Gerbelgican

[TyTanium]

German malt, Belgian yeast, American hops.

Inspired by Houblon Chouffe Tripel IPA, modified to fit what I have.

12# Munich I
0.625# CaraMunich
0.125# Crystal Rye
2# Invert sugar, post fermentation

.50oz Columbus (FWH, pellet)
.25oz Columbus (60min, cone)
.35oz Columbus (20min, cone)
1.25oz Saaz (7 mins, cone)
1oz Amarillo (dry, pellet)

Mash: 144° for 60 mins, step to 150° for 30 mins, step to 154° for 30 mins. 2 hrs total, double batch sparge. 82% eff

WLP575 (blend of 500, 530 and 550), pitch cool & free ramp.
Shallow, "open" fermentation in the brew kettle (loose lid).

1.070 OG (pre-sugar), 1.080 post sugar
1.010 FG (target)
~40 IBU
6g batch

Edit: Updated to what I actually brewed

 

[bobbrews]

This thread contains much of the information you are asking for:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/houblon-chouffe-aka-hopchewy-150742/

 

[TyTanium]

Yeah, that's exactly where I started and modified from there. I'm toying with moving some of the Columbus to FWH...what do you think?

 

[bobbrews]

Sure, I think that's fine for a non-American IPA with smooth bitterness. I have also done something quite unconventional to achieve smoothness... mash hopping, first wort hopping, and bittering with the same amount of Columbus throughout, along with a ton of late addition hops. It worked out well. Very smooth yet highly aromatic and flavorful.

 

[TyTanium]

Update:
Brewed this weekend.

Crazy yeast. Pitched at 62°, krausen after 6 hours, up to 79° by 24 hours...wow. Would've preferred a slower ramp than that, but we'll see what happens.

 

[rockfish42]

Looks good, I did a similar beer but used MO as the base malt. It might be a bit fusely at that temp in the first 24 hours, but give a report back. Lagering did wonders for my version.

 

[TyTanium]

Looks good, I did a similar beer but used MO as the base malt. It might be a bit fusely at that temp in the first 24 hours, but give a report back. Lagering did wonders for my version.

That's great to hear. I plan to lager for a few weeks. Hydro sample tasted fine, not too fusely. Down to 1020 in under 3 days.

Did 1st sugar addition: 1# sugar in 1 qt water with 0.5mL Lactic acid, boiled for 20 mins. Different looking krausen - fluffy & pillowy, peaked at 24 hours, falling by 36 hours. Addition #2 tonight.

PS - the color was amazing. Obviously not true to style with the Munich malt, but a beautiful mahogany color.

 

[TyTanium]

Update:

Down to 1.012, almost 9% ABV. Hoping for a few more points, but with the CaraMunich I'm not sure. It's only been 10 days, so we'll see. Nice & warm at ~72 ambient, still a layer of krausen on top.

Taste was good. Awesome bready, malty Munich backbone with a touch of caramel. Phenols present, esters definitely present, but not overwhelming. A bit harsh & some fusels...aging & cold conditioning should help considerably. Subtle sourness from the lactic acid used to invert the sugar. Interesting.

 

[TyTanium]

After a few weeks of lagering + Amarillo dry hop this is getting really good. Most of the brash harshness is gone, very smooth.