New England IPA "Northeast" style IPA

[stickyfinger]

I tried a little yeast comparison again. I did an 80% pale, 7% oat malt, 13% wheat malt grist and split it in half. Half was omega dko chico and half was omega dko BAV. ferment out, drop to 60F for a couple days and then add in 8 oz of citra lupo to each for 2 days, crash to 32F and rack. i just racked tonight. The BAV definitely is more fruity and tastes like the hops have been biotransformed by the yeast. The chico batch has a more floral, geraniol character. I definitely prefer the BAV version for sure. Always interesting to do yeast comparisons. The BAV was a little hazier too.

 

[Ulisses4677]

Anyone in Pdx going to the brujos grand opening Saturday ?

 

[DevilsCups]

Ah, good for Brujos! Hope he kills it.

 

[secretlevel]

Made it to Tree House Deerfield yesterday and got the chance to talk to Nate for about 25 minutes. First off, he was super humble and down to earth. He said many times how lucky and fortunate he and the Tree House crew have been to be able to do what they do. I walked away even more impressed than I have been in the past, having been a fan since Monson. (Curiosity 13 is the earliest I can remember!)

Key points:

He said he preferred home brewing to commercial brewing. He loved tweaking on the small scale, but obviously it's a business now and that can be tiresome for such a busy company.

He prefers his neipas sweeter than the average neipa. He made it a point to say everyone is chasing the light straw hazies (myself included, but I didn't mention that), but he likes some sweetness and the deep orange color. He says he loves it when he comes across people saying his beer is oxidized. He literally laughed out loud as he said this. He said they do testing regularly and their DO is the lowest of the low. He said they use a touch of honey malt and C15. I was shocked about the crystal, but he said it adds color and a little malt complexity that otherwise wouldn't be present.

I asked what hops were in Haze and Julius, and he said, "I can't tell you that!" laughing. It was a fun interaction, because obviously he's been asked 1000s of times. He said it used to be a ton of Simcoe, but he's since backed off on the Simcoe (he said Heady Topper is primarily Simcoe...). He did say they use a blend of American hops. He also mentioned Simcoe is probably his 2nd favorite hop, and then he poured me a sample of a brand new version of Prodigal Haze. It was insanely saturated and so smooth.

We talked about DHing. IIRC he said they do 3-4lb per barrel of DH (memory is a little fuzzy on that). He said they tested the limit, and it was 26lb per barrel. They started with 126 gal of wort and ended up with 46 gal of beer. He said they lost money on that batch, but it was fun to experiment. They would have had to charge $14/pint lol. For home brewing he said he'd aim for 6-8oz per 5 gal (after doing some quick math), which I think most of us do.

Overall, it was a great conversation. He didn't have to beer geek out with me, but I'm glad he did. Might have to add some Crystal in a future hazy batch...

That's awesome and love to hear! People can be one way on video and another way in person.
I'm frankly surprised about the DH values being 3-4lb/bbl because most of their beers seem more yeast-forward than hops. Although it depends, I'd say Julius and Doubleganger definitely taste more yeast forward than some others to me.

Something worth of note on the hop volumes is that their Hop utilization is probably much better than ours. I'm not sure what their DH process is, but I bet they get way more out of their hops than I do. Also, they definitely have better hops lol.

It's always worth keeping hop utilization in mind. I believe Kelsey McNair mentioned this when he went from homebrew to commercial that his Hop Fu recipe was way too bitter on the commercial system and he had to tone things down so it took a while to tune things in. I know Dry hopping is a little bit of a different subject, but I thought I'd mention both.

PS. I don't feel bad for Nate saying that it's tiresome, we all have jobs lol. It's not like us homebrewers just loiter around tinkering around with batches, we all have families, responsibilities and jobs. Yes, brewing the same beer all the time isn't very fun and neither is managing a large brewery, but doing hop selection, brewery experiments to optimize beers, working with cool people and making YT videos can't be too bad...

 

[anteater8]

Anyone in Pdx going to the brujos grand opening Saturday ?

Planning on it, yeah. Man, that new batch of Sitra Archa is just so ridiculously good!

 

[wepeeler]

That's awesome and love to hear! People can be one way on video and another way in person.
I'm frankly surprised about the DH values being 3-4lb/bbl because most of their beers seem more yeast-forward than hops. Although it depends, I'd say Julius and Doubleganger definitely taste more yeast forward than some others to me.

