East Coast IPA Brew Day... and Vertical Tasting of Boulevard Rye on Rye.

The team gathering in the
garage with Bailey the
"lab-brew-doodle"

On Saturday morning the team gathered for an epic brew day.   We were determined to brew our version of an East Coast IPA.   10 gallons of hoppy deliciousness.   The recipe was set out in the previous post.  Basically a whole lot of Mosaic, Citra, and Cascade, with a touch of Warrior, and Simcoe, to add some bitterness on the front and in the middle.

Beth and Mashy Hoppinton
visited during brew day.  What
a cool mom, notice the beer.

This was a fairly medium gravity brew, only 22.5 lbs of grain.   The base grain was Vienna 20 lbs, and the only other additions are  2.5 lbs of wheat malt, and 1 cup of white flour (to make it murky).  The flour is the wild card,  we have never done that before.  We have never tried to make a beer cloudy before.   It was a real weird feeling, adding something to the mash for the express purpose of making a beer appear cloudy.  All of our grains came from Cargill.   The Vienna from Cargill is amazing stuff.  Malty and bready... gives an awesome back bone for a hoppy beer.  Meussdoerffer Vienna... We have made ECIPAs in the past with pale ale, or two row malt, and they were delicious, but the Vienna adds something that can stand up to all those hops.    

22 lbs of crushed grains about
to go into a 100 quart no sparge
mash tun. 

We crushed the grains fine  (35 mils) the day before at a friends who has a seriously big mill.   Like the kind you see at a home brew shop... But like an idiot, I left the grains in the car overnight, so they were at 51 F as we started the brew day.   We know from experience that when we brew no sparge in our cooler we loose about 7 F.   Even if we pre heat the mash tun.  So our software suggested we should be at 160 F Strike, so we added our grains first and then added 165 F water.    John had treated the water with Camden,  Lactic (2ml) and Calcium Chloride 2 g.   Our pH settled in nicely at 5.2, at temperature, so it was probably closer to 5.4 or 5.5... which is fine with us.

Brew in a bag in a mash tun
our favorite way to brew.
We know that 5 F to 6 F over
strike temperature will hit
our strike temp every time. This
cooler has a door in the lid, so
we can stir during the mash.

The mash went well.  We stirred every 15 minutes.   Our mash tun has a door on the top of the lid that we can open with out losing too much heat.  Our mash temps remained perfect at 149 to 152 F for the entire 60 minutes of the mash.   And we ended up overshooting by .004... which means we got 77% efficiency on a no sparge, brew in a bag, in a cooler... pretty darn cool.  This is by far the easiest and fastest way to brew.  Even with our complex boil schedule.  We were done brewing in 3.5 hours.   Although the brew day was much longer, due to bottling 20 gallons of beer, and the vertical tasting.

East coast IPAs are fun to brew, and relatively easy.  The boil went as planned due in no small part to organization of the ingredients, and preparation.   Jake got the group more disposable plastic cups for measuring hop additions.  The cups were labeled  and set out in order.  There was well over a pound of hops going into this 10 gallon hop monster.

Jaded hydra is the king of
all worth chillers.. pay heed
and homage!

The fun thing about the ECIPA style is so many of the hops go in at the end of the boil, and there are hop additions during the wort chill.  We made our flame out additions and then we used our trusty Jaded Hydra to chill the batch to 180 F.  At 180 F we added more hops and let them whirl pool for 30 minutes.  Then we chilled the batch to pitching temperatures.  The jaded hydra makes chilling the entire batch lightning fast.  It chilled from 212 F to  179 F in under a minute.  Of course cool ground water temperatures helped a lot.

10.5 gallons in the
chamber turning in to awesome
ECIPA.

Early in the day, John re hydrated three packs of US05.  They were ready to rock and roll when we pitched.   As of today (Tuesday) Both batches are fermenting well in the fermentation chamber at 65 F.  Tonight Jake and John will add 1 ounce of Mosaic, Citra, and Cascade to the fermenters.   In a couple of days the batch fermentation temperature will be raised to 68 F to encourage complete fermentation, then in a week another charge of dry hops.   The second dose of dry hops will only be exposed to the beer for 3 or 4 days.   Then it will be time for packaging.   We package beer when it is ready.  Well how do you know it is ready.   It is really simple,  take a gravity sample.   Take a sample and when it is at terminal gravity let it sit a couple of days to clean up.  That is all it takes.

