I picked up some Pacifica hops not long ago, due to the flavor profile, and I'm really looking forward to trying them out. I'm going to use them in a sour, but I'm going to back off the bacteria I add, in that I'm going to go with just one GoodBelly Straight Shot instead of two.
For this one, I'd made a run to my local homebrew supply place, and had been leafing through the bin of Omega Labs yeasts...I'm looking to make another tangerine wheat soon, and wanted to get some more yeast. I ran across the Tropical IPA yeast, and it sounded good, so I'm going to give it a go. I'm sure that it's going to be hard to pick out the yeast contributions with everything going on...sour, Pacifica hops, and the yeast...but we'll see what comes of this one.
Brew Day: 22 Oct 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Boil #2 (20 min): 26 Oct 2019
Hops:
14 g Pacifica, FWH
1 oz Pacifica, 10 min whirlpool
14 g Pacifica, dry hop
Yeast: Omega Labs Tropical IPA
Addendum, 28 Oct: This is one of those Omega Labs yeasts that reportedly does better at higher temperatures, so I placed the fermenter on a warming plate after pitching the yeast. I checked on it this morning, and the fermentation is best described as "enthusiastic".
Addendum, 5 Nov: Transferred to secondary today, not so much because I had to for the beer, but because I want to use the warming plate for another beer in the next day or two. As I was finishing cleaning up after transferring the beer, I realized that it's almost time to dry hop the beer, which I hope to do tomorrow sometime, and then I'll try to bottle it on Saturday.
Addendum, 16 Nov: Dry hopped.
Addendum, 24 Nov: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle. Used just shy of 2 T sugar, rather than a full ounce (~ 2 1/2 T), as the beers have been a little over-carbonated of late.
Addendum, 9 Dec: Tried one of these beers tonight. The bottle opened with a nice escape of gas, and as expected of a sour, the beer poured with good carbonation but no real head to speak of. The beer itself was mildly sour, not overpoweringly so, with subtle hints of the hops peeking through. I'm a fan of sour IPAs, and this one did not have the overpowering tartness in previous beers; this time it was much more subtle. Tasty, easy drinking sour beer.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Friday, September 13, 2019
Yet Another Leftover IPA
Maybe I should call this one "Semper FIPA", as like the Marines, it has contributions from all over, and ultimately comes together to make a pretty darned good IPA.
Contributions
Both of the following wort contributions are pretty close to the same, with the Ginger Belgian having the ginger addition during the boil:
Ginger Belgian
Tangerine Wheat
I also used:
Fruit-forward IPA with Galaxy and Julius hops
Fruity sour IPA (small contribution)
Brew Day: 13 Sept 2019
Boil (20 min)
Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 15 Sept: I'm thinking that something is amiss with the concoction, as it hasn't started bubbling yet, as if the yeast hasn't kicked off. I followed all of my usual processes and procedures, from cooling, to aerating, and pitching the yeast. All I can think of is that maybe I got some old yeast. Later in the week, I'll have to figure out if I want to try pitching more yeast or just ditching the beer all together.
Addendum, 19 Sept: I had to travel for work this week, and left on 15 Sept. The yeast hadn't kicked off before I left, but it clearly had done something by the time I checked this morning. There was no activity this morning, but there were clear indications of something happening while I was gone. I may rack the beer into secondary here very shortly, just to get it off of the left-over hops material in the fermenter.
Addendum, 20 Sept: Transferred the beer to secondary today, in large part to get it off of the hop debris it's been sitting on. The beer was yellow-straw in color, and very hazy. I was pretty interested to see that while there had clearly been some fermentation action, there was not a great deal of material in the blow-off bottle. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles, and about 1/2 of a re-purposed soda bottle.
Contributions
Both of the following wort contributions are pretty close to the same, with the Ginger Belgian having the ginger addition during the boil:
Ginger Belgian
Tangerine Wheat
I also used:
Fruit-forward IPA with Galaxy and Julius hops
Fruity sour IPA (small contribution)
Brew Day: 13 Sept 2019
Boil (20 min)
Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 15 Sept: I'm thinking that something is amiss with the concoction, as it hasn't started bubbling yet, as if the yeast hasn't kicked off. I followed all of my usual processes and procedures, from cooling, to aerating, and pitching the yeast. All I can think of is that maybe I got some old yeast. Later in the week, I'll have to figure out if I want to try pitching more yeast or just ditching the beer all together.
