 3 to 5 days is sufficient to impart all the aroma from the dry hopping. I'd also save the honey and corn sugar for another batch.

The one change that I made to my brewing that had the most impact on the quality of my beer was temperature control during fermentation. You only need it for the first 4 or 5 days but that period is when the off flavors are developed.

Beers take a varied amount of time to mature into a very drinkable beverage and that time is related to the amount of alcohol and the amount of dark grains. Your intended recipe doesn't have the dark grains but your alcohol amount would likely need a longer maturation period. Since you need this by early November and it is nearly October, your DIPA really wouldn't be good yet. You barely have sufficient time for a pale ale to be brewed, bottled, carbonated, and matured.

 

[mrphillips]

Citra is a beautiful thing...but she can be a cruel mistress! It's aroma and flavor are ridiculously good, but the alpha acids are pretty high (11%...I think), so have 2 oz. in the first 30 minutes will give you a very bitter brew. Not to say that you couldn't balance out this bitterness with some nice malt flavor, but maybe another citrusy hop - like cascade - would be better for your bittering. I recently did this combination, and it was the best beer I've made to date.

All of that said, my own taste buds probably don't have as high of a hop tolerance as many people here on this forum.

 

[brokebucket]

Since you are admittedly pretty new at this.....AND you are brewing this for somebody else, why dont you brew one of the thousands of tested recipes that is already out there?

I think you are making this WAY too complicated, adding a bunch of stuff that is really just going to make your beer worse to a process you have done exactly once.

Simple recipes will produce the best results. Everything else will just muddy the waters.

This was the recipe for my second brew....a clone for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It came out fabulous, btw:

6 lbs pale dry malt extract or 7 1/4 pale liquid malt extract
3/4 lb Crystal 40

1 oz Perle @ 60 mins
1 oz Casdade @ 15 mins
1 oz Cascade @ 5 mins
1 oz Cascade dry hops
1 tsp irish moss or 1 whirlfloc tab at 10 mins
Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WL001 or Saf-Ale US-5

Steep the crystal malt in 2 gals of water at 150F for 30 mins.
Top water up to boil volume
Follow your normal boil procedures for a 60 min boil, adding the hops and kettle finings at the above times.
Chill to 65F and pitch. Ferment cool 65-68F for minimum 2 weeks
Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar
let them carbonate for a few weeks, then cool and enjoy

 

[IslandLizard]

This looks like a very prestigious project for a beginning brewer. You like challenges?

Let me reiterate the question asked before: "Who is your audience?"
You have to keep them in mind, as they will be drinking it.

As suggested, a common Pale ale may be better suited than an overly bitter, forward hopped IPA hybrid. Not everyone likes Citra, particularly the ones accustomed to BCM fare. Again, it all depends on your intended audience. If they're other homebrewers, then yes, you should stand out from the crowd. And your beer better be good!

That gets me to the next phase: Controlled fermentation.
Without some controlled temperature, your beer will not be as good as it could be. In my early days I had no clue of the impact temperature had on the final product.

Malts:
If you want to impart some honey flavor, use 4 oz of honey malt. It does more flavor wise than a pound of honey.
Boosting alcohol level with sugar/dextrose is not very good. Yeah it has its place in some Belgian ales, but you would be better off with more malt (maltose), either from grains or extract. It gives better flavor, along with alcohol.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Thank you for all your intelligent responses. The event is put together by a small chain garden/home brew store. Several local/regional micros are coming out, as well as home-brewers. Regular attendees pay to come sample, and all proceeds go to a local food bank. THis is the first time they have done it here, but it has been done in NC before to great ends. So there will be brewery and distributor reps to be sure, home brewers, beer heads, and I am sure a few that like simpler beers, but most should be beer geeks of one stripe or another.

I do understand the part about controlling ferm temps. That is one of the reasons I chose the yeast I did as it is a little more tolerant, but I will do my best to control the temps, especially during the first 4-7 days.

To answer your question IslandLizard, I thrive on challenges more than I do competition. I learn best by being thrown into the fire!

An APA is out, so for me an IPA/DIPA is where I am going. (I committed to bring an IPA)

What I have gotten so far from this is, KISS (but me being me I WILL experiment some).
Reduce/eliminate the dextrose and honey, replace it with more malts. (Looks like a trip to the LHBS today).
If I want the oat, reduce its percentage in my grain/malt bill.
Possibly switch the higher AA hops to later in the boil to reduce the IBU somewhat.
Dry hop later than 7 (I do plan to test with my hydrometer before hopping)

Any more tips are very welcome!

