Harvest IPA (Hoppy Holidays IPA? Fall IPA?)
http://www.bullcityhomebrew.com/recipes.aspx?id=Sierra%20Nevada%20Celebration%20%28Partial%20Mash%29.xml
https://byo.com/hops/item/153-attack-of-the-hop-clones
Apparently, the French Saison (Wyeast 3711) is a bit more spicy (than other saison yeast)
and supports a hoppy beer quite well: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/danstar-belle-saison.107235/
https://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=199
What I'm thinking is to use a partial mash Celebration style recipe, but sub cascade or nothern brewer for the
centennial and chinook contribution and use a more interesting yeast, such as Belle Saison or 3711. Also,
I think i will use extra dark crystal in place of 60L, and ferment at a low temperature to bring out the
spiciness (or mute the fruitiness, whichever you prefer.)
The goal is a beer that is thick and rich, light in color, quite hoppy
but with a nice stone fruit edge and underlying spiciness. This beer should skip the grapefruit of the
Celebration and replace it with a warming spiciness.
6lb Briess Pilsen DME
3lb Rahr Pale 2 Row malt
0.25lb Crisp Extra Dark Crystal
0.5lb Briess Carapils
I'm using the whole leaf hops I got from Williams, and they are the 2014 harvest. Hop Union says Cascade
lose 50% of their alpha oils in 6 months, but Northern Brewer only lose 15-30%. I will assume that they have
all lost 25% of their alpha for bitterness calculations and hope for the best.
1.0 oz Cascade (60 min Williams Brewing 2014 whole leaf, 10% alpha)
1.0 oz Cascade (45 min)
0.5 oz Northern Brewer (15 min Williams Brewing 2014 whole leaf, 6.8% alpha)
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (5 min)
0.5 oz Cascade (Dry hop)
Mash at 156 °F (69 °C) for 60 minutes, using about 1 qt/lb. Boil wort for 90 minutes, adding hops as indicated in the recipe. Tasted the hops. The Cascade tasted significantly more bitter than the Northern Brewer. The Northern Brewer definitely tasted more minty/piney, while the Cascade definitely tasted more of citrus. The Cascade might not have lost as much bitterness as Hop Union suggests...
10/12/15 8:00pm boiled 3.5C double filtered water with 1/2C Briess pilsen DME and a healthy dash of
Wyeast
beer yeast nutrient for 15 minutes. Pitched 1 Ball jar's worth of Wyeast 1469 cropped from the
top of my first batch of bitter. Ambient temp is 72F.
10/12/15 11:30pm Seems that fermentation is starting; some foam is forming on top of the wort.
10/13/15 5:00pm Holy cow, there is 3" of krausen (taller than the wort) on top of the wort, and the
fermentation
is very active. The temp is 73.5F, and the ambient has risen to 72.5F. I swirled the fermenter to
submerge the krausen then added more starter wort (4 C boiled water, 1/2C pilsen DME and a dash of
Wyest beer nutrient.)
11:35pm The krausen has returned already, now it is 3.5" and seems to be growing still.
10/14/15 7:45am Krausen is just as tall but the bubbles are bigger, looser. Moved the fermenter to a cooler
location, a cooler in the cool part of the basement with a frozen 2 liter bottle.
5:30pm Put starter fermenter in the fridge.
6:32pm Began heating 2 gal water to 167F. Added 1/4t gypsum (will add it at a rate of 1/8t per gal)
7:03pm Began mash. Stirred in 4 qt of 167F water. The temp settled at 153F, so I added some heat to
get to 156F.
7:33pm Temp in mash tun down to 155F, stirred a little
7:47pm Temp down to 152, so I put it on heat to get the temp back up to 156F.
8:11pm Mashout with 1 gal 185F water.
8:25pm began recirculation
8:40pm began sparging with 2 gallons of 170F water.
9:15pm Didn't write the time down, but it was about here that sparge finished.
