Today I'm brewing a strong english ale which is going to sit on scotch-soaked oak after primary fermentation. I based the recipe loosely on this Fullers 1845 clone although I added a tin of Lyles Golden Syrup to boost the gravity and to experiment a bit with it. I figure it's a bit like the English version of belgian candi-syrup. Also I tweeked the hops as I had leftovers of Fuggles and Goldings in the freezer.
This will also be the first run of my new burner. Up to now I've been using the kitchen stove and it's more then a little dangerous lifting 20 litres of boiling wort off the stove. Also it just takes ages to get going. I picked up a 4 ring burner which I realise now is a bit big for my pot and I only ended up turning off the outer ring. Running the 3 rings it took 45 minutes to get to a rolling boil although I lifted up the lid for a peak maybe 5 times.
The final tweak is that after primary fermentation is complete I'm going to leave it to sit on some oak chips that have been soaking in scotch. Haven't decided how long yet although I think this one will benefit from age anyway so I reckon maybe three weeks on the oak and then will give it 6 months in the bottle.
Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.954
Total Hops (g): 109.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.067 (°P): 16.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 6.81 %
Colour (SRM): 15.0 (EBC): 29.5
Bitterness (IBU): 49.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 90
Grain Bill
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4.500 kg Maris Otter Malt (75.58%)
0.500 kg Bairds Amber Malt (8.4%)
0.500 kg Bairds Medium Crystal (8.4%)
0.454 kg Lyles Golden Syrup (7.63%)
Hop Bill
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58.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2.9 g/L)
41.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5.9% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (2.1 g/L)
10.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
Misc Bill
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Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 15°C with Wyeast 1968 - London ESB Ale
7/7/2013 Brewday. Pitched yeast cake from my ESB. Was a bit slack with gravity readings as my little jar thing broke and I'm not too keen on just dunking the whole hydrometre in the wort.
I'm a bit of two minds when it comes to full-blown IPAs/DIPA/IIPAs. On the one hand, I love IPAs, who wouldn't? It's the ultimate balls-to-the-way full on hop blast. I don't think I will ever get sick of drinking or brewing IPAs. On the other hand, sometimes I'll have an IPA and think 'More hops hey? Nice one guys very creative'. Maybe it's just the sheer number of IPAs on the market today that makes me more critical.
Anyway, I decided I try my hand at an IPA well into the double/imperial category as I hadn't brewed anything that intense otherwise. My Intergalactic Pale Ale, whilst was a great beer, wasn't quite as hoppy as I had expected. I'd had a few really good US DIPAs recently which had put me in the mood for it.
The grain bill is based Pliny the Elder which unfortunately I haven't had the oppurtunity to try although it's obviously very highly regarded so I figured it would be a good point of reference. I went with Columbus, Centennial and the new variety Mosaic hops, with the intention of not having any left at the end of it, and having a decent amount to dry hop with.
Full disclosure - the name looks to be taken already by a commercial brew although I'm sure I'll never come across it in Australia. One of my bros thought of it and it was just too good to give up.
Hoptimus Prime
Imperial IPA
Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 19.0
Total Grain (kg): 6.500
Total Hops (g): 300.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.080 (°P): 19.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.017 (°P): 4.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 8.19 %
Colour (SRM): 8.1 (EBC): 15.9
Bitterness (IBU): 192.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
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5.500 kg Pale Ale Malt (84.62%)
0.500 kg Cane Sugar (7.69%)
0.250 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (3.85%)
0.250 kg Crystal 40 (3.85%)
Hop Bill
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90.0 g Columbus Pellet (14.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (4.7 g/L)
10.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
10.0 g Mosaic Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
20.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
20.0 g Mosaic Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
50.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (2.6 g/L)
50.0 g Mosaic Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (2.6 g/L)
20.0 g Centennial Pellet (9.7% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.1 g/L)
10.0 g Columbus Pellet (14.2% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (0.5 g/L)
20.0 g Mosaic Pellet (11.1% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.1 g/L)
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 15°C with Wyeast 1272
Notes
Recipe was for 19 litres but it was more like 15 after huge trub losses. Next time I will definitely use hop bags to seperate them. I've never had a problem before just using the whirlpool method and siphoning off the trub, but I must admit this is about twice as much hops per batch then I've ever used before.
Yeast was washed from a previous batch then made about a 500ml starter a few days earlier.
