AG#5 - 35th Prime - Double APA, **PICS UPLOADED**

[fbsf]

You're missing the trick...adjust your hop schedule to use whole 100g packets :party:

 

[calumscott]

You're missing the trick...adjust your hop schedule to use whole 100g packets :party:

Exactly!!

Depends on your hops but The Malt Miller does 100g for £3.06 on certain varieties. 400g = £12.24... Not that deadly really for a seriously hoppy brewday...

So, yes, just build a recipe around 1,2,3,4 or 500g of hops monkeying around with the schedule to fit them in.

...I actually stunk of hops after I was finished!!! :lol:

 

[wigwamheed]

Good point, spouse I could use up all the half packs already in the freezer too

 

[calumscott]

Yup. Start with what you have to use up, then just add whole 100's until you get the sort of crazy beer you want!!

Remember to factor in a decent whack for dry hopping. :thumb:

 

[fbsf]

...I actually stunk of hops after I was finished!!! :lol:

I know what you mean. I bought a 5kg bale of Perle recently and had to split it into 200g freezer bags for a mate and I.
My fingers were green for days and the whole house smelt of hops! :whistle:

 

[Asalpaws]

Must say that the my bag seems to struggle to extract enough sugar to get over 1.095, despite adding easily enough grain. DME is good for making up the difference. My IIPA missed it's target as well, despite an overnight mash. I think I will use a fly sparge for bigger beers in future. T

 

[calumscott]

That's what I was thinking too.

Next time will be a big grain bill, not a lot of water, then some bag sparging through my bottling bucket to make the volume.

I need to read up on the mechanics of saccharification and why the larger volume of malting liquor prevents the extraction of all the sugars...

...anyone want to point me at any interesting articles? :thumb:

 

[wigwamheed]

Do use raise your mash temp at the end of mashing?

 

[calumscott]

Yeah, it gets 10 mins at around 77 degrees before I pull the bag.

 

[wigwamheed]

I don't know but I wonder if a lot of the enzymes great diluted away from your bag. Never done biab though so not really sure of the science side just ag

 

[calumscott]

Nah, my bag is custom built and fits the pot perfectly.

 

[Equinox101]

The brews missing something....
..... Needs more hops! :

Respect for that, makes my 90g hop additions looks like a poor effort lol. I'll be dry hopping in my next brew I think.

Nice work.

 

[calumscott]

Racking time!!!

Which means?

Sample time!!! Down to 1.015 giving me 8.6% so far and it's still going...

...now, it is really really green obviously but it will be the beer I wanted. The sample is nothing short of sensational. Colour looks bang on, aroma smacks you round the head to start with, then the bittering goes right up the back of your nose and has the effect on your eyes that only cat ownering men know (the one where you're fast asleep dreaming away and the little bugger jumps right on your spuds), then everything just calms down and leaves beautiful malt and citrus hops behind.

Then you have another sip and it all goes mental again!!! I could NOT be happier with this. WOW. Just WOW.

 

[calumscott]

...further musings from yesterday.

Given the death of my digi thermometer (for the third time, now resurrected once more...) I think this is probably the reason for missed gravities on this and the AG#3 Lia Fail clone(ish). Yesterday's stepped mash for the Hefeweizen was done exclusively with my spirit thermometer as each step was short enough for temp loss to be negligible and I came in a point over my expected gravity.

Time to invest in a better thermometer methinks...

 

[calumscott]

Re-tested today, down to 1.012 giving me 8.9% which I'm very happy with.

It's still brilliant. It's now flowery, fruity hoppy brilliant on top of the bitter, alcoholic, hoppy brilliance pre-dry-hopping.

Bottling tomorrow if I can get my a**e in gear. :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

I've opened a bottle...

Faults first:

1) It's really not old enough to be opening a bottle so:
a) The chill haze (because I wasn't sure what the carb level was, I chucked it in the fridge) is outrageous - almost wheat beer cloudy! I guess the monster hop schedule is a major factor. No feck test for this one for a VERY long time...
b) It's noticeably "green", the (considerable) alcohol is too prominent and the the hops are still fighting each other a bit. Chinook is clearly winning so all is well! :lol:


Now that's out of the way:

2) Malt is there. I'm glad I came up short on gravity and dumped in a half kilo of spraymalt and a half kilo of demerera to hit gravity. The sugar has prevented it from becoming cloying - malt balance is perfect which is astonishing considering the bitterness.
3) Bitterness - feckin' Nora!! It really bites. Hard. Like a toddler with a grudge...
4) Hop flavours and aroma - if you aren't a hop monster DO NOT BREW THIS BEER! Grapefruit in spades! But not all chinook grapefruit fruitiness, sounds odd but in this, the cascade really mellows things out... very strange indeed... but awesome. If you really like your hops!
5) Colour is perfect.
6) Body and feel. Perfect (or I think it will be when the alcohol mellows a bit).


Overall?

I believe the Americans say "Hell Yeah!!!"

 

[Asalpaws]

Having brewed a similar beer but with British hops, I tried mine recently and there is a lot of alcohol harsh flavours. It brings up a bit of a dilemma, you need to let it mature but as it gets older all the hoppy flavours will diminish! What to do? Difficult to say when the optimal time to drink an imperial IPA will be. T

 

[calumscott]

Having brewed a similar beer but with British hops, I tried mine recently and there is a lot of alcohol harsh flavours. It brings up a bit of a dilemma, you need to let it mature but as it gets older all the hoppy flavours will diminish! What to do? Difficult to say when the optimal time to drink an imperial IPA will be. T

I guess this is where the mental American hops like Chinook (and Bullion and Cascade to a degree) come into their own. It's SO intense that it I just don't think that it will diminish at all.

British hops are brilliant of course but we do things a little less, well, brash and that isn't what's required for a stupid beer like this...

 

[Good Ed]

According to Mitch Steele American IPA's should be drunk fresh! and Double IPA's drunk young!

 

[calumscott]

According to Mitch Steele American IPA's should be drunk fresh! and Double IPA's drunk young!

Fair enough but there's "young" and there's "it's-only-just-carbed-up-young"! :lol: