My Own IPA- Batch 27

I decided to brew an IPA.  With some $$$ from a friend and some side work I did, I decided to brew a big hoppy IPA.  I checked out dozens of award winning beer recipies, and in the end decided to formulate my own.

7lbs light malt extract syrup
2lbs 2 row
1/2lb crystal malt 120l
1/2lb crystal malt 60l
1/2lb aromatic malt
1/2lb white wheat malt
2 oz Chinook hops (60 min)
1/2 oz Centennial (60 min)
1/4 oz Centennial (30 min)
1/4 oz Cascade (30 min)
1/4 oz Centennial (2 min)
1/4 oz Cascade (2 min)
2 tsp gypsum
1/4 tsp Irish moss

So I took my grains with 4 quarts of water for my protien rest at 130 degrees.

IPA- Grains during protien rest

After 30 minutes at 130 degrees, I added 1 quart of boiling water to get it up to 150 degrees.  For some reason, it didn’t get there, so I added heat and a bit more water.

IPA- Extracting Sugars

I love grain extraction!

Now, while all this was going on, I was taking pictures of my next project.  Let’s just say it’s something I’ve never done before.  Here are two pictures that should give a big hint as to what I’m going to try next.

Campden Tablets and Yeast Nutrients

Bucket of Cherries

And, of course, you can’t brew beer without enjoying some beer.

Belgian Wit a friend brewed

My Weizenbeir

After 30 minutes at 150, I took the temp up to 158 degrees for 15 minutes to finish the starch conversion.  Then, up to 168 to stop the conversion process.

Now, sparging the grains begins.  This is the one area where I am historically the weakest in.  To help correct, I added 2 tsp of gypsum to my sparge water (a Papazian suggestion), plus I tried oh so hard to pour my water as slowly and evenly as possible (not having a little sprinkley thinget to evenly cover my grains).  Then I let it sit for a while with my grains in the sparge water.  I drained the water sloooowly, and then sparged again with the same water, to insure I got as much of the goodness as possible.

My Lauder Tun

Slowly draining the wort

Now, time to boil the wort.  I took the liquids from my grains and put it on the stove to boil.  Then I went to my freezer to get my hops.

The 11 Varieties of Hops in my Freezer

Once the wort began to boil, I added my 2oz of Chinook and 1/2 oz of Centennials.

Chinook’s on the Scale

Wort Boiling

What do you do with all those spent grains from the lauder tun?

Grains in the Garbage

After 30 minutes of boiling, I added my 1/4oz of Centennials and 1/4oz of Cascades.  I began hydrating my Irish moss as well.

Irish Moss hydrating

With 15 minutes left, I added the 7lbs of light malt extract and the Irish moss.  With 2 minutes remaining, I added the last of the hops, 1/4 oz of Centennials and 1/4 oz of Cascades.

Turning off the heat, I then begin the process of filtering out the hop pellet’s and the other big stuff.  My process for doing this is so advanced and so amazing that mere humans would be baffled and amazed by it’s complexity (I use a wire mesh strainer.)

Once complete, into my fermenter with the lid sealed tight and the air lock on and wait for it to cool.  Most long time brewers chill the wort at this point, but why pay money when it will cool on it’s own?  Chill haze?  Bah!  I haven’t made a lager yet! (Though someday I would love a counter flow cooler!)

IPA sitting next to my Framboise

In the morning, I aerated the wort for 15 minutes, took the initial gravity (which was 1.066), and pitched the yeast.  I used a packet yeast, British Ale yeast.  With packet yeasts, I sanitize a cup, put some water in, add some corn sugar and the yeast.  This get’s the yeast nice and active before I pitch it into my wort.

In a week it should be ready to bottle.  I took a taste already.   Oooh, baby!  It’s gonna be good!