Locked Out Black IPA

With only 2 beers on tap (porter and IPA), we are definitely needing to get brewing to fill that kegerator up. Today I brewed our Black IPA (now for the 3rd time). We used the same grain bill as previous versions, but scaled it up for 6 gallons in order to end up with 5 gallons in the keg. Also, now that we have bulk hops, I upped both the late addition and dry hop amounts so hopefully, it will be on par with the commercial example in the hop-department as the malt flavor is spot on (Stone Sublimely Self Righteous).

 

The day could not gotten off to a worse start though. I went to the garage at about 715a to start the mash and immediately locked myself out of the house. Fantastic start to the day. After that was taken care of, the rest of the day went smoothly. I was able to clean a couple of dirty kegs while I brewed and the weather was nice and cool, although a little windy. I finished in about 3.5 hours, which is one of the fastest days yet.

 

This batch was also our first brew using the new keggle. Hopefully we wont have similar issues with this brew pot as the aluminum because the stainless steel is so much easier to keep clean. I was happy with it today and it seemed to come to a boil a little quicker than the other pot did. We'll have to keep tweaking our volumes initially though until we get the boil off rate figured out. I'm going to do some reseach about making a dip-tube to draw the wort from the side of the keggle when transferring to hopefully leave a lot of hops and trub behind.

 

Recipe:

90% Pale 2-row

5% Crystal 60L

5% Carafa III

 

2 oz Chinook at 60

2.25 oz Centennial at 2 min

2.25 oz Simcoe at 2 min

 

2.25 oz Centennial -- Dry hop

2.25 oz Simcoe -- Dry hop

 

Yeast: US05

 

OG: 1074

Efficiency: 72%

Anticipated alchol: +7%

Happenings and Updates

 

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted, thought I would give an update on the brewery

 

Centennial SMaSH: still carbonating, flavor so far is pretty bitter (like too bitter and I'm worried I may have done something wrong) but hopefully it will mellow some (like the IPA did); it's actually clearing up pretty well from a clarity standpoint too. Hopefully can do a formal tasting post in another week or so.

 

IPA: Hoping to evaluate this weekend. Stay tuned (spoiler: not groundbreaking, but in the right direction)

 

CraigsList: Rowdy Reptile is always looking to upgrade and since I recently came into possession of a standard half-barrel keg, it's time to make a keggle (i.e., boil kettle from a keg shell). I found a guy on CL who will cut a hole in the lid and weld a fitting in the side to allow me to drain the wort through a valve. Traditionally, most people will drill a hole and use weld-less fittings which is fine. Having them welded though, ensures no leaks, so I'm very happy to have this option. He's only charging $50 which is an awesome deal, so I'm very excited about that. The keg is being dropped off this weekend and should be ready to go for our next brew (a black IPA) right before Christmas.

 

I'm also selling the old boil kettle (to bank role the upgrade). The alumimum monster is finally going to find another home and will hopefully bring them better brews. After cleaning the kettle with a vinegar/water mixture, I scrubbed off a lot of grime from the bottom of the kettle. I am thinking this may be the culprit of a lot of the off flavors we've been having lately. Mostly from the standpoint that I have never cleaned the kettle that thoroughly in the past and the grime/scorch has slowly built up over time. Now that it's significant enough, we are probably starting to detect the flavors imparted into our beers.....probably should have cleaned it better, but I had read not to use anything abrasive on aluminum, so I only used a sponge. Oh well, at least now we're finally done with that. I am really hoping these off flavors will dissapear with the new kettle as well as the color issues and we can finally start making excellent pale beers.

Until next time

#TeamDietrich