Pliny the Elder recipe questions

[nicegut]

This is completely normal for this beer. It should strip a few layers off your tongue and throat when its "green" It will subside, and you will appreciate its unique flavors and alcoholic punch. (just a 22 for me and I'm done) I brew this twice a year, and not many people can actually drink and appreciate it. More for me! Enjoy!

 

[impur]

Mine was delicious from the first pint out of the keg right after it carbed. I added the final dry hop additions to the keg in a muslin bag. I am hoping to brew this again soon...

 

[westcoastpirate]

I'm planning on brewing this in a couple weeks, I found the following article:

http://486286.cache1.evolutionhosting.com/attachments/0000/6351/doubleIPA.pdf

I am planning on doing the extract full boil option. The ingredients below are for an 8 gallon boil. However, I don't have the capacity for that size of a boil, so I was hoping someone could scale the ingredients for me to 6.5 gallons? I also plan on using hop pellets so I don't know if I need to reduce the amount of hops not only to scale it to 6.5 gallons, but because the concentration is higher in pellets? Should I just use 80% of everything?

Ingredients
for 6.0 gallons (22.7 L) [Net: 5 gallons (18.9 L) after hop loss]

6.75 lb Two-Row pale malt
6.5 lb Light Dry Malt Extract
0.6 lb (272 g) Crystal 45 malt
0.6 lb (272 g) Carapils (Dextrin) Malt
0.75 lb (340 g) Dextrose (corn) sugar
3.50 oz (99 g) Columbus* 13.90% A.A. 90 min.
0.75 oz (21 g) Columbus* 13.90% A.A. 45 min.
1.00 oz (28 g) Simcoe 12.30% A.A. 30 min.
1.00 oz (28 g) Centennial 8.00% A.A. 0 min.
2.50 oz (71 g) Simcoe 12.30% A.A. 0 min.
1.00 oz (28 g) Columbus* 13.90% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 days total)
1.00 oz (28 g) Centennial 9.10% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 days total)
1.00 oz (28 g) Simcoe 12.30% A.A. Dry Hop (12 to 14 days total)
0.25 oz (7 g) Columbus* 13.90% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25 oz (7 g) Centennial 9.10% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25 oz (7 g) Simcoe 12.30% A.A. Dry Hop (5 days to go in dry hop)
*Tomahawk/Zeus can be substituted for Columbus
White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast or
Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

 

[nicegut]

Don't know if it helps, but this is the way I made it before going all grain. Brewed about 20 gallons of this stuff since then. Always a favorite.

Here's the mini mash:Bring 2.5 gal water to 160, Turn off heat. In a muslin bag, add the following. Mash @approx 155 for 45 min. Sparge with 170F h20 at 1 qt per 2 lb of grain, so not much.

.25# C40
1.75# 2 row
14 oz. Carapils
1.5 oz Chinook

Squeeze out the goodness that is within, bring to a boil, turn off heat and add:

7 lb Extra Pale malt extract (Liquid)
1 lb corn sugar
Stir to Dissolve completely, reheat to boiling, be careful and watch for the boil-over! Reduce heat to control the boil, and set the timer for 90 min.

Hops
90 Min
.5 Chinook
2.75 Warrior

45 Min.
1 simcoe

30 min
1 oz columbus

0 min (flameout)
2.25 centennial
1 simcoe

Chill and top off to make 5.25 gal Should be around 1.075SG
Pitch Yeast
Wait a few weeks,
then secondary with 2 oz. Simcoe, 3 oz. Columbus, and 1.75 centennial.

After about 7-10 days, bottle or keg and wait for that sweet nectar to flow!
Should end up around 1.014-1.016 FG.

Enjoy!

 

[westcoastpirate]

Thanks nicegut! I do have a couple questions, on the recipe above, after the mini mash, how much water did you add for malt and corn sugar addition? I'm predicting about 1.5 gallons boil off, so after 2.5 gallons mini-mash, I would just add another 4 gallons for the malt and corn sugar addition?

The second question is in regards to yeast. Vinnie recommends California Ale Yeast, and to use a starter or 2 vials of liquid yeast. What yeast did you use? I was planning on picking up 2 vials of WLP001.

 

[westcoastpirate]

Also, just to confirm, you use 1.5 oz of Chinook hops in the mini mash?

 

[nicegut]

The sparge is approximately 1.5 quarts. At the end of the boil, after cooling, add the top off water to bring it up to 5.25 Gal in your primary fermentor. The Chinook are FWH (first wort hops in grain bag). And yes wlp california001 is the way to go. You can make a starter to save dinero from the one vial. I never double pitch.

 

[westcoastpirate]

Nice! Thanks for all the help!