Something worth of note on the hop volumes is that their Hop utilization is probably much better than ours. I'm not sure what their DH process is, but I bet they get way more out of their hops than I do. Also, they definitely have better hops lol.

It's always worth keeping hop utilization in mind. I believe Kelsey McNair mentioned this when he went from homebrew to commercial that his Hop Fu recipe was way too bitter on the commercial system and he had to tone things down so it took a while to tune things in. I know Dry hopping is a little bit of a different subject, but I thought I'd mention both.

PS. I don't feel bad for Nate saying that it's tiresome, we all have jobs lol. It's not like us homebrewers just loiter around tinkering around with batches, we all have families, responsibilities and jobs. Yes, brewing the same beer all the time isn't very fun and neither is managing a large brewery, but doing hop selection, brewery experiments to optimize beers, working with cool people and making YT videos can't be too bad...

That's interesting that you seem to think their beers are more yeast-forward. I wish I knew exactly what people mean when they say yeast-forward. My brew buddy says that all the time too, and he can't explain what he means lol. I feel like TH hop aroma always jumps out of the can/glass.

We did talk ingredients at one point, and I told him I was able to get some commercial hops from a local brewery, and that they are so much better than anything I can get on the homebrew scale. Nate said that because TH is such a large hop-forward brewery, they get 1st selection on hops, both early and late in the season. He actually said he felt bad that not everyone has that kind of selection. TH produces about 45,000 barrels/year which puts them on par with Russian River, so they get first dibs and that leaves everyone else with "the rest".

He mentioned he hand-selected Citra last year, and he was able to pick it out of multiple lots blindfolded 5x in a row. He said he's able to smell the hops and know exactly how he wants to use them in the beer. I've been told by his staff ever since Monson that he's able to taste a beer and reverse engineer it and break it down. I've been told this countless times. You can see the proof in his YT videos where he's able to correctly identify a single beer out of 80+ on tap. That's a gift!

 

[Ulisses4677]

Planning on it, yeah. Man, that new batch of Sitra Archa is just so ridiculously good!

That’s awesome. I’m flying in for the weekend. I’m super excited.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

So I brewed one up almost 2 weeks ago, it's time to check for FG and pH, I have phosphoric acid and lactic acid if I need to correct pH, but I am curios of ascorbic acid would have an effect on pH. I have added some at dry hopping in the past for oxygen scrubbing with great results and I'm wondering if it may have lowered the pH giving me a better result in that beer as well.?

 

[wepeeler]

So I brewed one up almost 2 weeks ago, it's time to check for FG and pH, I have phosphoric acid and lactic acid if I need to correct pH, but I am curios of ascorbic acid would have an effect on pH. I have added some at dry hopping in the past for oxygen scrubbing with great results and I'm wondering if it may have lowered the pH giving me a better result in that beer as well.?

Good question, and I'm interested if anyone knows. I always add a teaspoon to my keg and rack on top.

 

[Ulisses4677]

Brujos line for grand opening.

 

[Ulisses4677]

 

[Dgallo]

View attachment 843137

He’s nice, I met him once at fidens. A little on the odd side though, but aren’t we all lol

 

[Ulisses4677]

Steve from fidens. I told him only taking a pic so he can remember me when we collab.

 

[Ulisses4677]

He’s nice, I met him once at fidens. A little on the odd side though, but aren’t we all lol

I’m Mexican so him and I have a lot in common.

 

[Dgallo]

I’m Mexican so him and I have a lot in common.

That’s cool to have that common place. My wife’s Mexican, from Puebla. That said, nothing in his uniqueness that I am talking about has to do with him being Pisano lol.

 

[Ulisses4677]

That’s cool to have that common place. My wife’s Mexican, from Puebla. That said, nothing in his uniqueness that I am talking about has to do with him being Pisano lol.

We had a great conversation, super nice guy. I didn’t feel like I was pulling teeth with him.

 

[Dgallo]

View attachment 843138
Steve from fidens. I told him only taking a pic so he can remember me when we collab.

Now Steve’s the man! Great guy and always unbelievably open.

I could have just caught Sam when he wasn’t really comfortable.

And maybe I was just Taylor swift “I’m the problem it’s me” lol

 

[Ulisses4677]

 

[Ulisses4677]

last picture with Kelsey McNair from north park.

