Catching up and the MindTouch RESTful IPA

As usual, my entries are woefully behind my actual brewing. Quick recap (with some questionable chance of detailed follow up) of the last 6 months:

• Second batch of Session Ale recipe using British Ale yeast came out the way i intended right at about 4.5%. This was bottled as the Bunkspeed Hyperdrive 2.0 Release Ale
  
• Third batch of Session Ale repeated the second batch's success but was cask conditioned and put on the Angram (and is already gone)
  
• Another attempt at a Paulaner clone ended up off the mark. A fine Hefeweizen but not quite a Paulaner
• Second annual Cranberry WitBier is now on tap and even tastier than last year.

And my most recent brewing excursion is the MindTouch RESTful IPA. This is a variation on my take on the SDPA and will be bottled. I'll probably start another batch of it next weekend to put on the Angram. Either that or another Session Ale, since it is more quaffable.

SDPA kegged

Just kegged my SDPA and put another ounce of Simcoe in there for further dryhopping. The specific gravity was 1.016 (1.017 adjusted) giving an approximate alcohol content of 6.4%. I put in a little bit of fermentation sugar, since this is going on the Angram and needs to be just lightly keg conditioned.

OAB @ 12% and new SDPA

I just kegged the Oaked Abstract Bastage and it's gravity had further decreased to 1.034 or 1.035 adjusted which gives it a whopping 12% alcohol by volume. Still has that guava juice taste to. Still very sweet. I'm letting it age some more before tasting it, partially because i don't have room in kegerator. In two weeks it'll probably go in the kegerator and be tapped for a tasting, but i still expect to let it age at least another month or two before drinking it.

In the meantime, I've started a new SDPA. Well, I really started it two weeks ago and today transfered it to secondary for dryhopping. It's got a beautifully light color and a yummy aroma. It's gonna be a bit of a weird one, because i completely screwed up my hop additions. My plan was to use some spare hops for the bittering, since hop prices have shot up and I want to leave the strong aroma hops for flavoring and aroma. Except i kept grabbing the wrong packets. So here's the recipe as it turned out:

Steep (30min @ 160F)

• 0.5# Victory
  
• 1.0# Cara Pils
  
• 0.5# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 1 oz. Amarillo Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Magnum Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 7# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Amarillo Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 2 oz. Perle Pellets
  

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale Yeast
  

Dry Hop after two weeks

• 2 oz. Simcoe Plugs
  

My initial gravity was 1.060 @ 87F or 1.064 adjusted. Today's reading was 1.018 @ 66F or 1.019 adjusted which gives me 6.3% alcohol by volume. That's just about perfect, although I assume it's gonna pick up another 0.3-0.4% by the time i keg it.

The SDPA will be keg-conditioned and replace the guiness on the Angram.

SDPA gone bad and a new experiment

Well, I just learned that I should trust my nose. When I pitched the yeast I had from the previous SDPA into this batch, I thought it was off. Sure enough, two days later and still nothing. So I got a fresh White Labs California Ale Yeast and it really took off. Today I transfered it to secondary and the smell was just way off. The same chemical sort of smell that made me pitch my Hefeweizen last year. So all those yummy ingredients down the drain. I'm giving it a couple of days in secondary and will taste it again, but that's mostly an act of desperation. Suckage.

Considering it's almost November, I probably won't try another SDPA this year, since I want a Guiness clone on the Angram by the time it gets cold. I was going to start the Steam Beer kit I thought i had kicking around, but I have no idea what happened to it. Did I already brew and consume it? I almost think I did.. I had something else next to the Belgian before I put the Oaked Bitter on.. I bet it was the steam. Now, if i kept better notes in here...

So I decided to go a little crazy today. I still had a couple of cans of Coopers Wheat Extract and it's just too dark for a Paulaner style Hefeweizen. I decided to throw a bunch of Belgian ideas together and just mix something up. I do brew beer the way I cook, never able to stick to recipes.

Here's what I got:

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 9# Coopers Wheat Malt Extract Syrup
  
• 1 oz. Perle
  
• 1 oz. Liberty
  

Boil @ 30 minutes

• 1 16 oz. can of Cranberry Sauce
  

Boil @ 5 minutes

• 1 oz. of Liberty
  
• 1 tsp. English Moss
  

Pitched with White Labs Trappist Ale Yeast. And in a week, I will re-pitch with White Labs Champagne Yeast. A little Trappist, a little Wit, a little Cranberry and enough sugars to give the Champagne yeast something to work on for a high gravity tart Wit variation. Or that's what I imagine it will turn into.

SDPA: Cask-Conditioned IPA, take 2

As usual, plenty of beer related things have happened since the last post, but I didn't write anything down. The long and short is that the Cask Conditioned IPA I did back July was hooked up to my Angram in August and it was perfect. Right Hop flavor and aroma, right mouth-feel coming out of the hand-pump. Exactly right. Tastes like those tasty San Diego casks at the Liar's club. Now, using only 7 lb. of DME, it's not quite DIPA strengh, but it certainly is fashioned after the San Diego DIPA, or as it ought to be called, SDPA. Maybe it's a light SDPA.

Anyway, that keg is nearing at the bottom and so i'm way overdue to start a replacement, since i want a proper conditioning period. So what I brew today won't be ready for a month. Regardless, I'm doing another batch with the only change is swapping out the Amber DME with more Light DME and moving it to the late addition stage at 15 minutes. This should give me an even lighter color, as is characteristic of SDPAs.

Steep (45min @ 160F)

• 0.5# Victory
  
• 1.0# Cara Pils
  
• 0.5# 10L Crystal
  

Boil @ 60 minutes

• 3# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Columbus Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Centennial Pellets
  
• 0.5 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Boil @ 15 minutes

• 4# Light DME
  
• 1 oz. Columbus Pellets
  
• 0.5 oz. Cacade Pellets
  

Boil @ 0 minutes

• 1 oz. Centennial Pellets
  
• 1 oz. Cascade Pellets
  

Yeast

• White Labs California Ale Yeast (repitched from last IPA's wort)
  

This will ferment for a week and then get racked to secondary w/ dry hopping.

Dry Hop

• 1.5 oz. Cascade Flowers
  
• 1 oz. Simcoe Plugs
  

After another two weeks, I'll rack it to the keg with another 0.5 oz. of Cascade and 1 oz. of Simcoe and sugar for cask conditioning.

I'll need to kick in another batch next weekend that I can get on tap in 2 weeks. I have a Steam beer kit still waiting for me to brew it, and after tasting the San Diego Brewer's Association serious overhopped Steam beer at Home Brew Mart yesterday, I'll probably augment that kit with various hops.