Brew and keg day

Another keg is about to kick, so that means it's time to brew again. I've been drinking a ton of commercial IPAs lately, so I figured it's time to make yet another one of my own. Whereas last fall I made a lot of IPAs that tasted more like pale ales, given their lower bitterness and low ABV, this time I'm focusing on higher ABV, maltier IPAs. By malty I mean more body and sweetness, to support a ton of aroma and flavor.

Earlier in the week, I sampled the March 12 kitchen sink ipa. FG was at 1.016, which seemed high. The krausen had completely fallen, though. Yet, the airlock was bubbling regularly. Tasted delicious though. I was pleased (and relieved) to know that I could reawaken a yeast slurry that had sat in my fridge for over three months. A touch sweet. Very fruity. No one hop stood out, which was interesting since I used a 15-minute hop-stand with the experimental grapefruit. There was no onion, garlic, or skunkiness.

However, I was concerned about the elevated FG. Was that due to a high mash temperature, or had the fermentation not completed? I decided to leave it alone until today. Once again, I took a gravity reading. Still at 1.016. I knew I wanted to brew today, and figured the yeast had probably done all it could do, so I called it done. It tastes good. Same floral, fruity flavor. Tons of aroma, too, which contrasts with the IPAs I brewed last year, at least for non-dry-hopped samples directly from the fermenter. And finally, a touch of minty spiciness in the finish, perhaps from the rye. The beer is golden amber. There is a lot of stuff in suspension. Proteins? Yeast? Hard to say for sure, but hopefully it will settle out once it hits the fridge.

I dry-hopped this beer with two ounces Columbus, one ounce Galaxy, and one ounce Citra. I considered tossing in an ounce of vic secret, as well, but that hop seems to have a harsh character. I noted that harsh smell as I cleaned out the vic secret beer keg today.

As stated, this was also brew day. Another IPA. Same OG. This time no crystal or rye. And I used two pounds of Munich. Eight pounds of german pale ale (Avangard) crushed by the homebrew shop. Two pounds that I crushed using my coffee grinder (nearly to a fine powder). Finally, I had a touch of oats left over -- four ounces -- so I ground them up and added them in as well.

As for hops, I chose El Dorado, Azacca, and Centennial (2013; the other two are the 2015 crop). And as I mulled over the recipe some more, I decided to throw in a couple ounces of Columbus at flame-out. This beer has 10 ounces of boil hops. Perhaps I overdid it? Hope not.

Brew day was relatively smooth, although I had a few boil-overs. The final one sent a ton of hops on to upper edges of the kettle, so I took a sanitized spoon and pushed it back into the wort. I chilled the wort to 167 and did a 30-minute hop stand. Checked original gravity, which was 1.070, following a full chill to about 73 F. I then racked onto the kitchen sink yeast cake. This one should be ready to keg in about two weeks.

Up next: Helles!

First brew of 2016: another kitchen sink ipa

I went on a brewing tear last fall. I brewed about six or seven beers in a two month period. I filled up all four of my kegs. By the time I brewed the last one, in December, I was done for awhile. Both because I had more than enough beer to drink, but also because brew days are long and physically demanding, and I just didn't have the time or energy recently to devote to creating a new beer.

Last Saturday, March 5, I took an inventory of my hops and also sketched out a simple beer. I had a lot of old hops, including a pound of Columbus from 2013 and nearly a pound of Chinook, from the same year. The Chinook had been opened, and didn't smell all that fresh and hoppy anymore, so I figured I would use them for bittering. I also had citra and galaxy on hand, among other things. Those are still fresh, and I figured they'd make up for or mask any shortfall from the older Columbus hops. I couldn't summon the energy to brew that day though.

So another Saturday rolled around -- this past one -- and I had a full day ahead of me. I'd been getting the brewing itch again, and have gotten kind of bored with the beers I have on tap; plus, the kegs are getting pretty close to empty. Therefore, it seemed a good time to make some beer.

I looked over my hops again, and in addition to the ones mentioned above, I also threw in centennial, vic secret, and the remainder of the experimental grapefruit hops. 10 ounces of hops total.

This was a smooth brew day, with no hiccups at all. I was finished in 5.5 hours, and that included a lengthened mash due to working out and getting food.

I used US-05 slurry that I reserved from the experimental grapefruit IPA back in December. I took out the container at the beginning of the day, and placed it in warm water midway through. As the yeast warmed, bubbles were rising to the top of the jar, and slurry was seeping out the top. I considered this a good sign, as it indicated to me that this yeast is still viable.

OG was around 1.068-70. Right around 5.25 gallons. I pitched about 24 ounces of US-05 slurry. At around 72 degrees. Mashed at what I thought was 154, but at the end of the extended mash, the temp was actually 156. I'm looking for a malty IPA this time, so that's fine.

I pitched the yeast around 5 pm, and there was no activity as of 5 pm Sunday, nor at 10:30 that night. There were several visible clusters of bubbles visible as of 8 AM Monday, though, and much more around 1 pm. That's a relief, as I've had problems using old slurry in the past. But I'm hopeful and encouraged that this will be a successful, delicious beer.

As of Friday, March 18, the beer is nearly finished fermenting. There's still a layer of gooey bubbles on top, but the krausen has mostly sunk. I'd say this will be ready to keg in just a few more days.