We should be drinking this beer in about 2.5 to 3 weeks.   Can't wait.  This one should be great.

At the end of the brew day, after all clean up, we gathered in the house for a vertical tasting of Boulevard Rye on Rye.   2012 through 2016.    If you are not familiar with Boulevard's smoke stack series... Smoke Stack brews from boulevard are made on their smaller original brewing system.  And they are world class.   This is where Boulevard makes their limited release beers.  This is where Boulevard brewers are encouraged to experiment.   This is where Tank 7, and Lovechild, and Tell Tale Tart were born.  And Boulevard Rye on Rye is an outstanding beer.  It is a Rye Beer, aged in Rye Barrels.

We all had different impressions.   My favorite was the 2015.  It still had some of the Spicy Rye character.   I think everyone else preferred the 2014 version.   Love this beer, and I am thankful that my brewing partners can store and save beer.  I don't seem to have that discipline.   If you have never tried it, stop what you are doing and go get some.

How to make a ridiculous IPA - East Coast IPA...

So over the past year we have done a lot of research into what makes an IPA taste the way an IPA taste.   We have talked with experts at BSG and Yakima Valley Hop Union about hops, and hop oils, isomerization, and flavor.  We have shared with you all the technology of Scott Janish's  Hop Oil Calculator.  And we have brewed a whole bunch of IPAs.

But now it is time to really apply what we have learned to an everyday, medium gravity IPA.   Sure, we designed and brewed Hoptonite.  And we are so flattered that so many of you have downloaded this monster and brewed this beast.    And it is an amazing beer.   But you don't always want a high alcohol, extremely high IBU beer.   And that brings us to this weekend's recipe.   "Persuasion IPA"

With Persuasion we are bringing the knowledge we learned in the ridiculous double IPA series and applying it to what we have learned to an East Coast IPA.   Yes, we are the first to acknowledge that ECIPAs are sweeping the brewing world faster than beanie babies swept through the early 1990s.  Yes, we acknowledge that this is the latest brewing fad.  But... who really cares.  The ECIPA is more than a fad it is a delicious beer.   Here is our take on it.  Backed by the research we have done.  Loads of late hops, loads of whirlpool hops.  and two additions of dry hops.   First addition before fermentation (so the yeast can work on the hop oils), second addition after active fermentation (for pure traditional dry hop goodness).

And here is what it will taste like according to Scott Janish.  If you are not using the hop oils calculator on ScottJanish.com you are missing out.  It is the best way to predict the flavor and aroma of your late hop additions.  

How to make a ridiculous dIPA; Part 3 Recipe design. with BSG Hoptonite dIPA

So now it is time to apply what we have learned in this series and design a ridiculous double India Pale ale.   Our goal is not to clone any particular dIPA but rather to be inspired by some of the dIPAs that we love. We are not nearly as concerned with IBUs as we are with hop flavor and aroma.  IBUs are a theoretical measurement of bitterness.   We want the beer to be bitter, but we are more focused on hop flavor and aroma, and definitely a tongue stinger.  I, for one, think this is a fundamental characteristic of a dIPA.  We want loads of hop flavor and aroma.  We want those aromas to be herbal, pine, citrus, black pepper, and a touch of stone fruit.   Notice I didn't say woody, earthy, floral or grassy.   Those are characteristics we associate with an English IPA.   We want the color to be very light for a dIPA 7.5 to 8 SRM.


Wowser, that is a lot of want's and things to consider.  So let's break them down and analyze them one at a time.

