Double IPA Pliny the Elder Clone

[sok454]

I know I'm excited... Wish I had a keg set up so I didn't have to keep it bottled!

 

[keezerj]

So am I right in thinking that this recipe will only be in the fermentation chamber for about 2.5 weeks with all the hop additions and all?

 

[keezerj]

Because in vinnys article he says to rack to a secondary and add first hop addition when fermentation subsides, but also says to hop for only up to 14 days then cold crash, and keg. That sounds to me like 2.5 weeks. Is that what everyone else did?

 

[sok454]

That is probably about right. I brewed 13 days ago. I dry hopped last sunday. Will do second dry hop on Saturday-sunday and then Cold crash next weekend and bottle shortly after.

I wish I had a keg set up for it. Smells phenom.

 

[SFGiantsFan925]

I think I started dry hopping mine after 8-10 days. Cant really remember. Its not going to hurt anything if you add the first DH at the very tail end of fermentation. Wont make it stop short of your desired FG.

One thing to be careful of is your headspace. You dont want your dry hop additions to oxidize. Be very careful of it. This is especially true if using whole hops. If using pellet its not that big of a deal but it can still happen.

 

[keezerj]

I was going to use pellets in a weighted bag. Did you move to a secondary? I've never done that and don't want to oxidize.

 

[MMJfan]

I added my first dry hop addition after 7 days of fermenting which was last Sunday. I'm planning on adding the 2nd hop addition tomorrow and then bottling 6-7 days later.

I too used hop pellets in a weighted hop sack. And I never transfer to secondary fwiw.

The only beer I brew that I transfer to a carboy is a pumpkin ale. I add about 60 oz of canned pumpkin to the boil which produces a fair amount of trub so I find it easier to just transfer to secondary to get rid of most of the trub before I rack it to the bottling bucket at bottling...

 

[sok454]

MMJFan, What are you doing to eliminate the trub for the Pliny? I actually have racked 2 times since boil and each time had a ton of trub. When you bottle do you screen yours as well or just try to avoid getting as much as possible into the bottle bucket

 

[MMJfan]

MMJFan, What are you doing to eliminate the trub for the Pliny? I actually have racked 2 times since boil and each time had a ton of trub. When you bottle do you screen yours as well or just try to avoid getting as much as possible into the bottle bucket

I just try to avoid getting as much as possible into the bottling bucket. When I see the tube from the auto siphon getting cloudy, it's time to stop...

I just feel like racking to a different vessel just opens up the possibility for infection more than just letting it ride and I really don't care if I lose out on some clarity in my beers as a result. They're still going to taste pretty much the same either way.

My first brew I ever made was an IPA that called for dry hopping with 2 oz of whole leaf hops. As a newb, I thought it was automatic to transfer to a secondary vessel which was a carboy for me. Just getting the whole leaf hops into the carboy was a serious PITA. And then when it came time to rack to my bottling bucket, I probably lost close to 2 gallons because my auto siphon kept getting clogged despite my putting a mesh sock over the tip of it?! It was then that I did some research and found that a lot of brewers don't even bother racking to a secondary vessel especially when brewing beers that require a dry hop addition and so I've been just letting them ride in my primary fermenting buckets ever since with no problems...

 

[MMJfan]

Just added my 2nd dry hop addition this morning and took another fermometer reading and we're still at 1.020. Not a biggie as I was up at 1.080 for the OG so that still puts me in at an ABV of almost 8!

Tasted the sample and all I can say is WOW! I think I can honestly say this is the best IPA I've made to date and I've made some killer clones of Bells Two Hearted!

I'm a big University of Michigan fan and I'm planning on making this my house seasonal IPA for Michigan football season and I'm calling it Big House IPA!

My Two Hearted clone is my year round house IPA as it isn't quite as expensive to brew compared to this with all the hops it takes...