Addendum, 19 Sept: I had to travel for work this week, and left on 15 Sept. The yeast hadn't kicked off before I left, but it clearly had done something by the time I checked this morning. There was no activity this morning, but there were clear indications of something happening while I was gone. I may rack the beer into secondary here very shortly, just to get it off of the left-over hops material in the fermenter.
Addendum, 20 Sept: Transferred the beer to secondary today, in large part to get it off of the hop debris it's been sitting on. The beer was yellow-straw in color, and very hazy. I was pretty interested to see that while there had clearly been some fermentation action, there was not a great deal of material in the blow-off bottle. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles, and about 1/2 of a re-purposed soda bottle.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Fruity Sour IPA
Back in the early '80s, there was a "Bloom County" cartoon that included a poem that struck me, and I read it during English class as a high school senior. The poem goes like this:
"I wouldn't mind if I did find a blue whale in my soup
Nor would I mind a porcupine inside a chicken coop
Yes, life is fine when things combine
Like ham in beef chow mien
But, Lord, this time I think I mind
They put acid in my rain"
Yeah, I know...it kind of started out whimsical and then went dark there at the end, but it reminds me of combining things that one might not ordinarily mix. Also, something I learned in the Marine Corps, while on the rifle range, is "bold dope changes"...basically, if you're going to make a change, make it a big one! So, I thought I'd do a sour IPA, with a different yeast, and add the mandarin juice I had left over from the tangerine wheat.
Brew Day: 10 Sept 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min) #1:
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar
During this process, DO NOT HOP THE WORT! Once the wort is cooled, place (2) GoodBelly Straight Shots into a sanitized fermenter, and rack the cooled wort on top of them. Place any left over wort into a sanitized container and refrigerate. Place the fermenter on a warming plate.
Boil (20 min) #2 (13 Sept):
Boil wort for 20 min to kill the bugs, and add hops at this point. Once the boil is done, pitch the yeast and place the fermenter back on the warming plate.
Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)
Yeast: Omega HotHead
Once I'd cooled the wort and pitched the yeast, I placed the fermenter back on the warming plate.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today, using 14 g Huell Melon; racked beer onto hops and 12 oz of tangerine juice.
Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 6 bottles, 3 re-purposed soda bottles.
"I wouldn't mind if I did find a blue whale in my soup
Nor would I mind a porcupine inside a chicken coop
Yes, life is fine when things combine
Like ham in beef chow mien
But, Lord, this time I think I mind
They put acid in my rain"
Yeah, I know...it kind of started out whimsical and then went dark there at the end, but it reminds me of combining things that one might not ordinarily mix. Also, something I learned in the Marine Corps, while on the rifle range, is "bold dope changes"...basically, if you're going to make a change, make it a big one! So, I thought I'd do a sour IPA, with a different yeast, and add the mandarin juice I had left over from the tangerine wheat.
Brew Day: 10 Sept 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min) #1:
1 lb DME
4 oz table sugar
During this process, DO NOT HOP THE WORT! Once the wort is cooled, place (2) GoodBelly Straight Shots into a sanitized fermenter, and rack the cooled wort on top of them. Place any left over wort into a sanitized container and refrigerate. Place the fermenter on a warming plate.
Boil (20 min) #2 (13 Sept):
Boil wort for 20 min to kill the bugs, and add hops at this point. Once the boil is done, pitch the yeast and place the fermenter back on the warming plate.
Hops:
14 g U1/108 Experimental (FWH)
14 g Huell Melon + 14 g Azacca (10 min whirlpool)
Yeast: Omega HotHead
Once I'd cooled the wort and pitched the yeast, I placed the fermenter back on the warming plate.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today, using 14 g Huell Melon; racked beer onto hops and 12 oz of tangerine juice.
Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 6 bottles, 3 re-purposed soda bottles.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Fruit-forward IPA
I'm a fan of fruit-forward IPAs, and recently ran across the Omega Horindahl Kveik yeast. Given the description, I thought I'd give it a shot, so I set the yeast out ahead of time to warm up to room temperature, shaking it repeatedly. I also set the warming plate up ahead of time so that it would be up to temperature for when I placed the fermenter on it.
Brew Day: 3 Sept 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Galaxy (FWH)
1 oz Julius (10 min whirlpool)
14 g Galaxy (dry hop)
Yeast: Omega Hornidal Kveik
Following the boil, I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.
Addendum, 4 Sept: Checked on the beer this morning, it appears that fermentation really took off overnight!
Addendum, 15 Sept: Placed in secondary; I'm traveling, and won't be able to do anything with the beer until later in the week. As such, I racked it to secondary, and I'll dry hop it when I return.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 8 bottles, 1 re-purposed soda bottle.
Addendum, 14 Oct: Opened the soda bottle tonight. Beer is a golden straw color, pours with a full head of medium bubbles that slowly dissipates. Citrus in the nose. Medium body, the beer has a big, sweet fruit-forward flavor with more than a bit of citrus. Big flavor, with little, if any, bitterness.
Brew Day: 3 Sept 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Golden Light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Galaxy (FWH)
1 oz Julius (10 min whirlpool)
14 g Galaxy (dry hop)
Yeast: Omega Hornidal Kveik
Following the boil, I cooled the wort, pitched the yeast and placed the fermenter on a warming plate, wrapped in a towel.
Addendum, 4 Sept: Checked on the beer this morning, it appears that fermentation really took off overnight!
Addendum, 15 Sept: Placed in secondary; I'm traveling, and won't be able to do anything with the beer until later in the week. As such, I racked it to secondary, and I'll dry hop it when I return.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 26 Sept: Bottled; 8 bottles, 1 re-purposed soda bottle.
Addendum, 14 Oct: Opened the soda bottle tonight. Beer is a golden straw color, pours with a full head of medium bubbles that slowly dissipates. Citrus in the nose. Medium body, the beer has a big, sweet fruit-forward flavor with more than a bit of citrus. Big flavor, with little, if any, bitterness.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Tangerine Wheat
My wife found that she really likes the Lost City Tangerine Wheat, to the point where she'll get two cans to take home from the restaurant where we can get it. She asked if I could make it, and I thought, why not try? I looked around online and found a good bit of discussion about doing just that, and there were a lot of mixed input and opinion, and I thought, okay, I'll just dive in.
My plan is to use the Omega Voss Kveik yeast for the orange-citrus, and then I'll get about 1/2 oz of tangerine zest, soak it in vodka for 2 days, and then add that to a "dry hop" for two days before bottling.
Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME
Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
Yeast: Voss Kveik
After pitching the yeast, I placed the fermenter on a warm (I'd plugged it in earlier in the day) warming plate, and wrapped it in a towel. I did this to keep the temperature high, and I'll let it stay there through the weekend.
Addendum, 2 Sept: Grated zest off of 4 mandarin oranges to get 1 oz of zest. Placed the zest in a sanitized container with just enough Titos vodka to cover the zest. Will let this sit for a couple of days, and will then add the vodka to the fermenter, and add the zest as a 'dry hop'.
Also, I juiced all 12 mandarin oranges, and saved off the juice (~ 12 oz) in a sanitized container. I placed the juice in the freezer, to kill any bugs. I don't have a specific beer that I'm going to add this to at the moment, but there may be a juicy IPA in my very near future!
Addendum, 5 Sept: Drained vodka run-off into a clean fermenter; added zest to a hop bag, placed that in the fermenter, as well. Racked the beer on to the zest and vodka.
Addendum, 9 Sept: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Tasting night! Beer poured with a deep amber color and substantial head of medium bubbles, which dissipated in short order. My wife said that she got a full dose of tangerine in the aroma, full on in the nose, as well as good tangerine flavor in the beer. She really likes this one, so it's a keeper!
