#45 - Imperial India Pale Ale

After brewing a number of brett saisons and sours over the last year, I've dialed back the funk and overall weird factor in the last few months with an Oatmeal Stout, Bohemian Pilsner, and, today, an imperial IPA.  The beer is inspired in part by a beer that I've never had (Heady Topper) and a number of clones of that recipe (which I've also never tasted).  My recipe is, in no way, a Heady clone but instead attempts to use some of the best aspects of it (4 varieties of American hops, high levels of pale malt, sugar to dry out, around 100 ibu's) in an entirely unique way that should suit my tastes.

The malt bill is fairly simple: 14 lbs British Pale Malt (in place of the Pearl used for Heady), 1 lb Carahell (in place of any caramalt/etc), and 1 lb of Turbinado (in place of white sugar).  For the hop bill I decided to go with Nugget, Cascade, Chinook, and Amarillo.  While I originally had Palisades in the mix, I subbed them out for Chinook in order to get more of the classic pungency and pine of American hops that seems to be missing from my hoppy brett Saison which also featured large doses of Amarillo.  For the yeast I'm hoping that the lightly peach character of Wyeast West Yorkshire Ale will give a somewhat similar profile to what is often described for the Alchemist's Conan strain (which is also said to originally derive from a British ale strain).

When I first began brewing and writing this blog I didn't have much of a taste for hoppy beers with IPAs being more of a novelty that I could respect but not enjoy.  Overtime that has changed and I've become more interested in the world of hops and, with that, some of my best brews to date have been either straight to style American IPA's or interesting takes on the IPA style.

I have high hopes for this beer but it is my first time brewing an Imperial IPA (or Double IPA depending on your preference) and it is still not a style that I tend to gravitate towards, with most examples of the style having an overly bitter profile that voids any complexity from the hops and malt bill.  In the end, I'm hoping this one will be balanced enough and provide a nice alternative to on tap to the roasty Oatmeal Stout, the moderately bitter but otherwise clean (and halfway done lagering) Bohemian Pilsner, and (a just kegged) Cyser.

12-16-2015

After rapid and forceful fermentation for the first 48 hours the airlock is now mostly still. Loosening the bucket revealed a a thick, gelatinous krausen that looks a bit like a thin dough. Pulled a small sample: cloudy, with thick haze, not sure if it is just active yeast or some proteins. Smell is extremely hoppy with taste being biting bitterness and alcohol. A little worried about this one in a few ways at this point but I am hoping another week and some dry hopping will calm it down.

12-21-2014

Pulled a sample, flavor is much improved, piney, citrusy, and fairly bitter. Gravity all the way down to 1.012. Added dry hops (1 oz Cascade, 1 oz Chinook, 2 oz Amarillo, 2 oz Nugget). Planning to keg in the next 3-5 days.

#42 - StarTropics - Hoppy Brett Saison

With the end of summer quickly approaching here in DC (and me preparing for my trip to Munich for Oktoberfest!) I found myself with a free weekend, a few empty carboys, and a desire to make one last saison during the hot season.

For this beer I wanted heavy hop flavors and lots of bitterness, backed up with enough malt to keep things balanced, interesting, and ready for Autumn.  I also wanted to further explore the combination of Nelson Sauvin and Brettanomyces that I tried a few beers back so for the yeast I used the slurry from the Brett Saison as the primary (rather than in the secondary) and added Crooked Stave dregs to add even more varieties of fruity and funky Brettanomyces.  I also kept Nelson Sauvin as a major component of the hop profile but added my two favorite citrusy American hops: Cascade and Amarillo.

As I've done with many beers, and particularly often recently, I plan to experiment with this beer after the primary ferment, though this time I don't have preset plans.