 

[stonebrewer]

I recommend you screen your beer every step of the way. This is how I do it:

- I have a stainless steel hop screen, basically a cylinder 6" wide by 14" deep. When I transfer the mash to the boil kettle, it goes through this screen and captures any loose particles, husks, etc.
- I put my hops in the basket during the boil to keep the hop gunk mostly out of the final product
- I recirculate after flame out through the basket; this captures the break material and most anything else that was created/added to the boil
- I have a screened funnel for my transfer to the carboy - this used to clog badly, now I only get a small bit of sediment in 12 gallons of wort

I end up with extremely clean, clear wort in my carboys. Add yeast and the beer ends up very clean.

- When I dry hop, I use a similar stainless steel hopper in the carboy and/or keg to put my dry hops in.

This is how I did my PtE clone that is about to be tapped (CAN'T WAIT!). It is very clean and when I washed the yeast there was almost zero trub. There is a thread on here (search for hop gunk) that details these devices. A couple of folks are making them these days and I think they were a great addition to my brew setup.

Cheers!

 

[sok454]

Second dry hop in tonight. Fg fell to 1.008 solooking around 8.8% abv. Tasted good.

 

[keezerj]

I just brewed this one yesterday and today it was fermenting so much that It was foaming out of the airlock and popped the lid on the bucket up a bit. I've never had that before so in a panic I removed about 1/2 gallon of beer from the bucket to lower the volume. Only later did I realize that people use blow off tubes for such a situation. I also missed my og by about 10 points so I had to add some dme to bring it up. I hope this batch still comes out good after all these problems.

 

[sethlovex]

I just brewed this one yesterday and today it was fermenting so much that It was foaming out of the airlock and popped the lid on the bucket up a bit. I've never had that before so in a panic I removed about 1/2 gallon of beer from the bucket to lower the volume. Only later did I realize that people use blow off tubes for such a situation. I also missed my og by about 10 points so I had to add some dme to bring it up. I hope this batch still comes out good after all these problems.

Relax don't worry you know the rest

 

[keezerj]

Should I move this to a secondary and add dry hops when fermentation is complete or when fermentation is almost complete to scrub out any o2? I'm afraid if I move it off the yeast cake it won't attenuate all the way. (I usually don't secondary but was going to for this one)

 

[MMJfan]

Should I move this to a secondary and add dry hops when fermentation is complete or when fermentation is almost complete to scrub out any o2? I'm afraid if I move it off the yeast cake it won't attenuate all the way. (I usually don't secondary but was going to for this one)

There really isn't a right or wrong answer to this. It's basically about personal preference. I never rack my beers to secondary and never have had any problems and this one was no different. But there are others who always rack to secondary and would probably encourage you to do that. Really it's up to what makes you most comfortable in the end...

 

[sok454]

I did what MMjFan... but had the same question to rack or not.

My question MMJfan is do you go and immediately bottle after the 2nd dry hop? Or do you remove the hops and then cold crash it for 24-48 hours?

 

[MMJfan]

My timeline is usually to let it finish fermenting which is generally 7-10 days. If I'm not dry hopping, I just let the beer ride in my fermenting bucket (primary) for about 2 weeks total from when I rack the wort to my fermenting bucket to when I rack to my bottling bucket.

If I'm dry hopping, I'll add the hops in a hop sock tied to some fishing line to the handle of my bucket. I do this after the 7-10 days of fermenting. I generally will dry hop for 5-7 days. I then remove the hop socks and rack to my bottling bucket for bottling.

I've never cold crashed, but I am actually trying it for this brew just to see if I can get a bit more clarity. We'll see if I get any different results or not...

 

[stonebrewer]

If you want this super clear, fine it with gelatin.

Cheers!

 

[MMJfan]

If you want this super clear, fine it with gelatin.

Cheers!

Hmm. I might give that a try next time. Bottling this bad boy today so I don't have time to fine this batch...

 

[sok454]

Got mine bottled tonight. Total of 15 days dry hopped. First 7 1 oz each. The. Last 8 another 1 oz each. Huge amount of hops left over so only got 4+ gal. Ugh.