 

[wepeeler]

Heres one from the blooper reel: I call it “Stinky Feet in the Grass”

I just moved and the brewery is in disarray but I really wanted to get a batch going so I did an extract (pils, and wheat DME) batch with oat malt steeping grains. I have some 2022 galaxy that smells just so so but since I figured this beer couldn’t be great anyways it was a good time to try it. I used galaxy and mosaic in whirlpool and a dip hop - seemed like a good idea, use the dip hop to reduce the mirror scene and emphasize the fruity flavors from the galaxy? 4oz galaxy t90 dip hop in 4 gallons. Also, an effort to emphasize fruit esters and inspired by Brewers much smarter than me. I thought I would try under pitching. Pitched 75% of hazy from cellar science Turns out this was a Bad combination of ideas. Fermentation was slow to kick off ~48 hrs. The late fermentation samples around day 7 to 10 smelled and tasted awful like puke and sulfur farts. So I gave it two weeks and added too much pressure 10 to 15 psi after the first week and all the way up to 20 psi by the end of it. And then crashed and dried hopped eight more ounces of galaxy.

Beer is grassy, astringent, and stinks like feet. Do not recommend. I blame the crappy galaxy, long, contact time from dip, hopping, and too much pressure to clear the sulfur. Although now that I am half a pint into it, I’m starting to enjoy it! Ill be giving it weeks to chill out, and hopefully purge the headspace with CO2 enough to clear the sulfur.View attachment 842368

That's Cellar Science Hazy! Terrible yeast!

 

[secretlevel]

View attachment 843159

Dang, a bunch of people came out to the opening! Cool to see brewers supporting each other. How was opening day? Any fun guest beers?

 

[Ulisses4677]

It was awesome. Brewery is really nice if fits the name. They had 8-10 guest beers outside. Fidens jasper with peacharine, north park tipa and a west coast Pilsner, mikerphone toppling Goliath barrel aged stout, Horus barrel aged stout as well and a bunch of local breweries. I didn’t get to try them all. My least favorite was the mikerphone stout. It was way too sweet with no presence of dark malts to balance it out. North park had a tap take over at a place called function Pdx. They had very good beers.

 

[LumberZach]

Just got a few packs of Escarpment Foggy London. I saw in a subreddit that a pro brewer uses it and said it can throw a bubblegum note. I'll be trying this yeast out in a few weeks.

 

[smalloy88]

“Hoppendectomy”

9.8%

This was the beer I used superdelic and mosaic spectrum in. Definitely the best hazy beer I’ve made.

My appendix was removed while this was conditioning. Made for a fun name .

 

[HBT_Admin]

Sounds as if the Brewery is off to a good start. What a happening to use for a naming of a brew. But it does look good.

 

[Dgallo]

Just got a few packs of Escarpment Foggy London. I saw in a subreddit that a pro brewer uses it and said it can throw a bubblegum note. I'll be trying this yeast out in a few weeks.

I love escarpment’s funk stuff. They are the only ones that isolate Brett d. Really hard to get stateside. Who did you get them from?

 

[LumberZach]

I love escarpment’s funk stuff. They are the only ones that isolate Brett d. Really hard to get stateside. Who did you get them from?

I got it from Great Fermentations. Shipping was fast and included an ice pack.

 

[Dgallo]

I got it from Great Fermentations. Shipping was fast and included an ice pack.

Good to know they carry them. It’s a Canadian lab, I’m hoping great fermentations has a bunch of their strains

 

[LumberZach]

Good to know they carry them. It’s a Canadian lab, I’m hoping great fermentations has a bunch of their strains

Looks like they only carry 6 different strains. Better than nothing I guess.

 

[aaronm13]

Did my starter over the weekend so hoping to brew this Friday. I've changed my idea again on the hop bill. Still going with Citra and Superdelic but going to throw in a bit of Nectaron now. Going with 7oz of Citra, 4oz of Superdelic and oz of Nectaron. So a 50/50 split between Citra and the NZ hops. How does this sound to people? I haven't opened the Superdelic yet to see how it smells but will beforehand just to be certain.

Aiming for an OG of 1.081 and finish around 1.018. First time using A24 so not 100% sure how it will perform so just going with a single infusion at 152F/67C.