9:40pm Measured SG of the mash of 1.032 at about 60F. 2.75 gal wort collected from 3.75lb of grain
using 4 gal water. Wort tastes of deep dark fruit, slightly sweet and very clean.
9:41pm Boil begins (on the stove, since the propane burner didn't work with the bigger pot.)
9:55pm Measured a "pre boil" SG=1.058 with about 6.25 gal wort collected.
10:15pm Added 1oz Cascade
10:30pm Added 0.5oz Cascade
10:48pm Added 0.5oz Cascade
11:13pm Added 2.0oz Northern Brewer
11:17pm boil finished.
11:30pm Temp 140F
12:14am Finally achieved cold break, temp of wort is 84F
12:28am aerated wort for 5 minutes, temp of wort is still 78F. Put it outside where the temp currently
is 48F, will pitch yeast in the morning. I decanted about half of the starter wort.
6:45am Pitched yeast, added clarity ferm. Wort temp is 62F, ambient temp is 66F. OG measured
1.060, again missed my target. Wort is a medium copper brown, not quite as light as I would like.
Wort tastes very clean, it has a little bit of fresh grainy-ness but not as pronounced as
A Little Bitter. The wort tastes nice and bitter but not too bitter. I'm afraid it isn't
quite bitter enough, but it definitely has more hop bite than anything I've made.
5:30pm Not much has happened, but there is just a little bit of krausen forming. Ambient is down to
65F, wort is also 65F.
10:53pm The krausen is forming, and it is huge. Very rocky and uneven, looks a lot like the head
on the 2015 Autumn Porter. Ambient temp is still 65F, but fermenter has risen to 66F.
11:40pm Skimmed the first krausen, discarded.
10/16/15 6:57am There is as much krausen now as I skimmed last night, and it is still scummy so I will
remove it too (but probably wait until tonight) Temp up to 68F, ambient still 65F
4:53pm Skimmed the krausen and discarded it. It wasn't nearly as scummy as I would have thought,
though quite a bit is stuck to the side of the fermenter. I could probably have kept it. Ambient
temp has fallen to about 64.5F, but fermenter temp is up to 69F. Krausen smells very fruity,
almost tropical but maybe like Snapple peach tea. Definitely smells more fruity than I wanted,
hopefully the tropical fruit isn't too powerful in the beer. Anna thinks the krausen smells
like sour bread, she didn't note the fruitiness at all. Surprising.
10/17/15 12:37am The krausen has returned in its entirety. This yeast is amazing.
1:48pm Skimmed the krausen, put it in a ball jar with some boiled water. Couldn't fit all the krausen,
so I threw some of it away. The krausen was thick and clumpy today, different than yesterday's
krausen. Measured SG at 1.026, most of the way there. Tastes wonderful, very much like
A Little Bitter with the sort of grainy maltiness, but a little more "green" or floury than
the Little Bitter. Does not taste as peachy as it smells, and it is far less bitter than
I expected. The krausen tastes *very* bitter, I wonder if some of the alpha acid is being
carried away.
11:12pm Krausen has reformed already. It is very thick and sticky.
10/18/15 7:20am Temp has fallen to 67F, but ambient temp has risen to 65.5F. I think I will let the
remaining layer of krausen fall back into the beer.
12:59pm Temp of fermenter is 66.5F, ambient is 64.5F
10/19/15 7:24am Temp of fermenter is down to 66F, same as ambient. Temperature of environment has
been fluctuating a little as it has gotten very cold and the heat has been running. Still a lot of krausen on
the top of the fermenter, but it is starting to deflate at least a little.
5:25pm Krausen has compressed a little more.
10/20/15 7:01am Fermenter is starting to smell a little more bitter and a little less peachy-sweet.
10/22/15 7:59pm Still a lot of krausen on top, so I'm attempting to cold crash the bucket by putting it in an
icewater bath for a couple of days.
