Bad Bird IPA

Thodd · Oct 1, 2016

Bad Bird IPA
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4.5kg Maris Otter
250g Vienna
250g Carapils
200g Torrified Wheat

14 litres for Mash at 64.5 C
17 Litres for Batch Sparge at 70 C

Hops
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20g Warrior @ 60 mins
15g Ahtanum @ 5 mins
15g Cascade @ 5 mins
20g Nelson Sauvin @ 5 mins
15g Simcoe @ 5 mins
20g Sorachi Ace @ 5 mins

80g Galaxy Dry Hop 3 days
80g Simcoe Dry Hop 3 days

Aiming for an OG of 1056 to achieve 5.5%
Using Safale S-04

here's the hops:

...and here's the Bad Bird the beer is named after:

TheRedDarren · Oct 1, 2016

That looks like a cracking IPA there my friend! Nice low mash temp, that'll be a proper west coast bomb.

Thodd · Oct 1, 2016

Cheers Darren - this is the first time I've played around with the mash temp. Always done it at 67, but after a healthy amount of reading I'm beginning to understand its influence on the enzyme behaviour.

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TheRedDarren · Oct 1, 2016

Experimenting with details is what it's all about mate. You'll notice a subtle but clear difference.
I really like the hop timings. Where did you get the inspiration for them?
I just tried the trial jar of my citra ipa, no additions before 20 mins, tastes amazing, I'm really excited about that one!

Thodd · Oct 1, 2016

Not sure about the inspiration. I've been brewing quite a few single hop beers to get a handle on the flavours.
I think this is just a natural progression of experience.
I want a real passion fruity/ citrus/ gooseberry zing,
So hopefully the hop choices will complement each other and provide what I'm after.
Lobbing them in at the end seems like the best way to go to get all that juicy oil without the bitterness.

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Thodd · Oct 3, 2016

Well - I usually fly sparge, but to save some time I batch sparged for the first time in this brew.
Whilst it did shave a considerable amount of time off my brew day - I did miss my OG by a large margin.

I was hoping for around 1056 - but it actually came out at 1042.
This meant my efficiency was about 52% which is pretty bad as I'm usually up around 65% and higher.

Still - if it ferments down to 1010 I should still obtain something above 4% which I'm fine with.

Will have to look into why it went so wrong in the mash for future brews.

TheRedDarren · Oct 3, 2016

That is a huge drop just for batch sparging. I used to batch sparge and iirc I was getting 65/70%...
Was the grain fresh?
Did you hit target mash temp? Conversion slows as the temperature drops and drops of markedly under 62 ish. Generally for low mash temps you need to mash longer for full conversion. Iodine testing is handy for this.

Thodd · Oct 4, 2016

yeah I know - I checked the mash temp 30 mins in as well as at the end it dropped from 64.5 to 64 over the hour.
The grain was delivered from Malt Miller the day before i used it - maybe it had been sat around for a while before it was sold.

Its not ideal - but a 4.2% beer isn't the end of the world and I like a nice session beer, it means I can drink more of them before I fall over :drink:

I'll look into getting something for the iodine testing - I can make sure everything is doing what its supposed to in the mash tun in future brews as I have a Saison planned in the next couple of weeks.

Covrich · Oct 4, 2016

Few things you can try if not already

1) take time doughing in add a little bit and thoroughly stir repeat until done
2) you could try introducing a stir half way through the mash
3) Possibly think about crushing your own grain.

I know consistency is the key to efficiencies but there is no reason you should get 52%.

Benjamin_B · Oct 5, 2016

Looks like a very interesting fruity and tropical hop range. Curious how this one turns out.

Thodd · Oct 6, 2016

Covrich said:
Few things you can try if not already

1) take time doughing in add a little bit and thoroughly stir repeat until done
2) you could try introducing a stir half way through the mash
3) Possibly think about crushing your own grain.

I know consistency is the key to efficiencies but there is no reason you should get 52%.

Thanks for this Covrich - I've never even considered crushing my own grain. Would this provide more consistency with the grain - what are the benefits of crushing yourself?
Feed me information :hat:

Covrich · Oct 6, 2016

Thodd said:
Thanks for this Covrich - I've never even considered crushing my own grain. Would this provide more consistency with the grain - what are the benefits of crushing yourself?
Feed me information :hat:

If you BIAB you can get a finer crush which will work for BIAB and not for a traditional mash tun.. It also is a nice fresher crush and you can store uncrushed grain longer and crush as you need..

When i first started AG my first two had 55% efficiency, since I crushed my own I never had this problem again..

Thodd · Nov 2, 2016

well...... its all bottled and conditioning away. Just have to wait 2 weeks for the magic to create bubbles.

I had a taster whilst bottling and it blummin lovely even at this early stage, I find the younger flavours of a beer lend themselves much better to a Hop Heavy crisp IPA style.
This one is everything I was hoping for at this stage - really light citrus notes with massive amounts of passion fruit/tropical zing - The maltiness just enough to balance the hops but not really prominent.

Bad Bird IPA

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