No dramas with fermentation. One of my best airlock sniffers. 3 weeks in primary, 1 week in secondary with the dry hops in a hop bag weighed down with sanitised marbles. Crash chilled with gelatine for a week to clear and then bottled. Bottled to 2 volumes CO2.
From memory it finished a bit lower then brewmate had calculated. Hydrometre sample tastes promising although it was before breakfast and a bit of a shock.
Tasting Notes
- Smell - Massive tropical fruit really leaps out the glass. You can smell this one as soon as you pop the cap.
- Appearance - Pours with a fluffy head. Cracked this maybe 6 weeks after bottling, can't believe I was worried it wasn't going to be ready! Surprisingly quite red especially when held up to the light. Reasonably clear but would probably benefit from a few weeks in the fridge. Head is holding up even leaving a little bit of lacing on the glass.
-Taste - HOPS. Really happy with this one. Finally hit the mark. Big tropical fruit vibe with a bit of pine. Hop Hog killer over here. Considering the calculated bitterness is in that range where its just so huge it doesn't matter any more, it actually doesn't taste hugely bitter or at least it doesn't take long very long to acclimatise to it. With the Columbus and centennial I was expecting maybe something more like Green Flash West Coast IPA but definitely no complaints - the hop profile works for sure.
In terms of booziness, it's definitely a strong beer but not overpowering. You know it's a sipper and not a slugger. Having said that I think hop forward beers are pretty forgiving on this front. The only double/imperial IPA where I've ever felt overwhelmed is Sierra Nevada's hoptimum. It was great for the first half but a bit of a struggle in the second half. Will still be going back for the 2014 batch though!
Conclusion - Really could not be happier with this one. So much so in fact I will probably use this formula as a base for future double IPAs. Possibly I'd mix up the specialty grains just for an experiment depending on what I'm looking to test out at the time. But damn what a great way to showcase the hops. I'm thinking next time I'll have to go Australian/NZ hops to showcase what the new school southern hemisphere hops have to offer.
This was the second saison I brewed with Dupont yeast for the summer. After doing a traditional style Saison the first time, I was keen to make something a bit left of centre. Eventually decided on something of an APA/Saison hybrid, which was basically just a hoppy pale ale-type recipe but using the saison yeast. I pinched the malt bill from somewhere, and then put together a Simcoe/Amarillo heavy hop schedule. The Williamette for bittering was just what I had on hand at the time.
Once again, fermenting this thing was a real bitch and reluctantly I moved it outside for the bulk of it's fermentation. Perth Summer can get up to 40c so the ability of this yeast to stall is just crazy. Given there was quite a bit of hops in there I was hoping not to move outside and risk the beer skunking but had just wrapped a few rugs around it. The airlock bubbles smelt fantastic.
Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 6.100
Total Hops (g): 200.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.058 (°P): 14.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.70 %
Colour (SRM): 9.3 (EBC): 18.4
Bitterness (IBU): 55.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
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5.000 kg Pale Ale Malt (81.97%)
0.500 kg Munich I (8.2%)
0.350 kg Crystal 60 (5.74%)
0.250 kg Flaked Barley (4.1%)
Hop Bill
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40.0 g Willamette Pellet (7.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
15.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
15.0 g Simcoe Pellet (12.2% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
25.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
25.0 g Simcoe Pellet (12.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
40.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
40.0 g Simcoe Pellet (12.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
Misc Bill
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Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at ??? with Wyeast 3724 - Belgian Saison
Tasting Notes 7/10/13
- Appearance - Deep burnt orange colour. I would say the brewmate colour calculator was pretty accurate. A bit hazy at first but clears up after sitting for a minute or so. Nice pillowy head which clings to the glass.
- Smell - Definitely smells like a saison I don't think there is any ambiguity there. Hoppy but the saison-vibe is what takes over.
- Taste - Not gonna lie it's a pretty wierd brew. Pretty damn tangy. There's alot going on and it is a bit of a clash of flavours. I know that the Amarillo/Simcoe combo is meant to give the classic 'Tropical Fruit' vibe. I get that to an extent but I am really thinking dried apricots. Very very dry finish which is no surprise given it's saison yeast after all. I like it - but I don't think this is something you could package and sell. The inspiration came from the new school Belgian/American IPAs but it's not really like anything I've tried commercially (for good or for bad).
Conclusion - I'm happy with it although it wouldn't warrant a rebrew. This will be a good one to crack open maybe once a month and see how it develops with time. I already have a few ideas for next Summer's saisons so looking forward to that.