Expected
1.061 OG
1.008 FG
62      IBU
7.0% ABV
10     SRM

Fermentable	Amount		Use	PPG	Color
Maris Otter Pale (UK)	8.5 lb	61 %	Mash	38	3 °L
Vienna (US)	4.5 lb	32 %	Mash	35	4 °L
Caramel/Crystal 60L (US)	0.5 lb	3 %	Mash	34	60 °L
Victory (US)	0.25 lb	1 %	Mash	34	28 °L

Hop	Amount	Time	Use	Form	AA
Nugget (US)	0.5 oz	60 min	Boil	Pellet	14.10%
Cascade (US)	2.0 oz	4 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	7.10%
Amarillo (US)	3.0 oz	4 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	8.50%
Nelson Sauvin (NZ)	1.0 oz	4 days	Dry Hop	Pellet	12.00%
Cascade (US)	2.0 oz	5 min	Whirlpool	Pellet	7.10%
Amarillo (US)	1.0 oz	5 min	Whirlpool	Pellet	8.50%
Nelson Sauvin (NZ)	3.0 oz	5 min	Whirlpool	Pellet	12.00%

Name                                         Average Attenuation
Brett Saison Blend                         87.50%

9/13/14
Brewed on stove top with no issues.  Whirlpool hops actually done as 20 minute hop steep.  OG measured at 1.058 (with a slightly low reading hydrometer).  Fermentation took off within 8 hours.

9/17/14
Fermentation still fairly active, gravity only down to 1.022 so this one should have a ways to go. Flavor is a melange of peach and white wine with just a touch of the bitterness showing through under the still high sweetness.

9/25/14
Gravity down to 1.007 with fermentation at a near standstill but the Brett will probably continue working away for a little while.

10/16/14
Running way behind on this one due to getting delayed on my return from Europe but finally added the first wave of dry hops (1.5 oz Amarillo, 1 oz Cascade and .5 oz Nelson Sauvin) to the primary.  Gravity down to 1.006 and tasting super funky without much hop presence prior to the dry hop additions.  Had been hoping to keg this, but getting the kegerator in place has also fallen behind schedule so I will probably just bottle in 8-10 days after another round of dry-hopping.

10/21/14
Racked 3 gallons onto the second wave of dry hops.  The remainder (about 1.5 gallons) was split between two 1 gallon jugs, one with 4 oz. demerara sugar and paradise seeds and the other with lime juice and a tangelo tincture I have been holding onto for a while.  My entire apartment is currently engulfed with amazingly fruity and citrusy hop aromas.

10/25/14
Bottled 3 straight gallons as #42, Demerara version as #42B, and Lime/Tangelo version as #42C.

7/16/16

Approaching two years in the bottle and this one is tasting pretty good. Hop character has certainly faded but the Brett character still gives a lime and pepper impression.

#28 - American Saison Tasting

While this beer was intended to be a summer drinker, and most of it disappeared in August, there's still a few hanging around for a tasting.  I will likely use several of the elements of this beer: Wyeast 3724 yeast, ginger and Amarillo hops, in future beers even if not all together again.

A- light cloudy gold, much lighter in color than the picture. A touch darker than the average hefeweizen. The large "belgian" head pops way out of the glass and fades slowly to a small lump with spots of lace.  The beer was poured very slowly as it was a bit over carbonated.

S- tropical fruit (papaya and mango), citrus (lemongrass, lemon) and spice (black pepper) aromas. The ginger is noticeable also but seems to blend well with the other characters to the point it's hard to pick out what is from the yeast/ginger/hops.

T- up front the flavor mirrors the aroma with increased lemongrass and ginger character. On the backed is a mild bite which seems to be both a combination of moderate bitterness and carbonation.

M- medium in body with extremely high carbonation.  I definitely won't be buying the carbonation caps again and will just aim for lower levels by adding less sugar.

O- a nice summery beer but I'd like to see some of the components on their own and with less carbonation. All in all it comes off similar to Boulevard's Tank 7 though I wouldn't call it a clone. A good beer that makes me want to make another saison soon.