10/23/15 7:29am Having a hard time chilling the water down, temp is 50F despite all the ice i've been
adding. Temp of fermenter is only 55F
7:56pm Temp of fermenter has risen a little to 57F, cold crash is *not* working. I will just have to
siphon out from under it.
10/24/15 2:10pm Transferred to secondary. Temp of beer was actually a little colder than I expected, 51F. SG measured
1.018 @ 50F, which is a little higher than I would have hoped. Beer doesn't taste sweet, but it has lost
the nice "grainy" flavor. It is nicely bitter but not IPA bitter, and definitely has the peachy flavor.
I will still dry hop with Cascade, but I think I will only use 1oz.
10/26/15 6:45pm Dry hop with about 0.75oz Cascade.
10/31/15 3:00pm Bottled today, SG= 1.015 which gives 5.9% ABV and 74% attenuation. Boiled 2C
water with 3 oz corn sugar for 15 minutes for priming. Got 42 12oz bottles and 3 25oz bottles. It
has a nice golden brown color and is very bright. Tastes a bit more like
a pale ale than an IPA, but still has a lot of hop presence. It has the nice grainy flavor, a
little bit of bitterness, a touch of peach and a hint of residual sugar. It is very smooth
and tastes just as light as the little bitter (despite having about double the alcohol.)
It is not very exciting but pretty good. Definitely not a copy of "a little bitter", but lacks the
complex styrian golding aroma. If I did it again, I would have a higher beginning SG, use fresh cascade
pellets, skip the NB all together (replacing every instance with the same amount of Cascade),
use a lighter carmel malt and use a different English yeast, once that is a little more attenuative
and a little less peachy. Put bottles in the "warm room" where the temp is 71F
11/08/15 6:33pm Opened the first bottle today, was very surprised how carbonated it was.
Very very bubbly, took
two pours to finish getting it in the bottle. Head is a very brigh cream, almost white, and the
color is a golden "harvest" orange, darker than the Celebration ale. Nose is a very pleasant
combination of peach/pine/citrus, very balanced. The taste is a very slightly bitter orange/lemon
combination. It has a full mouthfeel but isn't sticky or sweet, but not quite as thick as the Celebration.
Even though the beer was very foamy it doesn't taste overcarbonated, strangely. This one might be
a little different because it was the last bottle. The head is very persistent (after 20 minutes and down
1/3 there is still a layer of foam in the glass) and there is a slight amount of prickly carbonation
on the tongue, but the beer doesn't taste bubbly. I really like it and it is *way* better than it was
before it carbonated.
11/19/15 7:00pm I've spent the last two days trying to degass the 13 bottles with the hop cones added.
They are *way* more foamy than the other ones. I put them in the fridge and barely crack the tops,
until they
start foaming uncontrollably and then recap. I think I remember someone commenting that adding a
hop cone increases the foamy-ness of the beer, and I can attest to that. I think I am making progress;
the first day that I opened a bottle I had 20% spray out under intense pressure in the basement; now,
only a tiny bit of foam escapes.
12/01/15 7:45pm Even though I said I would skip the Cascade above, I think that this beer has a little too
much citrus.
I would probably try to find an American hop that has a little bit more "old world" flavor.
12/06/15 3:00pm Even after opening the caps slightly many times, these beers are still overcarbonated. I
haven't been able to find a single cause, but I think it is a combination of
1.) incomplete primary (secondary) fermentation (still slightly active, too much yeast in suspension)
2.) mis-measured priming sugar (though even if 3oz became 4oz they still shouldn't be as foamy)
3.) using star-san for sanitization (which is very foamy)
4.) underfilled bottles
I am very nervous about carbonation now. My 2015 I'll Be Home for Christmas Ale (4oz) is
overcarbonated too (though far less so) and 2015 Autumn Porter (5oz) is way over carbonated too.
