re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

I made a NE IPA recently that came out pretty well. The mouthfeel was perfect, but I found that the beer was a bit too bitter.

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1) Whirlpool hopping

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Definitely whirlpool hop, but wait until the wort temperature gets down to around 175°F. I added 4 oz of hops at flameout and let it sit for 20 minutes before starting to chill. I attribute the extra bitterness to the additional isomerization that occurred while the wort was above 175°F. I am drinking a red IPA right now, and I didn't whirlpool hop until 175°F. This beer has a great aroma and flavor that I wish I would have had in the NE IPA.

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2) Chloride/Sulfate levels - I'm shooting for a 1:1 ratio of 100 to 100. This more enhances the mouthfeel than the hops themselves.

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I adjusted my water to 100 ppm each.

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3) Use low flocculating yeast, in particular the london ale 3 strain.

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Yes, I used 1318

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4) Start your dry hopping during active fermenation. Some hop oils cling to the yeast cells. The longer the cells stay in suspension, the more hop aroma/flavor you'll get.

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I found that my NE IPA was fantastic during the first 3-4 days. After that, the "hop burst" flavor dropped off and more bitterness came through.

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5) Large dry hop. I currently dry hop around 5-7 oz.

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I used 8 oz of dry hops in a 5 gal batch. I added them in 2 stages.

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6) Keg hop - Currently, i've keg hopped with 2 oz. of hops. I've read that taking your dry hop amount, halving it, and then doing half in the dry hop and half in the keg produces great aroma/flavo

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I attempted this, but I don't think that it really added any benefit.

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7) Recipe design - Mostly light colored base malts, with some oats/wheat/spelt, etc... protein rich malts that take longer to flocculate.

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I used 15% flaked oats and 5% wheat. I also added 5% carapils to help boost the body and 5% dextrose to up the ABV to 8%. The remainder of the grain bill was equal parts of Maris Otter and pale ale malt. I read that this style benefits from adding something like Maris Otter or Golden Promise to add a bit of malt complexity.

The next time I brew this recipe, the only things that I will change are the hop bill and whirlpool temperature, but everything else will stay the same.

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LSUGrad00

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I'm in the dry hopping phase of my pedio quick sour right now, and i took some measurements last night and dry hopped with chinook and simcoe (Changed the recipe from ekuanot to simcoe). It is tasting really good right now. Perfect amount of sourness. It does taste different than my other gose. My other gose i used Omega's lacto blend. This i used Bootleg's sour weapon pedio p. to quick sour. Ph on this one was about 3.27 last i checked. Didn't check ph last night. I found the taste to be sort of sharper, but drops off quicker in the mouth. As opposed to the lacto blend that the sourness tended to linger in the mouth for a little bit.
This one is going to be great as well. I'm pumped. I'll probably keg this weekend with a couple oz. of spruce tips.

Which brings me to a question. I was unable to steep my spruce tips, as they did not come in the mail in time. So my plan is to keg "hop" the spruce tips in a muslin bag and weigh it down with some stainless washers. The Spruce tips came with a note that stated there could be bugs inside the packaging (i assume they mean actual bugs from inside the trees as they harvest the spruce tips). Would the low ph and the alcohol content (4.4%) do enough to kill anything that may be on the spruce tips? Should i make a tea or tincture, or would a straight pitch be suitable?

You don't care for spruce?

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You should soak them in vodka, then throw them straight in the trash.

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why waste the vodka?

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Which brings me to a question. I was unable to steep my spruce tips, as they did not come in the mail in time. So my plan is to keg "hop" the spruce tips in a muslin bag and weigh it down with some stainless washers. The Spruce tips came with a note that stated there could be bugs inside the packaging (i assume they mean actual bugs from inside the trees as they harvest the spruce tips). Would the low ph and the alcohol content (4.4%) do enough to kill anything that may be on the spruce tips? Should i make a tea or tincture, or would a straight pitch be suitable?

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The owner of Alaskan Brewing Company gave a talk at Dixie Cup a few years back and was of the opinion that you need to add the spruce in the boil to get the best flavor extraction.

Since that's behind you... I'd make a tea or tincture and then add to taste.

For future reference, you can use Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). It's plentiful in the area. I know Scratch uses it in in their beers.

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What about bringing some water up to 170 and steeping the spruce in that. Then cooling down and pitching in the keg?

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Sounds like a good plan, if 170F is the good for extracting essential oils from hops it will probably work well for the spruce as well.

Bring the water up somewhere in that range, pitch the spruce , and let it steep and naturally cool for 15 minutes to an hour?

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I'm assuming the blooming tips?

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You can cut off any branches and line the bottom of your mash tun. Acts as a false bottom and flavor addition.

I've also seen where it is used in the HLT to flavor all the infusions.

How the hell does a "Post your favorite soup recipe" thread get stickied, yet we can't get the homebrewing thread stickied?