 

[IslandLizard]

Very noble cause! And it promises to be a great event.

With that audience a well-balanced IPA will earn you kudos. And Citra may be your ship's flag to stand out from the crowd.

US-05 is very good yeast, but it really shines as a clean fermentor at lower temps. 65°F at the highest. That is measured inside the carboy/bucket. Higher temps will create more fusel alcohols that will take months to condition to normal proportions but will always be detectable. Keep it low, your beer will love you for it.

If you can keep it at 62-65 for the first week to 14 days to let the primary fermentation finish and let it creep up to low 70s to condition out you've got that leg of the challenge covered.

Maybe someone can help you polish that recipe. How much time you got before the event?

 

[Yooper]

Oats are great in certain beers. I use them in my oatmeal stout, and I have a brown ale that is great with oats.

Oats do NOT increase head retention or body- they are rather oily in fact, and can do the opposite. What oats do is give a wonderful "creamy" texture, like silk, and so in the right amount you can get a silky mouthfeel from them. They also can create haze so they are typically used in darker beers.

An IIPA or IPA should be light to medium bodied, and crisp, so that the hops shine. A creamy IPA could be very good, but it would be weird to a craft beer drinker. One time I had a good IPA on a nitro tap. Once.

I would seriously consider making a well-crafted solid recipe and not add things to it that impact the head retention, clarity, and flavor if I was serving it to others. For home, some experimenting could be great and you'll drink it no matter what.

Just my $.02!


Now, since an IPA tends to be rather light bodied for the alcohol it contains, instead of 100% extract and grains, some brewers love to sub a pound or so of corn sugar or honey for a pound of the extract. It works great, because it gives a crispness to the beer that isn't present with 100% malt.

For an example, say you have:
.75 pound crystal 40L
1 pound corn sugar or honey- honey is great!
7 pounds DME

That's a pretty decent start for an IPA grainbill.

Here is a link to proven IPA recipes to help get you started: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/

And here is one of my all-time favorites: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/pliny-bastid-21229/ (You can just sub light or pale extract of about 7 pounds dry extract for the base grain, to make this an extract beer).

 

[BradTheGeek]

IslandLizard, the event is November 8th. So very short time here to complete a brew. I think I have it all together, and have started sanitizing all my gear. I work tonight for 3-4 hours, then when I come in, it is eat with my girl, crack open a beer, and start brewing! I want it in the fermenter tonight. I will do my absolute best to keep the ferm. temps sane. I little background, I live in a basement apartment. The upstairs half of the house is inhabited by a nice older lady with heart problems. She gets cold easy and cranks the heat (it is an older house and she has the thermostat.) It works well for utility bills as she pays the lions share, but bad for brew temps until I can build a box or get a small fridge and jack-leg a thermostat into it.

Yooper,
Per your advice I think I will cut the oats. It will go in a test brew for myself. I have some one gallon carboys, so I may steep some oats, then blend it with my wort and do a side batch, just to see. Your thought on the dextrose/honey to dry it out was where I was trying to go, but I got some naysayers on it. So far, here is the recipe that is going in tonight. It is fairly close to what you listed Yooper.

Grain Bill:
8 oz US 2 Row
1 lb Crystal 20L
7 lbs amber DME
1 lb honey
1lb corn sugar

Boil Hopping: (still working on order, but I want to add them fairly continuously like a DogFish 60 or 90)
2 oz Citra
1.5 oz Simcoe
1 oz summit

Dry Hopping
1 oz Citra
1oz Centennial

I am going for a citrusy/piney hop flavor here, and I think that may do it, but I am also afraid of confusing the flavor with too many types of hops, or boiling them too long.

Breaking the hops down to different times in a 90 minute boil in beersmith with this recipe yields the following numbers:
OG: 1.079
IBU: 90.8
Color: 11.6
Est ABV: 9.1

I plan on adding any corn sugar and honey towards the end of the boil. That way I can measure the gravity and adjust the amount for my target as needed.

More opinions and advice are welcome, but aside from adjusting rations some, and adjusting hops a bit, That uses up most of my supplies that I purchased today
and I don't think I will be going back to the store any time soon!

Thanks everyone for the input, you guys rock!

