RECIPE #69: I(heart)PcA (1st place IPA)

There has been a large shift in our church lately away from an attitude of retreat from "the world" to one of pursuing people with Christ's grace.  Our church is located in the South Hills so it can be out of the way and easily overlooked.  We haven't had much exposure to the community, even other churches don't know who we are.  Time for all that to change.  In an attempt to get more exposure, and to serve those around us, our church is going to be putting on an annual Fall Kick Off Party, the first of which is scheduled for October.  Part of this kick off party is to have beverages and food for people to enjoy.  Of course, in a city like Eugene, the beverage of choice is Craft Beer, and not just any Craft Beer, as this is the birthplace of Ninkasi, we prefer IPA.  I was asked to make the beer for the party, so I went with a hop bomb.  I have been really happy with the last few IPAs I have brewed in the aroma hop kick department, but the bitterness is always too low, and for a culture acclimated to NW IPAs, the bitterness has to be there.  To get my bitterness up on this one I pushed the Sulfates up over 250 ppm, dried it out, and upped the BU:GU ratio to 1.35.  This should give me a nice dry, bitter bite in the finish, and tons of hops in the flavor and nose.



Of course, I always max out my brew day since I don't always get to brew too often (some batches are strictly for aging leaving me with nothing to drink now).  So I decided to brew up 10 gallons of the same recipe, 5 for the church, and 5 for me.  I mashed for 15 gallons and boiled as 2 batches, 10 gallons of this IPA, and with a little steeping of malts got an Imperial India Red Ale (Red IPA) out of the brewday as well.  I am also jumping the kegs after dry hopping and cold crashing to get as much gunk out of suspension as possible, especially since I will be transporting the keg to the party and really don't want anything to kick back up and ruin the appearance and flavor of the beer.

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Stats:

Gallons:    11.00

OG:           1.060

FG:            1.007

ABV:          7.02%

IBUs:         81

SRM:         9

Efficiency:  70%

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Fermentables:

20.00#  Weyermann Pale Malt (81.6%)

1.50#    Cara-Pils (6.1%)

1.00#    British Carastan – 30/37L (4.1%)

2.00#    Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (8.2%)

Mash 10 hours @ 151

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Boil 60 mins

60        3.00 oz Magnum 16.40%AA

30        2.00 oz Blisk        11.00%AA

15        2.00 oz Chinook  12.00%AA

WP 25 3.00 oz Amarillo    9.50%AA

WP 25 1.30 oz  CTZ         17.50%AA

WP 25 2.00 oz  Chinook   12.00%AA

DH       2.00 oz Blisk         10.00%AA (1.0 oz each keg)

DH       2.00 oz Chinook   12.00%AA (1.0 oz each keg)

DH       3.00 oz Amarillo     9.50%AA (1.5 oz each keg)

DH       1.00 oz CTZ         15.00%AA (0.5 oz each keg)

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Kettle Additions:  
Ca 99; Mg 30; Na 6; Sulfate 267; Chloride 34; Bi-Carbonate 70; pH 5.2
Gypsum - Mash 1 3/8 tsp; Boil 3 3/8 tsp

Epsom Salts - Mash 1 3/8 tsp; Boil 2 3/4 tsp

Calcium Chloride - Mash 3/8 tsp; Boil 7/8 tsp

Pickling Lime - Mash 1/4 tsp
Lactic Acid 1.4 ml (Sparge)

Yeast Nutrient 6 taps

Whirfloc 1 each

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Fermentation:

Cooled to: 66*F

Cal Ale (Oakshire Slurry)

65*F 3 days

68*F 5 days

72*F 4 days

68*F 4 days

40*F 4 days

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Notes:

08/31-9/1 Brewed alone after camping a few days.  Mashed in all the grains for both of these IPAs, and my Imperial Red IPA as one mash at 1qt/lb and almost didn't have enough room.  Hit 159*F for the rest temp and had to rush to cool.  Stirred and put frozen water bottles in mash to cool.  Got it down to 152*F in about 20 minutes.  Wrapped in a sleeping bag w/o the heat blanket due to the hot weather.  Cooled to 136*F over 10 hours.  Batch sparged then fly sparged like crazy with hot water and tap water to get close to full volume.  Split the IIRA to its own kettle and topped off with water for the IPAs to get full volume making IIRA stronger and this batch in the range I wanted.  Added sugar to wort in a pitcher to dissolve with kettle salts, and added to main kettle.  Boiled and added hops per recipe.  Cooled, transferred via pump, and came up slightly shy of the target volume and a little higher OG so I diluted to 5.5 gallons, and pitched yeast.  Set temp control to 65*F.  Krausen forming by bed time, blow off next morning.

9/4 Bumped up temp to 68*F

9/6 Pulled samples, down to 1.009, and still super yeasty.

9/9 Bumped up to 72*F

9/14 Suspended dry hops in sacks from lid with SS chain inside bag.  Purged kegs with CO2.  CO2 force racked from BB through Liquid Out post and dip tube from bottom up venting from the Gas In post.  Halfway through first beer my CO2 kicked.  Had to call Stephen to bring his CO2 over to finish.  Left at room temp in mid to high 60s.

9/16 Added some CO2 at 30 psi for 12 hours for some carbonation and pressure on the hops.

9/18 Moved to beer fridge, dropped temps down to 40*F to drop clear, and set to 10psi to carbonate.

9/27 Poured off sludge and jumper transferred to another purged keg.  Vented through the pressure relief valve.  Swapped keg into beer fridge and put back onto CO2 to enjoy.

11/1 This beer took 1st place in the IPA category at the McKenzie Cider & Craft Beer Festival - Homebrew Competition