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!