BTW Yooper, I have only ever once had an IPA on nitro, and I thought it was pretty darn spectacular.

 

[IslandLizard]

Re-hydrate the US-05 according to the instructions, and when all dissolved and stirred, cool it down to 65°F (dip in ice bath). Pitch that slurry into your wort which also should be at 65°F, or a little below. Shake it up. Install an airlock or even better, a blow off tube.

Do a search for swamp cooler.
Placing your fermentor in a tub that holds water (heat sink) and some frozen plastic water bottles (temp. decreaser) will help keep the fermentation temps within specs (62-65°F). A wet shirt draped over the "shoulders" helps with evaporation and keeps things cool. You could put a large cardboard box over the whole installation, again to isolate it from the warm ambient temps.

 

[BradTheGeek]

I plan to have the fermenter in a water tub, and doing a wet towel/shirt. Depending on conditions, it can be very humid, so evaporative cooling may not work as well, but I am going to do my best. If I over chill at times down to 50 or so (say before leaving the house for several hours), am I correct in that there will be little ill effects other than slowing fermentation?

 

[Yooper]

Don't use amber DME- it has crystal malt in it (among other things) and so you'd be doubling up on the crystal and that's not wanted. I don't use any amber or dark extract at all, as you can use grains for color and flavor and use light or extra-light extract and get a better and more predictable result.

Even all-grain brewers don't use "dark" grain as a base grain- they use the base grain and then add the darker grains for color and flavor in a brew.

You can leave out the 8 oz of two-row, as it won't do a thing for that brew and must be mashed.

I'd change the recipe to more like:
.75 lb Crystal 20L
7 lbs extra-light DME
1 lb honey OR 1lb corn sugar (not both)

One other tip that could help you. If you're doing a partial boil (boiling a portion of the wort and then topping up with water), use only 1 pound of DME per gallon in the boil, and add the rest near or at the end of the boil. It will decrease maillard reactions and create a more-like-commercial beer flavor in the beer instead of a "cooked extract" flavor.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Well, for better or worse the beer is in the fermenter. I had a boil over, and had to adjust on the fly for bad honey I did not use. My target OG was 1.081, I hit 1.091 adjusted for temp. Not bad for some on the fly calculations from a newbie. I rehydrated 3 packs US-05, and it was certainly viable. I racked from my kettle to the carboy at ~68 degrees, the yeast was at 68-70 and I pitched.

Now going on 6.5 hours in, I am still lagging on fermentation. There is no krausen, and no real activity. I can see a few small clumps of yeast on the surface with a small amount of foam around them, that is all. When I capped the carboy, I set up a blow off tube, as with the high gravity and active yeast I expected some furious action. I waited an hour and went to bed. Now, I have switched to an airlock so I can watch for small scale activity. What is strange is that there are hop particles on the glass higher in the carboy than I would expect, like the beer did go off some in the night.

So I am not sure what is happening. I would like to hit 65, but my temps seem stable at 68, and the lag has me really worried. I have a busy day in and out of the house, so I can keep an eye on it some. I am wondering if I should go to the LHBS and grab some more US-05 and dry pitch it.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks all for your knowledge so far.

 

[RM-MN]

I'll start my beers at 59-62 degrees F. and have lag times of up to 36 hours. You don't need to add more yeast, you need to be patient. Put the blowoff tube back on. I suspect you'll need it.

 

[BarefootFriar]

You triple pitched US-05? Don't add any more yeast -- you've got three times what you need!

Just be patient. I have two buckets in my bathtub that took a bit over 48 hours to show signs, and now they're happily chugging away. Walk away from it, and aside from keeping an eye on temperatures, ignore it and let it do its thing.

 

[IslandLizard]

Patience is virtue. You don't want to be in hurry when fermenting, except maybe when you're making a Saison.
When you rehydrated the yeast, how did you know it was "certainly viable"?

What was the problem with the honey?
1.091 is really high. Did you end up 10 points above your intended gravity? That is quite significant. Added too much sugar? Correcting hydrometer readings is unreliable if the temperature difference is more than 10-20 degrees. Was the wort mixed thoroughly when you took the reading? Stratification will throw your readings off by many points.

68 is too high. Try to get it to 62 external (swamp temp). It will still be a couple degrees higher inside the carboy/bucket. With all that simple sugar the yeast will have a feast. And that generally gives off bad flavors.