 

[westcoastpirate]

PS-I'll be fermenting this in a 6 gallon glass carboy. How crazy will the krausen get during fermentation? I was planning on running my siphon tubing through the rubber bung to a growler half full of star san water instead of using an airlock.

 

[beerbro]

Question.

I just brewed this batch on St. Patty's day and it was my first time ever doing all grain. When the "bubbles" or primary fermentation stops am I then supposed to rach it into my secondary and then add the first dry hop addition or do I add the dry hop additions now in the primary? Also after primary fermentation is when I am supposed to take my fg reading correct?

Thanks for any help I'm still pretty new at this.

 

[Srceenplay]

I have this in primary now too. You don't want to dry hop until its done fermenting.

The way I understand it is during fermenting you are releasing all the exsess gas. Your dry hops are releasing aroma. You don't want to push out all that aroma through the airlock.

Im on day 8 bubbles have all most but all stopped. On day 14 in going to add the dry hops into the primary and take a gravity reading. Cold crash and take another gravity reading on day 21 and keg a few days later.

 

[paradoc]

When the "bubbles" or primary fermentation stops am I then supposed to rach it into my secondary and then add the first dry hop addition or do I add the dry hop additions now in the primary? Also after primary fermentation is when I am supposed to take my fg reading correct?

There are several approaches on when to add your first dry-hop addition. I generally "warm hop" the first addition, meaning I wait for fermentation to slow down after 3-5 days, then add the first dry hop addition the primary. Then after a week or so, I either rack it to secondary and do the second hop addition, or depending on how I'm feeling (and how quickly I'm planning to consume it!) I will rack it directly to the keg and add the second dry hop addition to the keg. I've had good luck with the dry hopping in the keg. I prefer pellet hops for the primary and secondary, but if I am going to add hops to the keg I like whole hops in a sanitized bag.

Some people check daily gravities until they get the same number for 3 days, then rack to secondary. I don't generally follow my gravities that closely. I will check one after a week or so, then again before I keg. I'm mainly looking to see if I achieved my target FG and ABV.

Enjoy!

 

[RipeforYelp22]

Hey guys, great thread here. I recently brewed the Pliny clone from my LHBS (on 3/16) and am trying to figure out my dry hop schedule. It's a 5-gal extract recipe (that cost me $74! So I don't wanna F it up). It's also the first brew I stuck in a swamp cooler (set at 65-68) since ambient temps fluctuate between 70-80+. The instructions on the recipe are pretty cookie-cutter which stays true for all of their recipes.

The owner there also insisted I buy a $45 5-gal glass carboy from him since this brew NEEDS a secondary. I didn't let him pressure me into buying it and instead told him I'd rather do more research in the 10-14 days minimum this brew will stick in the primary. After spending many hours reading the "To Secondary or not" thread with JP and JZ, I'm scared of pissing off Revvy and have decided against asking my question there.

So after doing research, I've come up with a couple tentative plans. Either keep it in the primary a total of 4 weeks and dry hop all 3oz on day 21, bottle on day 28-30. OR buy a 5-gal bucket for a secondary, rack after I get a steady FG reading on 3 days, and then dry hop for a total of 7-10 days. Any pointers? Anyone prefer either method? Thanks!

Here is the recipe: https://www.beerbrew.com/downloads/recipes/CousinVinnyImperialIPA.pdf

 

[MacGruber]

I am planning on brewing this on April 7th. I'm so excited! I've finally had the opportunity to try the Elder Nd the Younger. The Elder is better IMO and I can't wait to have this on tap here at my house in PA.

 

[bink00]

Hey guys, great thread here. I recently brewed the Pliny clone from my LHBS (on 3/16) and am trying to figure out my dry hop schedule. It's a 5-gal extract recipe (that cost me $74! So I don't wanna F it up). It's also the first brew I stuck in a swamp cooler (set at 65-68) since ambient temps fluctuate between 70-80+. The instructions on the recipe are pretty cookie-cutter which stays true for all of their recipes.

The owner there also insisted I buy a $45 5-gal glass carboy from him since this brew NEEDS a secondary. I didn't let him pressure me into buying it and instead told him I'd rather do more research in the 10-14 days minimum this brew will stick in the primary. After spending many hours reading the "To Secondary or not" thread with JP and JZ, I'm scared of pissing off Revvy and have decided against asking my question there.

So after doing research, I've come up with a couple tentative plans. Either keep it in the primary a total of 4 weeks and dry hop all 3oz on day 21, bottle on day 28-30. OR buy a 5-gal bucket for a secondary, rack after I get a steady FG reading on 3 days, and then dry hop for a total of 7-10 days. Any pointers? Anyone prefer either method? Thanks!

