Blog Update and DIPA!

My wife and I welcomed our newest member of the family on July 10th, Greta Gail is doing great and getting older by the second. I have neglected this blog because time is very short these days and brew days are harder and harder to come by. But SWMBO was extremely kind and gave me and afternoon to do some brewing. I had no warning so it was a run to midwest and make something up sort of deal. I wanted to use up some of the simcoe hops that are in the freezer, so I opted for my first DIPA. Here is the Grist:
13 lbs Rhar Two Row
3 lbs Golden Promise
1 lb Golden naked oats
1 lb Crystal 50/60
.5 lbs Cara Pils
Hops: Mash Hops 2 oz simcoe whole leaf - since I have an abundance of simcoe I decided to throw some in the mash.
First Wort 1 oz Chinook Pellets
First Wort .33oz citra .33oz simcoe .33oz cascade
60 1 oz Simcoe
20 1 oz Chinook
10 1 oz Cascade
10 .75 oz Citra
1 2 oz simcoe
1 oz chinook
Dry Hop 10 days with
2 oz simcoe
2 oz chinook
1 oz cascade
Pitched 2 vials of WLP007 Dry English Ale This yeast is new to me, but it sure looks like it is a great strain. My og was 1.070 (63% eff) which was way low, but it will make good beer! The yeast went from 1.070 to 1.020 in about 36 hours which was pretty impressive, a very aggressive fermentation, fermentation was at 68 with a brief spike to 73 until I got it into the cooler and it is now at 66. I am really curious how this will turn out, but so far so good. Look for some pictures and updates as the beer gets into the bottle. Cheers!

Orange Rye IPA Tasting and Pour

I got a chance to give the Orange Rye IPA a proper tasting. While this beer is young, word has it that it is best fresh, so here we go:

The Pour:



Nice Orange/Copper, it does remind me of the trees in the fall. A nice two finger head on the pour.

The Nose starts with some simcoe fruitiness but then you can really pick up the citrus from the centennial and the orange peel. It also has a slightly sweet aroma, think candy and caramel, and a nice bready undertone from the rye

The mouthfeel is full, the fullest mouthfeel of any of the beer that I have brewed. Carbonation is spot on. The taste is Bitter/sweet, Assertive on the sides of the tongue but also a nice sweetness that is not overpowering. The centennials @ 60 was a really with the simcoe FWH. It is smoothly bitter and it lingers and coats the mouth. The later hop editions shine.

A c-hop resin finish with some lingering bread y spice from the rye and a hint if alcohol.

Over all I am very pleased with this beer. I would mash lower next time and maybe try hops that are near the same ibu level but are a little less potent, maybe something of the traditional english IPA. I do think that with another week or two of aging, this beer will be even better as it smooths out. Keep an eye out and I will try to write a review of it then.

Orange Rye IPA Update and tasting of more beer...

Dank Brewer and I had a quick taste of the Orange Rye IPA last week, and I jotted down this post after the tasting only to hold it off as I wanted to make sure it was coherent as I also tasted quite a bit of Dank's beer, while the beer ORIPA is not totally ready, I thought it would be nice to give it a go even though it has only been in the bottle for about a week. I am excited about this beer and I think that it has some really nice potential, only time will tell. The color is a nice orange/amber color, reminiscent of autumn. The aroma is very distinct, the simcoe definitely shines through but it also has a nice c-hop type of aroma as well, a very citrus-y fare with the orange in the backround. The taste is fairly assertive on the hop bitterness followed by a nice citrus from the orange peel and a bready spicy hint from the rye, citrus also comes through on the tongue in the finish. The finish is also sporting some nice lingering bitterness which balances out the sweetness from the high mash temp. I cannot give a true verdict on this beer until it is fully carbed and chilled, but so far so good. Also I had a great opportunity to taste a nice variety of the Dank Beers. I was super impressed with the Dark Embrace and The Essence. Both IPA's and both totally different.  The dark embrace is a great take on the dark IPA. Early editions of simcoe come through really nicely and this beer does not leave one confused where the bitterness comes from, no malt bitterness from the dark grains, just pure hop bitterness with an awesome aroma, definitely one to try if you ever run across Nick. The Essence has really come along nicely. The only other time I has this beer it was very young, time was really good to this beer as it now has a wonderful pungent c-hop aroma and a crisp assertive hop bite. A touch of honey is also present and rounds out the beer nicely. One could look at the hop schedule and think No way that is going to be balanced, but it honestly is and it was a great beer, if you are a hop head brew it up, it is worth it, it checks in high on the ABV and higher on the IBU's but man it is a great beer. Stay tuned for more updates when I get the chance to post them, and a full tasting of the orange rye IPA.

Orange Rye IPA

Since I have consumed almost all of the simcoe single hop IPA, it is time to brew more beer as I am running out! I brewed up an orange rye ipa that I think will be really tasty. It is a combo of several recipes, from denny conn and don osborn with my own hop twist. Here is the grist and hop schedule:

12lbs rhar 2 row
3 lbs Rye Malt
1 lb crystal 40
.5 rhar white wheat
.5 carapils

Mash 180>156 for 1 hour (mashed high as I knew this was going to be really bitter and I wanted enough sweet left over to balance it out. Sparge at 167 for 30 min.

FWH 60+ 1oz Simcoe 12.7
60 1oz Centennial 9.7
30 1oz Centennial 9.7
15 1oz Sweet Orange Peel
5 2oz Simcoe 12.7
2oz Simcoe 12.7 Dry hop

Yeast starter of 1056

OG 1.070!
FG ?

68% brew house efficiency

Brew day was split into two, I mashed and sparged friday night and heated the kettle to 185 covered it in blankets and let it sit over night. Woke up @ 6am and the kettle was @ 170, added FWH and brought the kettle to a boil.

I am hoping that this works out just fine as I rarely have time to fit in a brewday and if I can keep splitting it up I think that I will be able to brew more as I am not spending a whole day brewing. Stay tuned for updates! Cheers to good beer.

Single Hop Simcoe Tasting

First I will start out with the review of the single hop IPA simcoe edition. This beer pours a clear orange color with a nice cap that sticks. The aroma is of pungent simcoe hops, really nice strong simcoe smell from the big late editions and the dry hop. The taste is somewhat bitter up front, assertive but not overly bitter, there is some malt balance then a burst of hops come through and it finishes with just enough lingering bitterness with a hint of sweet. Mouthfeel is really nice, the oats definitely add a touch of smoothness that i really like. Over all I have to say that is by far and away my best beer yet. It fared really well at the single hop tasting and was enjoyed by all. This beer on an A to F scale gets an A. This is a beer I would buy and drink a massive amount of, even though I love the simcoe hops, I think that many beer drinkers would really like this offering. It is a shame that I have drank nearly the entire batch as I really should have saved some and entered it into a competition to see what the scores would be just to see how it measures up. I guess I will just have to brew it again! Also be sure to stock up on your simcoe and amarillo hops as there is a reported shortage of those hops in 2011! Midwest and Northern Brewer are out of them or have very little in stock and midwest doesn't anticipate another shipment of simcoes until next year! I got a pound in the mail and I will repeat this beer and then brew a few more beers where simcoe is the finishing hop.  Check out the pictures of the Nordeast brewers alliance single hop ipa beer tasting! Cheers to great beer!

Black IPA Pour

Here is a pour of the black IPA. A very good beer with a head that lasts to the last sip, aggressive on the hops but smoothed out by the malt. A nice winter warmer. See the previous post for the grist, this batch was primed with carb tabs.