Back in the saddle

[MPLMPL]

Ey up and all that. Forgive me for my sins, it has been 13 years 3 months since my last brew (relocation, buying house, doing up house, children...). After sampling a mixed case from Buxton Brewery I was reminded just how good home brewed beer used to taste and, as I'm particularly partial to American hop varieties (after having spent a few years in the Pacific North West in the 1990s) I decided it was time to get back in the saddle. I ordered an array of hops/malt/grain and then got impatient waiting to start breweing (I've only just stopped putting my empties into the recycling bin). My initial brew was to be an attempt to recreate a beer that lifted the scales from my eyes wrt American beers (back in 1994) Redhook ESB. I have lashings of Tettnang and Willamette hops ready and waiting, but want to do a 20L brew of it. As I'm well short of the bottles needed for this, I decided to go with a small scale 10L all Citra brew instead (in the garage I found a 12L food grade PP bucket with tight fitting lid and couldn't resit adding an airlock). The recipe will follow, but my question is whether to rack to a secondary fermenter or not? This is something I always used to do, but my problem is that in addition to the FV that is now undergoing primary, I only have 25L FVs to rack into. I'm worried about the chance of spoilage with 10L of beer in a 25L secondary FV. I would appreciate any advice/recmmondations regarding what I see as my three options (other than getting hold of another 12L FV):
1. Don't bother with the secondary vessel, dry hop into primary after a week and bottle between 2-3 weeks.
2. Rack to 25L secondary, the CO2 generated will quickly displace the 15L of air (will it?), I'm unduly worried?
3. Rack into 11L brew pan, put lid on, quickly wash out and sanitise primary FV and transfer brew back to this as secondary FV.

I welcome suggestions. Cheers
Title: Citra is my friend
Author: MPLMPL
Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 9 liters
Efficiency: 50% (steeping grains only)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 5.37%
IBU (tinseth): 52.25
SRM (morey): 9.62
FERMENTABLES:
1.5 kg - Dry Malt Extract - Light (83.3%)
STEEPING GRAINS:
0.2 kg - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (11.1%)
0.1 kg - German - Carapils (5.6%)
HOPS:
11 g - Citra for 60 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 14.8, IBU: 33.36)
10 g - Citra for 15 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 14.8, IBU: 15.05)
15 g - Citra for 2 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Aroma (AA 14.8, IBU: 3.85)
15 g - Citra for 14 days, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop (AA 14.8)
YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

 

[RobWalker]

another 2 gallon bucket will solve all your problems, just drill a hole for an airlock. it's likely to get exposed to the air in a secondary that's less than half full. i lost a batch of strawberry wheat that way - you'll be fine to dry hop for a week in that.

with your method though, i'd be tempted just to do it all in one container. ferment it, add some gelatine finings so it clears quickly (dry hopping is better in clear beer,) and then add the dry hops in there too when the finings have taken effect. it's not essential to use a secondary, just good, and a week should be enough to resettle any trub you disturb by stirring. i think 2 weeks is excessive too, you won't get much more out of it than you do in a week. if you want even more aroma, do 2 lots of dry hops for a week each.

if you're topping up, you could always steep your dry hops in 66c (or so) water for half an hour and add that. it's not quite dry hopping, but it will add a lot of aroma. for your 2 min hops, i'd suggest adding them in a bag and leaving them in the hot wort for 20 mins while it cools, leaving the 60 and 15 min hops behind.

lastly, for a clean tasting american IPA you'd be better off with us-05 yeast, but s-04 is great too. i'm not sure if steeping carapils will have much effect too as it's just designed to leave more dextrines behind when mashing, just like pale malt.

anyway, not to rip your recipe apart hahah, you're generally going the right way! so best of luck to you :thumb:

 

[PD]

If your temps are ok, leaving a good 10 days in the primary should be alright before you bottle or keg. Its a long standing debate re secondary racking ( I do it ) its for you to decide.
Welcome back to brewing

 

[MPLMPL]

Thanks for the prompt response and advice.

another 2 gallon bucket will solve all your problems, just drill a hole for an airlock.

The 12L one was a serendipitous find in the garage, so a hole was duly drilled. I don't rate my chances of finding another one before I need to make the decision, the brew went on on Saturday so is already merrily fermenting away. Reluctant to order one.

for your 2 min hops, i'd suggest adding them in a bag and leaving them in the hot wort for 20 mins while it cools, leaving the 60 and 15 min hops behind.