Here is the recipe: https://www.beerbrew.com/downloads/recipes/CousinVinnyImperialIPA.pdf

holy crap...I just ordered the kit from Farmhouse brewing and got it for half that! Ordered on thursday...sitting on my porch today. Mine will be fermenting in a bucket...and then depending on how I feel after its finished fermenting I might transfer it to another fermentor and dry hop or just leave it in the primary.

 

[bottlebomber]

holy crap...I just ordered the kit from Farmhouse brewing and got it for half that! Ordered on thursday...sitting on my porch today. Mine will be fermenting in a bucket...and then depending on how I feel after its finished fermenting I might transfer it to another fermentor and dry hop or just leave it in the primary.

I just checked on that, an excellent price indeed but sold out. How often are they able to keep this in stock, if you know?

 

[Horace]

I just checked on that, an excellent price indeed but sold out. How often are they able to keep this in stock, if you know?

I have never seen it in stock there...

 

[bink00]

I have never seen it in stock there...

I had been checking it once a week for a while and caught it in stock last wednesday. Id say because of the price it doesnt stay in stock long. You could try emailing them and asking if they will notify you when its in stock.

 

[Sdtastentune]

Ok, brewed this 3 times so far and its super dank... But, why is the RR site describing the pliny as "Pliny the Elder is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops" ? It has been a little lighter then my homebrew pliny on the hops on tap around here so??

 

[EllisTX]

Ok, brewed this 3 times so far and its super dank... But, why is the RR site describing the pliny as "Pliny the Elder is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops" ? It has been a little lighter then my homebrew pliny on the hops on tap around here so??

I believe Vinny has stated before that the recipe is tweaked periodicaly.

 

[AleFred]

Two questions for those who have brewed this amazing beer..First is how did you dry hop it all the hops at one time or in additions , did you secondary, i have a carboy to do so but id rather not.. and lastly for those that bottle about how many days in bottle until you thought it peeked, i ask cause i drink my apas and ipas as soon as they carb up but i do notice the flavors eventually peek at some point a little after they carb..

 

[Jipper]

AleFred,

Good questions. I've dry hopped this beer both ways side by side, and noticed some slight differences. Dry hopping with all of the hops at the same time side-by-side with dry hopping each hop individually for 3 days each. The "all-in-one" seemed to have a more noticeable hop aroma and flavor, but was slightly more muddled. The individual hop additions provided a strong hop aroma and flavor, but was "cleaner". It's hard to describe via text, but my overall recommendation would be to do each hop addition individually if you have the time and patience. Don't get me wrong though - this is still an amazing beer no matter how you dry hop it! For the days in the bottle prior to peaking, I'm not sure how to answer that as I was kegging my beer and force carbonating with CO2. We tapped these after 10 days of carbonating and drank them over the course of 2 weeks, and didn't notice a huge change in flavor. I'd say it was slightly "fresher" when we first tapped it, but after two weeks was still amazing. Good luck and have fun with it!

Cheers.

 

[AleFred]

any specific order i should toss the hops in...personally i'd like to toss in the centennial and simcoe lastly

 

[Jipper]

I'd say whichever order you'd like! I went with Simcoe last and liked the results, so if I had to suggest one to go last at least, that would be my vote. Careful with all of the racking though - the more times you interact with your beer, the more chances for contamination...(but I know you already knew this!)

 

[thrstyunderwater]

Any reason one can't use cane sugar instead of corn sugar?

 

[RainyDay]

Any reason one can't use cane sugar instead of corn sugar?

Nope. Some say that cane sugar can leave a cidery flavor, but i've never experienced this.

 

[Jipper]

Both are rather accessible, and I've heard that cane sugar can produce fusel alcohol, which can help lead to a fantastic hangover. I'm not sure that the amount in the Pliny kit would make a difference, but if you have your choice, go with corn sugar. In the end: It is what Vinnie uses, and I'm sure that's for a reason!

Cheers!

 

[bottlebomber]

Both are rather accessible, and I've heard that cane sugar can produce fusel alcohol, which can help lead to a fantastic hangover.

Not accurate, brewing myth. In my experience fusels are produced by poor brewing practice - improper pitching rates, oxygenation, and fermentation temps. I have used large quantities of cane sugar in beer and not had fusels, and the fact is it is much cheaper.

 

[kal]

Not accurate, brewing myth. In my experience fusels are produced by poor brewing practice - improper pitching rates, oxygenation, and fermentation temps. I have used large quantities of cane sugar in beer and not had fusels, and the fact is it is much cheaper.

+1.

I've made pliny 2-3 times now using both. Both work well.

Kal

 

[fifthcircle]

Going to brew some Pliny soon. If I use hop shot, how much? Just calculate it per IBU's achieved through the 90min hop addition?