Thursday, October 31, 2013

RECIPE: Feed the Machine (AutumnIPA)

Autumn, that time of year when the leaves change color, the sun hides behind the clouds, the darkness arrives earlier and stays around later than before, and a chill sets in throughout the day.  That time of year when the light, crisp, fruity lager, or Witbier just aint cutting it anymore.  That time of year when you are looking for something richer, maltier, bolder, packed with warm malts, resiny and piney hops, and flavors of Fall.  Couple this with the fresh harvest of hops that are begging to be used, and it is time for an Autumn IPA.  


I wanted something different than my standard IPA, which contains no crystal malt, sugar, is light, and always super dry.  For this beer I was shooting for a rich malt backbone with a luscious mouthfeel from flaked barley, a touch of warm biscuits from Kiln Amber, a hint of Autumn sweet breads and Rye spice from the Crystal Rye, and a finish of roasted dryness and a deep Red color.  Couple this with a higher finishing gravity than any IPA I have made, somewhere in the upper teens to low 20s, and a balancing 97 IBUs. 

For the hops I wanted it to blast with resin, pine, and grapefruit.  I used heavy hand of Chinook (always), a blend of Cascade and Centennial (the bines grew together), and add some CTZ.  This hop combo should lend to the exact flavor and aroma I am hoping for, especially with the double dry hopping.  Although it is a shorter time than I usually ferment, I am hoping that this will be ready to drink on day 19 for Teach A Friend to Brew Day.  Fermented on a cake of 1968 with a controlled temperature increase should make for a clear beer that is finished quick, and even with a lower mash temp to help the yeast attenuate a little more.

As usual, the name of this Red IPA is from Red, a band I am particularly fond of, from their third album: Feed the Machine.  The premise of the song is that we all go along, doing nothing different, feeding into the machine of life, no one is unique, we all just do as we are expected by the culture (the song ends with a call to wake up and kill the machine).  It seemed fitting as I am making another hop driven beer, with a flavor profile that fits perfectly into the natural state we are living in now (Autumn), just feeding the machine.
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Stats:
Gallons: 5.00
OG: 1.082
FG: 1.017
ABV: 8.4%
IBUs: 97
SRM: 16
Efficiency: 79%
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Fermentables:
13.0# Pale Malt (Great Western) 
1.60# Barley, Flaked
0.80# MFB Kiln Amber 
0.50# Rye, Crystal 80/100L
0.18# Roasted Barley (Crisp) 
Mash 10 hours @ 147 - No Sparge
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Boil 60 mins
FW  1.50 oz CTZ 16.40 AA%
20 1.50 oz Cascade/Centennial Blend 10.00 AA%
10 0.70 oz Chinook 12.00 AA%
10 0.80 oz CTZ 9.00 AA%
5 1.00 oz Cascade/Centennial Blend 10.00 AA%
5 0.90 oz Chinook 12.00A%
WP  0.80 oz CTZ 16.40 AA%
WP  1.00 oz Cascade/Centennial Blend 10.00 AA%
WP  1.00 oz Chinook 12.00 AA%
DH 1 0.60 oz Cascade/Centennial Blend 10.00 AA%
DH 1 0.60 oz CTZ 16.40 AA%
DH 1 1.20 oz Chinook 12.00 AA%
DH 2 1.40 oz Cascade/Centennial Blend 10.00 AA%
DH 2 0.40 oz CTZ 16.40 AA%
DH 2 1.80 oz Chinook 12.00 AA%
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Kettle Additions:
Gypsum Mash 1 1/2 tsp Keg 1 3/4 tsp
Epsom Salts Mash 5/8 tsp
Calcium Chloride Mash 5/8 tsp
Baking Soda Mash 3/8 tsp
Whirfloc 1 each
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Fermentation:
Cooled to: 74
WY 1968 London ESB (Ninkasi slurry f/ Mild)
65 2 days (6 Gallon BB)
68 1 days
70 1 days
72 5 days
72 3 days (Dry Hops in Primary)
Kegged with 2nd Dry Hops
55 5 days (Keg on CO2)
40 7 days
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10/13  Brewed alone.  Kettle thermometer is off on temp, read 168 when other thermometer read 162.  Kettle too heavy to lift with all 8+ gallons.  Dropped MLT to floor and ran off through the ballvalve, mixed in grist while running off.  Lost 4*F on strike, mashed at 147*F.  9:30pm.  

10/14 6:50 am down to 136*F.  Ran off entire volume into kettle directly (no pump) and was short 1 quart.  Boiled off 5 quarts in 1 hour.  Bags worked great, WP dropped kettle temp to 140*F on it's own with 30 min WP.  Dropped to 68*F on kettle thermometer.  Squeezed hop bags, still very hot inside.  Ran off through pump @ 10am directly onto the yeast cake in ferm fridge.  Hit exactly 5 gallons (with yeast cake) @ 74*F, temp set to 65*F fridge cooling.  Krausen forming by 6pm.  

10/15 Full krausen up in neck of BB by 6am next morning.  Added foam drops before work.  

10/16-19 Upped temp from 65*F to 68*F on day 2, then to 70*F on day 3 + rocked BB to get yeast off of bottom, krausen still ~1 thick.  Increased to 72*F on day 4 to finish strong and remove any diacetyl.  Day 5 rocked BB to get the yeast back in suspension and krausen dropped.  

10/21 Took a sample, FG @ 1.021 (1.018 @ 71*F), fairly prominent nailpolish smell, quite warm, looks like the alcohol is a little hot from racking @ 74*F.  

10/22 Added first DH to primary for 5 days

10/24 Pulled a sample, nail polish is fading, hops are really resinous (what I wanted), and the malt is sweet and pronounced, still boozy.  FG down to 1.019.

10/25 Racked to purged keg with 2nd DH and left at ambient garage temps (~55*F) with CO2 on @ 18 PSI to carbonate.  FG was 1.015.

10/28 Pulled a sample from keg and the aroma is exploding with dank and resinous hops already.  Will be easily ready before the weekend.

10/31 Placed in fridge @ 40*F in the evening to have ready for Halloween after taking the kids out, and for Teach-A-Friend-to-Brew Day.

11/7 Added 1.75 tsp of Gypsum to 1 cup water and boiled, added to keg to boost sulfite levels and get a deeper bitterness.

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