 

[tooldudetool]

Looks like you are really oxygenating that beer while transferring it, based on the foam and and how high the hose is above the level of the beer. Unless maybe you purged the bucket with CO2 first... of course you'll probably drink it before you'd notice anything off

Using whole hops for dry hopping sucks up quite a bit more beer than using pellet hops...

 

[sok454]

Alot is starsan foam from pourin andout of bucket. Yeah this was first time dry hopping. Next ill do it different! For sure.

 

[Tcl1999]

So I brewed this last weekend, and brew day went relatively well. Undershot my OG a little, was aiming for 1.074 and came in at 1.069. I just transferred to secondary tonight, and my finish gravity came in at 1.007, which would be like 90% attenuation.

Does that seem unrealistic to anyone else? Not that I am complaining about it, it just seems unlikely that my yeasties were that effective. I used wyeast 1056 American ale, and I could not keep fermentation under 70 degrees. Spent most of the time at 72.

Also, I split the batch into 2 carboys because I didn't want a blowout with a 6 gallon batch. One pack per about 3 gallons.

 

[Beer-lord]

I brewed Pliny this weekend as well and will rack to a secondary for dry hopping this coming weekend. I used some washed 05 and haven't checked my gravity yet but will when I transfer. 90% seems too good to be true. I've not used corn sugar in a beer in a long while so I'm wondering what that will do.
My expected OG was 1.072 and I hit 1.075 and will be happy if I get down to 1.020.

 

[stonebrewer]

My expected OG was 1.072 and I hit 1.075 and will be happy if I get down to 1.020.

My OG was at 1.080 and it fermented down to 1.011 with SafAle S-05. I added a pound and a half of corn sugar, I think...need to check my brew log. Anyhow, it turned out great and I think it is really close to the real deal. Cheers!

 

[Beer-lord]

My OG was at 1.080 and it fermented down to 1.011 with SafAle S-05. I added a pound and a half of corn sugar, I think...need to check my brew log. Anyhow, it turned out great and I think it is really close to the real deal. Cheers!

Glad to hear. A friend sent me a very similar recipe and it was the best homebrewed beer I've ever tasted!
I've got 13 oz of corn sugar for 6 gallons which was an once more than called for but I know others have added a bit more.
Just curious, did you do a 12 and 5 day dry hop schedule or all at once? I'm seeing that many did a single dry hop but I'm planning on 2.

 

[sok454]

Here are my notes from mine I did... now I did use MO as base and did 1.25 lbs of sugar (only have 5 gal MT)

Brewed 08/03/13
Yeast pitched at 10pm at 50-55 degrees
4 hrs in freezer
1.054 per boil
1.075 OG
6 gal to ferm. 5.25 after racked to main ferm.

1.046 on 8/6 @ 7pm
Internal temp 65-66
Water temp 64-65

1.016-7 on 8/10 @ 11 am
Internal temp 65

1.011-12 on 8/10 @ 8pm

Dry hopped 1 oz. simcoe Columbus leaf centennial pellet. x2 (14 day, 8 day)

Bottled 8/26/13 @ 9pm

Got about 4.2 gal bottled. Heavy evergreen/citrus/hop flavor/aroma. Taste of remaining beer in bucket was bitter/hoppy and a slight taste of pine cone (like eating a hop). Could be due to the amount of hops in the sample (hop matter etc).

Bottled at about 4.6 oz sugar (in measuring) lost a little in pouring sugar etc. Probably too high of carb for style as it will be near 2.8-9. Mostly due to miscalculation of volume to bottle.

 

[keezerj]

My local home brew shop only sells the hops in 1oz increments. The last set of dry hops for the recipe is .25 oz of each. What did you guys do with the remaining .75oz of the hops? Should I just throw them in there with it or try to save them somehow for a future batch?

 

[sok454]

I like whole #s I threw them in.