Black IPA and Free-range Eggs

Today we were able to squeeze in a brew before Elise's parents head back to Tampa. We've got mostly malty on tap with the black lager and the Dubbel, so we decided to make an IPA. We haven't made our black IPA in a while, so we thought we would stay with the "dark" persuasion and make it a black IPA. 

This is a clone of Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous which is made with Chinook, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops. We are able to get Chinook and Simcoe, but Amarillo hops are unavailable so we subbed Centennial. I ordered more hops online than I thought, so we used an extra ounce of Centennial at the end of the boil and will add an another ounce of Simcoe to the dry hop. 

I have been having some issues with efficiency and final volume since moving to NC. Our efficiency has been a little lower and I have been ending up with a little less than 5 gallons in the fermenter. I decided to try to start with a little higher boil volume an just accept that the efficiency will be a little lower for now. During the boil I was worried I would have too much volume so I turned up the burner towards the end. I did boil more off, but over did it a bit, and finished with a tad under 5 gallons. 

We will reuse the yeast from the pale ale and expect to drink this one in about 3 weeks. It's a higher gravity beer and will be a little over 7%, so hopefully Elise will be a little more tolerant of higher alcohol beers by then (after a 9 month drinking hiatus). 

Every time we brew, I never know what to do with the spent grain. I hate being wasteful and throwing stuff away, but I never have a good use for the grain. We could make dog treats, but that only uses a cup (out of 10-12 pounds). I had read somewhere that the grain is good chicken feed, and so I decided to put an add on Craigslist seeing if any chicken farmers in the area could use the grain. I had someone respond in less than 10 minutes and made plans to hand the grains off. In return, the chicken farmer left us a half-dozen free-range eggs! I have never had a fresh egg before, so tomorrow will be an interesting breakfast when Elise makes me a biscuit egg sandwich.