Simple Double IPA

[fbsf]

For my close-as-possible-after-crimbo brew (i.e. when my stash arrives from the malt miller with the vouchers I'm hoping to get from "santa") I want to do something a bit brewdog-y. Something like their Hoppy Christmas which is about 9%, so like the hardcore IPA crossed with the 5AM saint.

Basically, something reddy in colour and bloody hoppy. I'm also going to go short, as my mashtun won't cope with a full brew at that strength, so am going for 12L in the fermenter, which should be about 35ish 330ml bottles after trub.

Now, I'm not one for doing umpteen hop drops, so was thinking of the following:

4.5kg Maris Otter
200g Crystal
150g Caramalt

50g Magnum (14AA) @ 60min
150g Cascade (7.5AA) @ 10min
Fermenting with S04 (am I going to need two sachets for this?)

Does this sound reasonable? I reckon this should come back with an IBU of 140ish and a colour of 27EBC.

I've thought about dry hopping, but because of the strength of the brew, it will need a good time in the bottles to condition, so I can't really see the point.

 

[WelshPaul]

That's a LOT of Cascade to add in one go to the boil.
I've never tried that amount for a smaller brew but I have heard that adding a large amount of hops can lead to excess protein being leeched from them into the beer, which can cause a haze to the finished product. I'm sure that someone with more experience of this can clear this up (pardon the pun).
Much as I like Cascade, I'd be tempted to use a lower weight of a higher AA hop for the late hopping - something like Citra, perhaps?

 

[fbsf]

Well, it's only going in at 10 mins, so am I right in saying a lot of the alpha acids won't be extracted? It's more for the hop flavour and aroma - something I wouldn't get if I went for a lower amount of a higher AA hop.

Is 150g excessive for this style - would 100g be enough maybe?

 

[calumscott]

viewtopic.php?p=312017#p312017

You and me both!

I've got 270g going in from 15 mins and another 90 at flame out for double the volume. You might want to follow the good advice I was given to stagger those late additions to get the best balance of flavour and aroma...

...that said, I haven't brewed it yet, it might be rubbish... :lol:

 

[robsan77]

I'd recommend us05 instead of so4. Better hop flavour.

 

[fbsf]

We do seem to be thinking along similar lines Calum

I might split the 150g of cascade 30g @30, 90g @15 and 30g@5 then. That's not too arduous to contemplate...

Now, US05 - I've heard that it can be a bugger to get settled in the bottle - is that the case? I've always found S04 to compact really well which was why I chose it.

 

[calumscott]

Dunno, my first foray with it is still in the FV!

 

[Morgan]

Maybe think of

50g Cascade @ 15min
50g Cascade @Flameout
50g Cascade dryhop


I like to use citra as well, a recent IPA type was:

60mins 25g Citra + 25g Magmum
15mins 50g Cascade + 25g Citra
Dryhop 25g Cascade + 25g Citra

 

[robsan77]

It would be fair to say us05 is slow to settle but nothing a bit of time won't solve or you could get yourself some finings?

 

[fbsf]

Maybe think of

50g Cascade @ 15min
50g Cascade @Flameout
50g Cascade dryhop

See, I was thinking of this, but having tasted Brewdog's 5am Saint in bottles and on draught, the bottles lose a lot of the hoppy aroma, presumably due to ageing, so I reckon the hops would be better utilised earlier for flavour rather than just aroma.

Especially as a 9% brew is going to need a few months conditioning (I can't filter and force carbonate bottles like BD do!)

 

[fbsf]

Ok, have been thinking about this, and decided to drop the overall IBUs a bit. I've also changed the crystal type as I was thinking it was darker than it actually was

Soooo, for a 12L brew

4.2kg MO
250g Caramalt
150g Crystal
20g Magnum (14.5) FWH
20g Cascade (7.4) @ 30min
60g Cascade (7.4) @ 20min
60g Cascade (7.4) @ 10min

This should give me a colour of 23EBC and a bitterness of 122IBU with a whole heap of cascadey goodness in the flavour. Oh, and using US-05 recovered from AG#4 I should end up with an ABV of around 9.5%.

Now, I'm likely to be going back to BIAB for this, as I have suspicions that the large amount of dead space in my 2FV mashtun is causing me some efficiency issues.

Is there likely to be any problems BIABing something of this strength? I've got a bag that will fit my 25L FV, so should have plenty of space.

I'm guessing that I'll lose about 4.5L to the grain, 3L to the hops and 3.5L to the boil, so I'll need to start with about 23L. Should I be looking at mashing with 13L then sparging with 2x 5L ish?