American IPA Trilium Melcher Street Clone

[marjen]

Hey Odecloner. I have read through this whole thread a couple times now Last time i did all columbus boil and whirlpool, this time i did all columbus boil and columbus/citra/galaxy whirlpool. I will probably go back to the all columbus whirlpool next time as I am trying to establish a base beer that I can then change up with different hop combination at the dry hopping stage.

I am also fermenting in a carboy this time and will do CO2 forced transfer. Hoping that helps a little. I did use 1318 this time so will see how that impacts the taste, hopefully for the better. Also going to dry hop on day 3 this time, did day 4 last time and I think fermentation was pretty much done by then.

I was going for a fort point vs a street clone, so recipe is slightly different as they do not use dextrine in fort point, the rest of the malt bill looks the same. Weird that 1318 might work best as JC has recommended WLP007 it seems and to me in my batch that is really far off. The WY1098 is much closer, and will compare to this batch when its done early next week.

I plan on using 8 oz of dry hops, 4 citra and 4 galaxy, let it sit on that for 3-4 days before moving to keg. Still debating if I should add any more hops in keg. I did this time.

 

[marjen]

So it's only about 48 hours post pitch but it looks like the Krusen is already falling. Wondering if I should add the dry hops tonight? I know 1318 is supposed to work fast but dang.

 

[stonebrewer]

I have added hops in day 2. I know others that have added hops before they even added yeast. I think you are okay adding them now...

 

[marjen]

I think I might split the difference and do it tomorrow morning. I was going to split, 1/2 tonight, 1/2 thursday but dont want to open the lid twice. I dont want to be too late with it but dont want to go too early either.

here are pics of what it looks like. This morning that was a nice fluffy 3 inch thick ring, now a big deflated mess

 

[OdeCloner]

Typically most of my fermentation with 1318 is done within 5-7 days. Usually when I dry hop on day 3, I'm dropping the hops into a big, thick, creamy layer of krausen. By day 5, and certainly by day 7 when I keg, it's done. So, depending on your temps, you could be done in a couple days.

 

[degivens]

Here's the final result of my galaxy, mosiac, citra combination with lactose.

Tastes incredible, nose is on point, and the mouthfeel is a lot better from adding a small amount of lactose. Went with 150:150ppm SO4/Cl this time, which to me seems spot on.

 

[marjen]

Dropped my dry hops in this morning. Its day 3 but looks like I am on the tail end of fermentation. I used 1 oz columbus, 3.5 oz Citra and 3.5 oz Galaxy. Plan on moving to keg sometime this weekend depending on how it looks. A couple q's

1. I dont want to open the carboy up again for gravity readings, any reason I can't wait until its pouring from the tap to take a final and see where I landed?
2. I am planning on carbing this with my blichmann quick carb. Could that have any positive or negative effect on hop smell/taste? Was not sure what running it through a carb stone would do to things. Don't want to ruin any hop smells.
3. I am going to push to keg via CO2.
4. Since I know have a total of 12 oz of hops, any reason to add another round in the keg? I was considering throwing another couple oz of each citra/galaxy in the keg, but not sure if that would do much considering I just added 8oz into the fermenter.

 

[degivens]

Dropped my dry hops in this morning. Its day 3 but looks like I am on the tail end of fermentation. I used 1 oz columbus, 3.5 oz Citra and 3.5 oz Galaxy. Plan on moving to keg sometime this weekend depending on how it looks. A couple q's

1. I dont want to open the carboy up again for gravity readings, any reason I can't wait until its pouring from the tap to take a final and see where I landed?
2. I am planning on carbing this with my blichmann quick carb. Could that have any positive or negative effect on hop smell/taste? Was not sure what running it through a carb stone would do to things. Don't want to ruin any hop smells.
3. I am going to push to keg via CO2.
4. Since I know have a total of 12 oz of hops, any reason to add another round in the keg? I was considering throwing another couple oz of each citra/galaxy in the keg, but not sure if that would do much considering I just added 8oz into the fermenter.

No problems taking FG once you keg it, just make sure the beer you take off the tap sits for a bit to remove carbonation that would affect the reading.

I haven't been keg hopping with this recipe -- but from what i've read it seems like a lot of people aren't too fond of it because it gives off an earthy/vegetal hop profile.

 

[marjen]

@degivens

150:150ppm SO4/Cl

Did you start with RO water? I am using RO and wondering how to get to 150:100ppm when starting with RO water. How many tsp or grams/ounces of each. Also I noticed you didnt add any whirlpool hops? Any reason for that?

 

[ultravista]

@degivens Did you start with RO water? I am using RO and wondering how to get to 150:100ppm when starting with RO water. How many tsp or grams/ounces of each.

Great question.

 

[degivens]

I whirlpooled columbus at ~170F for 30 min. Guess I forgot to put that in Beersmith -- oops! Also just noticed I entered in columbia hops vice columbus hops in beersmith ... I need to pay attention more!

I use my cities water, they have a handy website for brewers that gives you all the info you need. I take that info and plug it in to bru'n water excel sheet (if you don't have it...get it!). It tells me how much gypsum and CaCl to add based on my desired water profile. IIRC it was around 2-3g/gal of both in my specific case.

 

[marjen]

You know as I learn more about ingredients and their effect on the beer, I wonder why the BYO recipe for trillium fort point has Irish moss as an ingredient? From everything I am reading it's used to clear up beer, exact opposite of the look of these beers. Does Irish moss do anything else? If not I am going to remove it in the future.

 

[marjen]

And just for the record I am drinking a DDH Melcher St as we speak

 

[marjen]

So I think i am going to move my trillium fort point clone over to the keg today on day 5. Activity seems over or very close. A bubble maybe every couple mins. Everything seems to have settled out. I am not going to do a gravity reading until its in the keg. Don't want to introduce too much O2. Going to do a closed transfer via CO2 if all goes well. Need to work it between the hops on the top and the 2" deep trub on the bottom. Still not sure if I will add another dry hop to the keg? Maybe a couple oz each of citra/galaxy.

 

[marjen]

So not sure what to do. I moved it to the keg tonight. Did a CO2 transfer. Once it was in the keg I did a gravity reading. It is at 1.022. Now it did start really high like 1.096. I did add water to try and bring that down so not sure where it landed.

So should I cool it, warm it? Do to the high OG it still is preobably in the 6% range at the moment. A tasting sample and it tastes pretty good. So what to do?

 

[Oldskewl]

I would have left it on the yeast for a few more days. 5 days is pretty short. You can try warming it into the 72 degree range. But not much yeast left now that you have racked it.

 

[marjen]

So I ran the beer through the quick carb last night and then let it sit in the keg overnight. Don't think the FG will be an issue seeing how I feel after 1.5 pints or so, lol. Taste is definitely improved over the first batch and seeing how its only 7 days post pitch should get better over the next week. I am encouraged. Its not quite a fort point which is what I was going for, but its not bad. Still needs some work. I think the next batch is going to be all grain BIAB vs extract so should be able to dial it in even more.

 

[TomRep]

degivens- the picture you posted last says it's the citra/galaxy/mosiac dry hop batch, but the recipe you posted doesn't list mosiac. Am I missing it somewhere?

 

[degivens]

degivens- the picture you posted last says it's the citra/galaxy/mosiac dry hop batch, but the recipe you posted doesn't list mosiac. Am I missing it somewhere?

No you're not missing it -- I just suck at importing a fully correct beersmith recipe! I added the same amount of mosaic and galaxy for dryhop - 4oz.

When I get home i'll finalize the beersmith info and post a spot on recipe so I don't confuse folks

 

[TomRep]

Okay, thanks. Thought my old age was kicking in!

 

[stonebrewer]

Just got back from Trillium with two cases of various DDH DIPAs! Need to start brewing this one again for when all of those cans kick!

 

[degivens]

Okay, thanks. Thought my old age was kicking in!

Here's what I ended up doing:

10 lbs 1.8 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2 lbs 9.6 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
6.9 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM)
5.9 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
5.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
9.2 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM)
4.3 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60.
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 10.
3.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Steep/Wh
1.0 pkg London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318) [
4.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days
3.00 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days
3.00 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Dry Hop 4.0
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop


Only thing I would probably change for the next batch is scaling back the galaxy just a bit, I may next time use el dorado instead.

 

[TomRep]

Awesome. Thank you! Having a go at my first NE ipa next weekend

 

[degivens]

Just brewed this for the 4th time, followed post #123 pretty much. Will be dryhopping with 4oz mosiac, 2oz citra lupulin powder (assumes thats comparable to 4oz hop pellets), and 1.5oz columbus.

This was the first batch I did, and my favorite over my experimentation thus far.

On day 2 at the moment, happily bubbling away at 66F. Will report back in a week or so

 

[stonebrewer]

@degivens please let us know what you think of the lup powder! I have heard the aromatics are stronger with it, which would be awesome!

 

[degivens]

Kegged yesterday (day 6). Closed transfer from SS brewbucket to keg, C02 assisted. Everything went smoothly. Final gravity 1.012.

First pull off the keg this afternoon, still fairly flat (I don't force carb, I just sit it at 12psi and let it develop over a few days).

I had Melcher St. last month during a business trip up to Boston, along with every other Trillium beer I could get my hands on. Although this isn't true to Melcher St. (I threw in some citra), if I handed this to someone they would probably assume it was a Trillium varietal. Excited to see how this morphs in the next few days, in the past days 12-20 have been the sweet spot -- and everything indicates this is going to be my best yet!

 

[luizffgarcia]

Just thought i report back about this recipe and bump it up so others get to see it and try it. Kegged one week ago and it is AWESOME!

Thanks for the recipe OP!

 

[OdeCloner]

Yay! Glad you liked it! Still one of my favorites. I've been experimenting with less wheat and lots more oats lately (20%+) with good results. When you try a few more batches, consider experimenting this way too!

 

[ultravista]

@degivens - what were your water adjustments? Do you have this in a Beersmith BSMX file?

 

[degivens]

@degivens - what were your water adjustments? Do you have this in a Beersmith BSMX file?

I can send you the beersmith file if you'd like, I only use it for getting the right amount of grain weight and for starter size, so I don't even typically add the hops, etc.. But PM me an e-mail address and i'll gladly send it along! Here's a screen shot of my most recent Bru'N Water adjustment sheet, fit to my city water profile, where you can see the additions I had to make.