Didn't add in a bag, but they did stay in whilst cooling the pan in the sink (~30 mins). All then strained out via a large conical sieve when adding to FV.

lastly, for a clean tasting american IPA you'd be better off with us-05 yeast, but s-04 is great too.

I'd been reading about that, I have both US-05 and S-04, I just tossed a coin, I'd procrastinated enough!

i'm not sure if steeping carapils will have much effect too as it's just designed to leave more dextrines behind when mashing, just like pale malt.

I've never used carapils before - just read (on here?) something about a bit of it improving head retention and mouth-feel? Maybe it doesn't apply when steeping at 60-65C for 30 minutes? I'd seen it used on a few recipes, so just chucked some in.

anyway, not to rip your recipe apart hahah, you're generally going the right way! so best of luck to you

Cheers, I'm not precious about my recipe! I appreciate the advice and any constructive criticism is most welcome.

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome back. :

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[MPLMPL]

Yesterday had my first taster of my first homebrew for over 13 years. Started at 1.058 ended 1.014, so about 5.8%. Probably cut this to 5% if repeated. Spent 2 weeks in primary, dry hopped with 20g Citra for final 6 days. Primed with 90g DME - a week at ~18C then two weeks at ~ 11C. I think I'll give it a couple more weeks before really getting stuck in.
Appearance: let's just say it won't pass the feck test. Forgot to order copper finings. A nice amber colour, but if repeating I would go with a lighter crystal malt, Caramalt perhaps. Oh, and protafloc for final 15 mins of boil.
Carbonation: spot on to my tastes.
Aroma: tremendous in your face Citra all the way.
Taste: like an angel's tear landing on your tongue.

 

[namesjash]

Nice looking recipe and great taste in beer - I've just finished the last of my bottles of RedHook IPA and its already sorely missed!

If I had the time/ money to invest in an all grain set up (and a more understanding GF), I'd be recreating this next weekend!

Sorry to sound like a complete Noob (which I am!), but can anyone suggest a way that I could try and 'tweek' a Kit beer to replicate the characteristics/ profile of this recipe? If so, what sort of kit would you suggest i start with - I'm thinking a 3KG two can IPA kit like the milestone ones and then adding a hop tea or dry hopping to boost the flavour?

 

[MPLMPL]

Nice looking recipe and great taste in beer - I've just finished the last of my bottles of RedHook IPA and its already sorely missed!

Is that the one that Redhook's Ballard Bitter became when Anheuser-Busch took them over? I used to live in Vancouver in the mid 90s and make regular cross border raids to Seattle to visit their brewery in Fremont. Haven't had a Redhook of any description for years, but I loved their ESB, Ballard Bitter, Blackhook porter and Double Black stout.

If I had the time/ money to invest in an all grain set up (and a more understanding GF), I'd be recreating this next weekend!

I wouldn't say it's perfect, just a simple recipe to get me back in the swing of brewing and to enjoy the delights of Citra hops. I'm already regretting ordering 15kg of spraymalt, as I'm keen to go BIAB, which I didn't know existed until after I started reading about on here. It's not all-grain, just some spraymalt, hops and steeping grains. I would say that it's almost as easy to make as a kit. Steep the grains at 66C for 30 mins or so, I have a relatively small pot 13.5L, so I used 9-10L. Remove bag of grains, add the spraymalt (DME) or cans of liquid malt, bring to boil, add bittering hops and start 60 min timer, with 15 mins to go add more hops, with 2 mins to go or at end of boil add some more hops. Cool in sink. Strain into fermenter, add water to achieve volume SG required, pitch yeast. Lid on and wait.

Sorry to sound like a complete Noob (which I am!), but can anyone suggest a way that I could try and 'tweek' a Kit beer to replicate the characteristics/ profile of this recipe? If so, what sort of kit would you suggest i start with - I'm thinking a 3KG two can IPA kit like the milestone ones and then adding a hop tea or dry hopping to boost the flavour?

Someone else my be able to help here, the last time I brewed a kit was in the mid 80s, I think the quality has improved since then...

 

[namesjash]

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply! I live n vancouver and Whistler for a year back in 2004 and that opened my eyes to craft beers..

The redhook was part of birthday present from a friend - bought from Beer Merchants - well worth having a look at their store for all sorts of odds and sods!

When you explain it like that, is doesnt seem such a mission to make.. which has got me thinking

 

[MPLMPL]

When you explain it like that, is doesnt seem such a mission to make.. which has got me thinking

John Palmer's How to Brew is an excellent resource for beginners (or see the how to sections on this forum). I used whatever version he had on the web back in the 90s when I started brewing exract and grains. Read through them again before starting up again last month.
http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html