I'm nervous that something
has gone horribly wrong. As an aside, my I'll Be Home for Christmas Ale and Saison de
Noel from last year are very fizzy but still not as foamy as this one, and they both had 5oz of priming
sugar (though both doses were premeasured because they came from kits.)
http://www.bullcityhomebrew.com/recipes.aspx?id=Sierra%20Nevada%20Celebration%20%28Partial%20Mash%29.xml
https://byo.com/hops/item/153-attack-of-the-hop-clones
Apparently, the French Saison (Wyeast 3711) is a bit more spicy (than other saison yeast)
and supports a hoppy beer quite well: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/danstar-belle-saison.107235/
https://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=199
What I'm thinking is to use a partial mash Celebration style recipe, but sub cascade or nothern brewer for the
centennial and chinook contribution and use a more interesting yeast, such as Belle Saison or 3711. Also,
I think i will use extra dark crystal in place of 60L, and ferment at a low temperature to bring out the
spiciness (or mute the fruitiness, whichever you prefer.)
The goal is a beer that is thick and rich, light in color, quite hoppy
but with a nice stone fruit edge and underlying spiciness. This beer should skip the grapefruit of the
Celebration and replace it with a warming spiciness.
6lb Briess Pilsen DME
3lb Rahr Pale 2 Row malt
0.25lb Crisp Extra Dark Crystal
0.5lb Briess Carapils
I'm using the whole leaf hops I got from Williams, and they are the 2014 harvest. Hop Union says Cascade
lose 50% of their alpha oils in 6 months, but Northern Brewer only lose 15-30%. I will assume that they have
all lost 25% of their alpha for bitterness calculations and hope for the best.
1.0 oz Cascade (60 min Williams Brewing 2014 whole leaf, 10% alpha)
1.0 oz Cascade (45 min)
0.5 oz Northern Brewer (15 min Williams Brewing 2014 whole leaf, 6.8% alpha)
1.0 oz Northern Brewer (5 min)
0.5 oz Cascade (Dry hop)
Mash at 156 °F (69 °C) for 60 minutes, using about 1 qt/lb. Boil wort for 90 minutes, adding hops as indicated in the recipe. Tasted the hops. The Cascade tasted significantly more bitter than the Northern Brewer. The Northern Brewer definitely tasted more minty/piney, while the Cascade definitely tasted more of citrus. The Cascade might not have lost as much bitterness as Hop Union suggests...
10/12/15 8:00pm boiled 3.5C double filtered water with 1/2C Briess pilsen DME and a healthy dash of
Wyeast
beer yeast nutrient for 15 minutes. Pitched 1 Ball jar's worth of Wyeast 1469 cropped from the
top of my first batch of bitter. Ambient temp is 72F.
10/12/15 11:30pm Seems that fermentation is starting; some foam is forming on top of the wort.
10/13/15 5:00pm Holy cow, there is 3" of krausen (taller than the wort) on top of the wort, and the
fermentation
is very active. The temp is 73.5F, and the ambient has risen to 72.5F. I swirled the fermenter to
submerge the krausen then added more starter wort (4 C boiled water, 1/2C pilsen DME and a dash of
Wyest beer nutrient.)
11:35pm The krausen has returned already, now it is 3.5" and seems to be growing still.
10/14/15 7:45am Krausen is just as tall but the bubbles are bigger, looser. Moved the fermenter to a cooler
location, a cooler in the cool part of the basement with a frozen 2 liter bottle.
5:30pm Put starter fermenter in the fridge.
6:32pm Began heating 2 gal water to 167F. Added 1/4t gypsum (will add it at a rate of 1/8t per gal)
7:03pm Began mash. Stirred in 4 qt of 167F water. The temp settled at 153F, so I added some heat to
get to 156F.
7:33pm Temp in mash tun down to 155F, stirred a little
7:47pm Temp down to 152, so I put it on heat to get the temp back up to 156F.
8:11pm Mashout with 1 gal 185F water.
8:25pm began recirculation
8:40pm began sparging with 2 gallons of 170F water.
9:15pm Didn't write the time down, but it was about here that sparge finished.