My plan is to use the Omega Voss Kveik yeast for the orange-citrus, and then I'll get about 1/2 oz of tangerine zest, soak it in vodka for 2 days, and then add that to a "dry hop" for two days before bottling.
Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME
Hops: 14 g German Perle (@ 20 min)
Yeast: Voss Kveik
After pitching the yeast, I placed the fermenter on a warm (I'd plugged it in earlier in the day) warming plate, and wrapped it in a towel. I did this to keep the temperature high, and I'll let it stay there through the weekend.
Addendum, 2 Sept: Grated zest off of 4 mandarin oranges to get 1 oz of zest. Placed the zest in a sanitized container with just enough Titos vodka to cover the zest. Will let this sit for a couple of days, and will then add the vodka to the fermenter, and add the zest as a 'dry hop'.
Also, I juiced all 12 mandarin oranges, and saved off the juice (~ 12 oz) in a sanitized container. I placed the juice in the freezer, to kill any bugs. I don't have a specific beer that I'm going to add this to at the moment, but there may be a juicy IPA in my very near future!
Addendum, 5 Sept: Drained vodka run-off into a clean fermenter; added zest to a hop bag, placed that in the fermenter, as well. Racked the beer on to the zest and vodka.
Addendum, 9 Sept: Bottled tonight; got 8 good bottles and 1 re-purposed soda bottle.
Addendum, 23 Sept: Tasting night! Beer poured with a deep amber color and substantial head of medium bubbles, which dissipated in short order. My wife said that she got a full dose of tangerine in the aroma, full on in the nose, as well as good tangerine flavor in the beer. She really likes this one, so it's a keeper!
Ginger Belgian
My wife REALLY likes this one, and I have the ingredients on hand, so I thought I'd get one fermenting...
Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar
Hops: 14 g German Perle (FWH)
*1 oz thinly sliced fresh ginger, in a hop bag, added to the last 10 min of the boil.
Yeast: BE-134
I followed all of usual processes.
Addendum, 5 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.
Brew Day: 22 Aug 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz crushed Munich
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
6 oz table sugar
Hops: 14 g German Perle (FWH)
*1 oz thinly sliced fresh ginger, in a hop bag, added to the last 10 min of the boil.
Yeast: BE-134
I followed all of usual processes.
Addendum, 5 Sept: Racked to secondary.
Addendum, 21 Oct: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
LeftOver IPA
Okay, time for another "left-over IPA", and this time, we have something of an interesting mix of hopped wort that contributes to this brew. There's a wheat beer, two sours, and 3 IPAs. Keep in mind, however, that this is all from wort after the fermenter has been filled and the yeast pitched for the contributing beer; this was the wort left over in the brew kettle, and there was still some hops that the wort was sitting on while it sat in the container, waiting for today's brew.
Prior brews that contributed to the wort for this brew:
Hefe #2 - wheat beer, some gentle hopping via German Perle, prior to yeast
Nordic IPA - Melon and Mosaic hops, prior to pitching the yeast
Nordic Sour IPA - same as above, but sour
Galaxy IPA - NE-style IPA using Galaxy hops (prior to pitching yeast and dry hop)
Julius IPA - NE-style IPA using Julius hops (ibid)
Watermelon Sour IPA - After the wort was soured and hopped, but before the yeast, dry hop and watermelon juice
Brew Day: 16 Jul 2019
Boil (20 min):
Everything's already in the kettle
Hops: See above
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 20 Jul: Transferred the beer to a clean fermenter, as it was sitting on a lot of left-over hop junk. I'll let this sit for a bit more than a week, and then dry hop it.
Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped on 14 g Huell Melon hops.
Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.
Prior brews that contributed to the wort for this brew:
Hefe #2 - wheat beer, some gentle hopping via German Perle, prior to yeast
Nordic IPA - Melon and Mosaic hops, prior to pitching the yeast
Nordic Sour IPA - same as above, but sour
Galaxy IPA - NE-style IPA using Galaxy hops (prior to pitching yeast and dry hop)
Julius IPA - NE-style IPA using Julius hops (ibid)
Watermelon Sour IPA - After the wort was soured and hopped, but before the yeast, dry hop and watermelon juice
Brew Day: 16 Jul 2019
Boil (20 min):
Everything's already in the kettle
Hops: See above
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 20 Jul: Transferred the beer to a clean fermenter, as it was sitting on a lot of left-over hop junk. I'll let this sit for a bit more than a week, and then dry hop it.
Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped on 14 g Huell Melon hops.
Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight; got 9 good bottles.
Monday, July 15, 2019
Watermelon Sour IPA
I enjoy a nice sour IPA with watermelon juice added to the beer. What can I say? Not long ago, I sanitized a storage container and saved off some fresh juice from some watermelon we had...the horses seem to enjoy it as much as we do. I froze the juice to kill any bugs in it...
Brew Day: 12 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Add the wort to a sanitized fermenter, racking it on to 2 Good Belly Straight Shots, then place the fermenter on a warming plate for ~72 hrs. Preserve any additional wort in sanitized containers to be added back during the second boil.
Boil #2 (20 min): 15 Jul
Hops:
14 g Huell Melon (FWH)
1 oz Mosaic (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Huell Melon (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped, and added 12 oz watermelon juice (frozen, raised to room temp via water bath)
Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight, got 7 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.
Brew Day: 12 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil #1 (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Add the wort to a sanitized fermenter, racking it on to 2 Good Belly Straight Shots, then place the fermenter on a warming plate for ~72 hrs. Preserve any additional wort in sanitized containers to be added back during the second boil.
Boil #2 (20 min): 15 Jul
Hops:
14 g Huell Melon (FWH)
1 oz Mosaic (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Huell Melon (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 28 Jul: Dry hopped, and added 12 oz watermelon juice (frozen, raised to room temp via water bath)
Addendum, 1 Aug: Bottled tonight, got 7 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Julius IPA
I recently read about some hops out of Minnesota, from Mighty Axe, and really liked the flavor profile for the one called "Julius". It turns out that I could get these from Northern Brewer, so I placed an order and it showed up yesterday afternoon. So, during the high heat and humidity of central Virginia, brewing a fruit-forward NE-style IPA is a good way to spend an early afternoon.
Brew Day: 13 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Julius hops (FWH)
1 oz Julius hops (10 min whirlpool @ flameout)
14 g Julius hops (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 14 Jul: These pellet hops create a great deal of "debris". What I mean by that is that when I add the FWH addition, I just dump the hops into the kettle. After transferring to the fermenter, flakes of the hops rose to the neck of the fermenter, and were pushed into the blow-off tube. It looks like some pressure built up behind the debris, as it was pushed throughout the tube.
This is definitely something to keep in mind in the future. The whirlpool addition is added in a hop bag, as is the dry hop.
Addendum, 24 Jul: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 28 Jul: Bottled; got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.
Brew Day: 13 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Julius hops (FWH)
1 oz Julius hops (10 min whirlpool @ flameout)
14 g Julius hops (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 14 Jul: These pellet hops create a great deal of "debris". What I mean by that is that when I add the FWH addition, I just dump the hops into the kettle. After transferring to the fermenter, flakes of the hops rose to the neck of the fermenter, and were pushed into the blow-off tube. It looks like some pressure built up behind the debris, as it was pushed throughout the tube.
This is definitely something to keep in mind in the future. The whirlpool addition is added in a hop bag, as is the dry hop.
Addendum, 24 Jul: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 28 Jul: Bottled; got 8 good bottles and one re-purposed soda bottle.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Galaxy IPA
I decided to pick up some Australian Galaxy hops recently, thanks to the flavor profile, and it seemed like a good time to brew an IPA.
Brew Day: 6 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (FWH)
1 oz Australian Galaxy hops (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 15 Jul: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 20 Jul: Got 6 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.
Brew Day: 6 Jul 2019
Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-row malt
2 oz flaked wheat
Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar
Hops:
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (FWH)
1 oz Australian Galaxy hops (@ 20 min, 10 min rest)
14 g Australian Galaxy hops (dry hop)
Yeast: US-05
Addendum, 15 Jul: Dry hopped today.
Addendum, 20 Jul: Got 6 good bottles and two re-purposed soda bottles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)