Remount that blow-off tube, I can almost guarantee you'll need it. Airlocks blow out. They plug up.
I cut the star-shaped bottom tippies off those 3-piece airlocks and slide a 1/2" ID tube over the top of the airlock stem; it fits perfectly and makes a good blow-off tube. Leave the dome bubbler and the small plastic lid in the box for later, when all the wild activity has ceased.

 

[BradTheGeek]

OK, call me a scared newb, but she is starting to kick now. It's Alive!!!!!
I sloshed a little to help aerate and now an hour later it is definitely starting.

Now I just have to watch and see if I need to switch back to the blow off tube.

I do realize I miscalculated and over pitched. Per Mr. Malty it should have been about 1.6 packs. Now, the question is, yeast multiples in the wort, so does over pitching really cause problems other than for the wallet?

I have a two hole carboy cap, but it seems a tad loose, but I can clamp it with my handle I think. My plan for blow off was to run 5/8 tubing to a gallon bottle with some percarbonate and water in it. I am re sanitizing my cap and tube now. I just dont want it to clog, but 5/8 is the biggest I have on hand. I may have enough tubing to run from both ports, so that would help avoid clogs.

 

[IslandLizard]

OK, call me a scared newb, but she is starting to kick now. It's Alive!!!!!
I sloshed a little to help aerate and now an hour later it is definitely starting.

Now I just have to watch and see if I need to switch back to the blow off tube.

I do realize I miscalculated and over pitched. Per Mr. Malty it should have been about 1.6 packs. Now, the question is, yeast multiples in the wort, so does over pitching really cause problems other than for the wallet?

I have a two hole carboy cap, but it seems a tad loose, but I can clamp it with my handle I think. My plan for blow off was to run 5/8 tubing to a gallon bottle with some percarbonate and water in it. I am re sanitizing my cap and tube now. I just dont want it to clog, but 5/8 is the biggest I have on hand. I may have enough tubing to run from both ports, so that would help avoid clogs.

One of those orange caps? They're great. Do not clamp it, you want it to come off if pressure builds. A piece of tape around it may hold it down a bit better. 5/8 hose (OD?) is fine. One port should be plenty, but 2 won't hurt. Run the hose into a 1/2 gallon (or full gallon) milk jug with a couple inches of Starsan solution. You want it sanitary. Oxyclean is not a sanitizer.

And keep those temps down...

Are you gonna call it "Foot in Mouth IPA"?

 

[BradTheGeek]

The krausen, she is beginning to form:

Swamp cooled with blow off attached. Fermomoter temp reads 68, and I added a bit more cold to the tub to help. Air temp is 74 right now.

I could not use both ports, one is too large for 5/8" tubing.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yeah, that looks good. Are you adding frozen bottles to it?
Try to keep the carboy dark. Even fluorescent lights over a long time could cause skunking. Stick a big box over the beer plant.

I would try to prevent that dipping loop in the blow-off. It could cause trouble. Straight path out and in, but try to keep most of the length. Less chance of suck back too.

Please note:
Never lift a full carboy by that handle. It will break the neck off. They are among the most deceiving pieces of brew hardware around. Don't know why they even sell 'em.

Once this beer is done, how are you going to package it?

 

[BradTheGeek]

I am rotating various cooler ice packs into the chill water. If that proves not enough I will move up to frozen 2 liters or half gallon jugs. The brew plant is in a dark location, it only gets a bit of light when I go check on it. Good info on the tubing. Space is at a premium, so I dont know where to move the jug to get the loop out, but I will try. Perhaps I will put a stool there and raise it.

Packaging is going to be carbed in bottles. Thanks also for the info on the handle. I was a bit afraid of that. The most I have used it for on a full carboy is to tilt it to get a hand under. As to why they sell them. Perhaps it is a conspiracy by the carboy manufacturers or supply distributors so you buy more carboys.

 

[IslandLizard]

You've got it under control.
After 10 days to 2 weeks the primary fermentation should be done. You can then raise the temps into the low 70s for conditioning, don't rack to secondary. Are you gonna dry hop for the last week before bottling? Plan on 3 weeks in the bottles for carbonation at room temps.

Don't raise the milk jugs. That will cause more opportunity for suck back or back siphoning. If you have ample height, maybe tie it to a stick, or shorten the tube somewhat. 2 feet minimum, 3 ft preferred. I've seen pictures where the guy had 10+ feet PEX tubing running from multiple carboys into a central blow-off jug. Pretty cool.

