Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Sour Summer IPA

I picked up some Summer hops a bit ago, and after the success I had with sour IPA hopped with Huell Melon hops (for the strawberry essence), I wanted to try the Summer hops.  This hop is described as having aromas of stone fruit and tropical fruit, with other descriptions mentioning apricot and melon.  I thought that would be a very nice aroma profile to go along with a light-bodied sour beer.

Brew Day: 10 Apr 2018

Partial Mash:
1 lb Vienna malt
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
4 oz table sugar

After the boil is complete, cool the wort to 80 deg F, and fill a fermenter on top of 2 Good Belly Straight Shots.  Place the fermenter on a heat plate, wrapped in a towel, for 3 days.

Boil #2 (20 min): 13 Apr 2018

Hops:
7 g Summer  (AA: 5.8%, @ 20 min)
21 g Summer (@ 0 min)

Yeast: BE-134

Boil and pitching of yeast, followed my usual processes.

Addendum, 14 Apr: Checked in the beer this morning, because I'm superstitious that way.  Anything brewed on Friday the 13th needs constant supervision.  Actually, that isn't true...I was returning some of my cleaned equipment to the shelf, and caught a some-what hoppy whiff coming from the fermentation area.  In last night's brew, I hadn't placed the late hop addition in a hop bag; rather, I'd added it directly to the boil, at flameout, and as such, there was a good bit of hop material in the kettle after I chilled the wort and began racking the wort into the fermenter.  There was a good bit of fermentation activity overnight, but not a lot of the wort had been pushed down the blow-off tube into the bottle.  There was, however, some hop material in the tube and bottle, as well as a very interesting, fruity aroma with a bit of hoppiness.

Addendum, 19 Apr: Replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock.

Addendum, 30 Apr: Racked on to 14 g of Summer hops for dry hop #1.

Addendum, 4 May: Dry hop #2, 14 g of Summer hops.

Addendum, 7 May: Bottled today, got 8 good bottles.

Addendum, 20 May: Tried one bottle tonight after chilling.  Mild tartness, full body, fruity, juicy flavor.  Definitely a delicious hopped sour; going to let this age just a bit more, maybe another week, before trying another one.

Addendum, 20 Jun: Had another one of these last night, very good! There was a slight tarty-sharpness to it, and also a sweetness at the same time.  I believe that some of the characteristics imparted by the yeast (as opposed to the US-05 that I usually use for these beers) subdued the sour aspect of the beer, but not to an overwhelming level.  I definitely liked the effect imparted by the hops, as well. 

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