9:40pm Measured SG of the mash of 1.032 at about 60F. 2.75 gal wort collected from 3.75lb of grain
using 4 gal water. Wort tastes of deep dark fruit, slightly sweet and very clean.
9:41pm Boil begins (on the stove, since the propane burner didn't work with the bigger pot.)
9:55pm Measured a "pre boil" SG=1.058 with about 6.25 gal wort collected.
10:15pm Added 1oz Cascade
10:30pm Added 0.5oz Cascade
10:48pm Added 0.5oz Cascade
11:13pm Added 2.0oz Northern Brewer
11:17pm boil finished.
11:30pm Temp 140F
12:14am Finally achieved cold break, temp of wort is 84F
12:28am aerated wort for 5 minutes, temp of wort is still 78F. Put it outside where the temp currently
is 48F, will pitch yeast in the morning. I decanted about half of the starter wort.
6:45am Pitched yeast, added clarity ferm. Wort temp is 62F, ambient temp is 66F. OG measured
1.060, again missed my target. Wort is a medium copper brown, not quite as light as I would like.
Wort tastes very clean, it has a little bit of fresh grainy-ness but not as pronounced as
A Little Bitter. The wort tastes nice and bitter but not too bitter. I'm afraid it isn't
quite bitter enough, but it definitely has more hop bite than anything I've made.
5:30pm Not much has happened, but there is just a little bit of krausen forming. Ambient is down to
65F, wort is also 65F.
10:53pm The krausen is forming, and it is huge. Very rocky and uneven, looks a lot like the head
on the 2015 Autumn Porter. Ambient temp is still 65F, but fermenter has risen to 66F.
11:40pm Skimmed the first krausen, discarded.
10/16/15 6:57am There is as much krausen now as I skimmed last night, and it is still scummy so I will
remove it too (but probably wait until tonight) Temp up to 68F, ambient still 65F
4:53pm Skimmed the krausen and discarded it. It wasn't nearly as scummy as I would have thought,
though quite a bit is stuck to the side of the fermenter. I could probably have kept it. Ambient
temp has fallen to about 64.5F, but fermenter temp is up to 69F. Krausen smells very fruity,
almost tropical but maybe like Snapple peach tea. Definitely smells more fruity than I wanted,
hopefully the tropical fruit isn't too powerful in the beer. Anna thinks the krausen smells
like sour bread, she didn't note the fruitiness at all. Surprising.
10/17/15 12:37am The krausen has returned in its entirety. This yeast is amazing.
1:48pm Skimmed the krausen, put it in a ball jar with some boiled water. Couldn't fit all the krausen,
so I threw some of it away. The krausen was thick and clumpy today, different than yesterday's
krausen. Measured SG at 1.026, most of the way there. Tastes wonderful, very much like
A Little Bitter with the sort of grainy maltiness, but a little more "green" or floury than
the Little Bitter. Does not taste as peachy as it smells, and it is far less bitter than
I expected. The krausen tastes *very* bitter, I wonder if some of the alpha acid is being
carried away.
11:12pm Krausen has reformed already. It is very thick and sticky.
10/18/15 7:20am Temp has fallen to 67F, but ambient temp has risen to 65.5F. I think I will let the
remaining layer of krausen fall back into the beer.
12:59pm Temp of fermenter is 66.5F, ambient is 64.5F
10/19/15 7:24am Temp of fermenter is down to 66F, same as ambient. Temperature of environment has
been fluctuating a little as it has gotten very cold and the heat has been running. Still a lot of krausen on
the top of the fermenter, but it is starting to deflate at least a little.
5:25pm Krausen has compressed a little more.
10/20/15 7:01am Fermenter is starting to smell a little more bitter and a little less peachy-sweet.
10/22/15 7:59pm Still a lot of krausen on top, so I'm attempting to cold crash the bucket by putting it in an
icewater bath for a couple of days.
10/23/15 7:29am Having a hard time chilling the water down, temp is 50F despite all the ice i've been
adding. Temp of fermenter is only 55F
7:56pm Temp of fermenter has risen a little to 57F, cold crash is *not* working. I will just have to
siphon out from under it.
