The mosaic Ive gotten from YVH has been anywhere from mediocre to terrible. After that I started getting all my mosaic from YCH. Everything I’ve gotten has been really, really good. For Citra I bite the bullet and pay for Bells. I’ve never had great Citra from anywhere else.
I had a hand selected triumph beer from northern monk it was absolutely fantastic, juicy dark berries.
First off, I really can't answer this well because I have always done two hop charges for NEIPAs ranging from 6-10oz combined. I also agree that any time you open the lid post-fermentation and after soft crashing, there is always a risk of oxidation. But, if I thought that the second hop charge would risk oxidation, you could say the same about the first hop charge as well. I think it was Jannish stuff that talks about hop load vs extraction for a given DH so that's kinda why I always did two DHs, to maximize extraction from each smaller DH. But Im not sure my system (modified fermonster) is the same as your system either. With a modified fermonster, you can run CO2 through the floating dip tube so CO2 theoretically flows from the level of the beer up towards the opening which "hopefully" minimizes O2 flowing inward. Does your kegging process utilize a floating dip tube to essentially do the same? Either way, I know my process isn't perfect, but I think it does do a good job at minimizing O2. My NEIPAs have good shelf life in the keg, with never really any change in color, but I think it holds very well for about 2 months. After 2 months, they are still good but aroma isn't as intense but flavor is still solid and color still good too. So overall, Im happy with the double DH process.
I don't have a floating dip tube in my dry hop keg as I use the Janish screen on the dip tube but I can either run gas in the gas post or up through the dip tube from the bottom which I think might be the better option. I think I'll give this a try on this brew as I'm of a similar thinking that there is a saturation point with hops if you go all in on one charge.
Awesome info and thanks for the run down! I was actually looking to get a CF5 or CF10 possibly...would you not recommend it?
Out of curiosity what gap setting do you use on your Monster Mill 3 especially in relation to the Grainfather? Have this mill myself and it's great but can't settle on a suitable gap that I'm happy with.
Could you elaborate in what was not well designed?
Dont you have over attenuation problems because of the diastaticus?
Not at all. I’ve been using A24 now for quite sometime so now and I plan my recipes around getting 79-83% attenuation. I’ll expect I’ll get a FG of 1.014
Does it ferment out fast? I guess there wont be much hop creep with this strain?
Ferments in the same amount of time it would take if I pitched LAIII. 3-5 days. I should get virtually no hop creep regardless as I’ll be soft crashing cans dryhoping at 56,
I went with 4 oz total in the whirlpool
Glad you’re I’m enjoying it and Thanks brother. I wish I could take all the credit but I can’t.
I currently have two beers on tap with significant percentages of spelt, (30%) and id be lying if I said I could notice any difference from white wheat. Spelt is in fact wheat, with slightly higher protein levels.
Could be it’s almost 3 times the cost of wheat. And at the amount the commercial Brewery would need, it may prevent someone from attempting it. Sapwood cellars uses it quite a bit and it’s been rumored that Root + Branch uses it in their gist.
Nowhere near 3 times as much. Not even twice as much but not far off. The breweries I mentioned arent hurting in the budget department. Even if they were…they’d use spelt if it was that special/different.
I don't have any 2021 Strata myself but by the sounds of it, it seems this years crop may be better than last years. Keep us posted!
Glad your beer came out great man! Yes, some time ago, I was also fixated thinking you needed lots of oats in these NEIPAs. I was typically doing an even combo of flaked/malted oats (15-20% total) and white wheat (15-20% total) and my oats/wheat combo were typically around 35%. Beers were good to my liking. So when I tried spelt I wanted to try it on its own and went with 75% 2row, 20% spelt, and 5% carafoam. I really liked it and the descriptions of smooth/silky/pillowy are dead on target. But since I haven't brewed any NEIPAs without oats, my next beer I went with 75% 2row, 20% white wheat, and 5% carafoam. These were back to back NEIPAs with A24 yeast and same water profile but hopped differently. I'm pretty sure I posted my thoughts on these two back-to-back beers somewhere in this dang thread but from memory and my notes I did notice that spelt was indeed softer/pillowy than white wheat. Both had a nice round, medium mouthfeel but the white wheat one was a bit heavier and a little "chewy". Again, both beers were great but I could definitely tell the difference in terms of mouthfeel. Supposedly spelt has a little unique flavor including some "spice" character but with these hopped NEIPAs, I didn't get any flavor difference that I could detect. So I do like spelt in that you can get a nice soft mouthfeel that is silky without the slight heaviness/cheweyness that white wheat can carry when used at 20%. For my NEIPAs, I have now ditched flaked oats and Im using a combo of spelt and malted oats = ~30-35% of the total grain bill. Really like the mouthfeel when going with spelt at about 17-20% and malted oats at 10-15%. Still tinkering though.
Im actually a bit surprised that you didn't notice a difference with spelt compared to white wheat at that high of a percentage. my own (unscientific) comparison of spelt vs white wheat on back to back beers, each comprising 20% of the grain bill showed some definite differences IMO. But opinions matter for sure and vary across individuals so I respect that. As Ive said before, both will make good or great additions to any NEIPA. While I don't think spelt is a "magic" bullet for achieving a smooth and silky and medium-full mouthfeel for NEIPAs and I acknowledge there are MANY variables that can contribute to this mouthfeel that many of us are trying to capture, I do think more and more breweries are starting to feature it in their NEIPAs. My first experience with Spelt in an NEIPA was from Almanac's Loud beer with mosaic and Denali hops and they listed 2 row and spelt as the grains. That was in 2018, two years before I started brewing. I distinctly remember loving the mouthfeel of that one and kind of forgot about spelt until well after I started brewing in early 2020. For me, after going down the OH daydream thread on this HBT forum and brewing beers with ~50% flaked and malted oats, the take home message was that spelt can achieve a similar silky pillow soft mouthfeel. For me, too much flaked oats or white wheat can get heavy on the mouthfeel. But spelt can give a nice medium-full body without feeling heavy which I like. But again, everyone has their own takes. Soooo many variables that contribute to mouthfeel as well, its no wonder that other big name breweries can still achieve similar mouthfeels through other means. FWIW, I was in Charleston, SC this past holiday and paid a visit to Charles Towne Fermentory which is my favorite brewery out of the Charleston area. They actually put out a spelt pale ale called Beagle Lander. It was really good IMO and I was hoping to chat with the head brewer/owner about it but he wasn't around when I went there the day before thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I do think more and more peeps are beginning to at least "feature" it. Its not a new grain for sure but seems to be "newer" for the NEIPA style.
Thanks for letting us know! I will be sure to look for your next beer "release" post on the 'gram and make the drive up the east coast to Fiden's and then your place!
No clue lol. 4vg? ok you've sent me down a rabbit hole of reading lol. What is 4vg from wheat malts suppose to do/add to the beer?
Actually it is, but barley malt seems to be higher. It's the precursor to clove like esters