 

[BradTheGeek]

I plan to dry hop. Centennial and Citra, after primary fermentation is done. Right now it seems pretty tam, and that a blow off may not be needed. When do you think it is safe to switch to an airlock? In a day?

I see you are working on a Raging ***** clone. Good beer. One of the funniest things I heard in the last year was when I was out at a restaurant with a Jesuit priest, and he asked the waiter, "I'll have the Raging *****."

 

[freisste]

Replace the blow off tube with an airlock after krausen peaks. Or not at all. A blowoff is just a big airlock.

 

[IslandLizard]

I plan to dry hop. Centennial and Citra, after primary fermentation is done. Right now it seems pretty tam, and that a blow off may not be needed. When do you think it is safe to switch to an airlock? In a day?

I see you are working on a Raging ***** clone. Good beer. One of the funniest things I heard in the last year was when I was out at a restaurant with a Jesuit priest, and he asked the waiter, "I'll have the Raging *****."

Dry hop a week before packaging, that's most common. Although not ideal, dry hopping can coincide with conditioning, just not when active primary fermentation takes place. You'd lose too much aroma to the CO2.

To clear the IPA, you may want to plan on cold crashing the carboy a few days before bottling.

Yeah, the Raging ***** has been on my brew list for a while now. There is a good recipe for it on this forum, and 20-some variations on BrewToad. I'm waiting for some more fresh harvest hops to appear.

A female bartender was calling it Raging Dog. Perhaps to be considerate in regard to female customers?

 

[BradTheGeek]

Well, the krausen has pushed up into the blow off tube. Not far, but good I had it!

I found something interesting at the grocery store yesterday too. In the clearance bin they had several bags of Jack Daniels whiskey barrel smoking chips.

Not for this brew, but I have an idea for my next project. One of the local micro breweries, Devils' Backbone, makes a seasonal wee heavy. They then take a small (70-100) gallons of it and age it on whiskey barrel oak from a local distillery. It is a rare beer, they do not sell it, but I have had. At events, and I have friends in low places It is an amazingly good beer. Hands down one of my favorites. I did not even know Jack sold smoking chips from their barrels. Now I have a bunch to use! Before I never thought I would have a source for them. The sad part is that is one that I will probably have to age at least 3-6 months once bottled.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's help on this brew. I will know how it is in about 2 months!

 

[BradTheGeek]

Bumping this with a new question. After about 5 days of active fermentation, my blowoff had slowed down, and I decided to switch to a drilled stopper and airlock. When I removed the carboy cap, the neck was plugged with a mass of hops. It was still breathing through this mass, but it was blocking the stopper. I took a sanitized butter knife and punched the hop plug back in. All has seemed fine. I am now at 8.5 days, and I soon want to take a gravity reading. Also, I want to be able to -see- my brew, but the entire headspace is coated with mess from the initial fermentation. I cannot see if the krausen has dropped, or if there are signs of infection. (The off gassing smells, great, like a VERY hoppy beer, nothing sour or rotten).

Any tips for being able to see into this thing? It looks like there is still a small amount of foam at the top of the wort/beer, and the size of the yeast particles floating up and down has decreased (they decreased in quantity as well). The airlock is bubbling about once every 2-5 seconds, so I know there is activity, but it should be 1-2 more days before my next steps, but I want to see the surface of the beer :/

 

[BarefootFriar]

If you take a grav reading, you get to look at the sample in the tube, and then taste it (don't pour it back into the fermenter). Other than that, I'm out of ideas. You can extrapolate from the sample pretty easily, though.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Thanks for the input. I plan on taking a grav sample tomorrow. And I would never pour back.. I cannot wait to taste it!

Update: I went ahead and tested the gravity tonight. 1.012 @63F

I ran the numbers, and that gives the following:
OG 1.091 (corrected)
Current grav: 1.012

ABV 10.37%
Apparent attenuation 86%
Actual: 70.67%


If I have read correctly, US-05 tends to attenuate to 73-77, so I may still eek out a bit more from this face melter.

The taste is good, but it is still quite cloudy. It is a bit 'hot' but not too much and I think to be expected with that ABV, and I think it will mellow some once I let it sit on the trub and dry hop it. Unfortunately it doesn't have long to condition, and I think I may have to piss off my girlfriend and clear out a sizable chunk of fridge to cold crash it for a day or two.