10/24/15 2:10pm Transferred to secondary. Temp of beer was actually a little colder than I expected, 51F. SG measured
1.018 @ 50F, which is a little higher than I would have hoped. Beer doesn't taste sweet, but it has lost
the nice "grainy" flavor. It is nicely bitter but not IPA bitter, and definitely has the peachy flavor.
I will still dry hop with Cascade, but I think I will only use 1oz.
10/26/15 6:45pm Dry hop with about 0.75oz Cascade.
10/31/15 3:00pm Bottled today, SG= 1.015 which gives 5.9% ABV and 74% attenuation. Boiled 2C
water with 3 oz corn sugar for 15 minutes for priming. Got 42 12oz bottles and 3 25oz bottles. It
has a nice golden brown color and is very bright. Tastes a bit more like
a pale ale than an IPA, but still has a lot of hop presence. It has the nice grainy flavor, a
little bit of bitterness, a touch of peach and a hint of residual sugar. It is very smooth
and tastes just as light as the little bitter (despite having about double the alcohol.)
It is not very exciting but pretty good. Definitely not a copy of "a little bitter", but lacks the
complex styrian golding aroma. If I did it again, I would have a higher beginning SG, use fresh cascade
pellets, skip the NB all together (replacing every instance with the same amount of Cascade),
use a lighter carmel malt and use a different English yeast, once that is a little more attenuative
and a little less peachy. Put bottles in the "warm room" where the temp is 71F
11/08/15 6:33pm Opened the first bottle today, was very surprised how carbonated it was.
Very very bubbly, took
two pours to finish getting it in the bottle. Head is a very brigh cream, almost white, and the
color is a golden "harvest" orange, darker than the Celebration ale. Nose is a very pleasant
combination of peach/pine/citrus, very balanced. The taste is a very slightly bitter orange/lemon
combination. It has a full mouthfeel but isn't sticky or sweet, but not quite as thick as the Celebration.
Even though the beer was very foamy it doesn't taste overcarbonated, strangely. This one might be
a little different because it was the last bottle. The head is very persistent (after 20 minutes and down
1/3 there is still a layer of foam in the glass) and there is a slight amount of prickly carbonation
on the tongue, but the beer doesn't taste bubbly. I really like it and it is *way* better than it was
before it carbonated.
11/19/15 7:00pm I've spent the last two days trying to degass the 13 bottles with the hop cones added.
They are *way* more foamy than the other ones. I put them in the fridge and barely crack the tops,
until they
start foaming uncontrollably and then recap. I think I remember someone commenting that adding a
hop cone increases the foamy-ness of the beer, and I can attest to that. I think I am making progress;
the first day that I opened a bottle I had 20% spray out under intense pressure in the basement; now,
only a tiny bit of foam escapes.
12/01/15 7:45pm Even though I said I would skip the Cascade above, I think that this beer has a little too
much citrus.
I would probably try to find an American hop that has a little bit more "old world" flavor.
12/06/15 3:00pm Even after opening the caps slightly many times, these beers are still overcarbonated. I
haven't been able to find a single cause, but I think it is a combination of
1.) incomplete primary (secondary) fermentation (still slightly active, too much yeast in suspension)
2.) mis-measured priming sugar (though even if 3oz became 4oz they still shouldn't be as foamy)
3.) using star-san for sanitization (which is very foamy)
4.) underfilled bottles
I am very nervous about carbonation now. My 2015 I'll Be Home for Christmas Ale (4oz) is
overcarbonated too (though far less so) and 2015 Autumn Porter (5oz) is way over carbonated too.
I'm nervous that something
has gone horribly wrong. As an aside, my I'll Be Home for Christmas Ale and Saison de
Noel from last year are very fizzy but still not as foamy as this one, and they both had 5oz of priming
sugar (though both doses were premeasured because they came from kits.)