• We want the beer to be bitter -  We have learned that IBUs are a measurement of bitterness not hop aroma or flavor.  A beer that is 70-80 IBUs can be intensely hoppy.  But we promised you a hop monster. Were shooting for 135+ IBUs.
• We have learned that many brewers prefer bittering hops low in cohumulone to get a less harsh bitter.   So We will be using Nugget Centennial - more later.
• We have learned that by choosing hops with certain oils and protecting those oils by not exposing them to isomerization, and boil off, we can maximize our hop flavor and aroma.
• We have learned that we have to focus on certain oils to get certain flavors.   In our case those oils are high in Myrcene and Linalool, and have a fair amount of Humulene and Carophylene.
• We will need a decent bittering charge to get our IBUs up.
• When you hop the heck out of a beer and have no bitterness, it just kinda seems mildly fruity and citrusy on the tongue.  That isn't what we want here.  
• We made an all late addition citra IPA.  it was... meh. No balance just citrusy and stone fruit.
• We will need a mid boil addition to up the bitterness more and get some midrange flavors.
• Otherwise our beer can taste like it has a hole in the middle.   Bitter, but not lingering, and then whamo! aroma and flavor.  We want flavor and aroma all the way through the pallet. This is really common with lots of commercial american IPAs
• We will have some flame out additions in our batch, but remember we have a jaded  hydra chiller and can easily control how long the oils are subjected to high heat. If you do not have the ability to chill rapidly.  I would suggest chilling to 140 F, then adding the hops for a 20 minute hop stand. 
• We will be using 2 charges of dry hops in this recipe.  
• One large charge of dry hops during active fermentation to expose the oils to bio transformation.  We want the transformation of the linalool into citronella 
• One smaller charge of dry hops right before bottling to protect the oils from bio transformation during active fermentation. 
• The hops we have selected were generously provided by BSG.  BSG is freaking fantastic.  They also have a small packaging program that keeps hops fresh.   Ask for BSG.
• Side note:  They are the force behind many of the grains and hops you already use.  
• Additional recipe support was also provided by the great people at BSG.  
• The hops we have selected are
• Centennial
• Nugget
• Galaxy
• Cascade
• Citra
• El Dorado
• Mosaic
• Our hops came in 1 ounce  oxygen evacuated packages from BSG.  Your local home brew store can order these for you.  Our hops were shipped cool, and have been stored in the freezer. 
• If your local home brew store does not have oxygen protected hops, and you are brewing for contest, or just trying to make the ultimate batch.  have them order these for you.  Both of the great hop providers, BSG, and YCH Hops can provide these for you. 

Again, we didn't want to copy another recipe exactly.  We wanted this to be our own Counterbrew / Turkey Creek / Mynd Spyn / Borders Brewing Adventure recipe.  Sure we could have just copied Pliny the Elder, or Headdy Topper.  And let me say for the record that is a fine thing to do.  I personally love Pliny the Elder.   I make it a lot, a couple of times during this writing of this blog. But this is our beer, based on our new and deeper understanding of the hops.  It is our hope that this new understanding creates a fantastic beer.

But now comes the hard part.

Figuring out the additions, the times, and the processes.   For that we turn to two sources to which I am proud to introduce you. (see I can use correct grammar)  First,  ScottJanish.com  hop oil calculator.  Scott is a great guy and very cerebral.  He has taken the time to build a free online hop oil calculator.  We have been testing it, and the predicted results match very closely the final product.  Now, you should know our hop bill doesn't fit into scotts calculator very well.  We  are using some hops that have not made their way onto the calculator yet.  No problem.  Not only is Scott cerebral, he is also a good guy.  He helped us choose the closest substitutions for the sake of his calculator.   The end result.  We will kinda know what the beer will taste like before we brew it.

Second, is good ol' expert advice.  One of the great things about home brewing is you can turn to people in your club, your LHBS, and to industry guys for help.   We will be planning our recipe using Brewtoad.com and Scottjanish.com.  And then sending our recipe to the experts at BSG just to make sure what the computer is spitting out will match what experience and expertise indicates.

ScottJanish.com is a beer blog.  Scott has done the research for you.  On ScottJanish.com you willfind the very best commercial clone recipes on the net.  A list of the top 200 beer blogs by reported traffic.  (Sadly we haven't made the list yet, but were almost there.) A list of great home brew recipes.  A hop substitutions engine, which is ever growing and expanding and, last but certainly not least, a hop oil calculator.   I don't design hoppy beers any more without consulting scottjanish.com.   The first beer was our hoppy wheat.  The hoppy wheat was barely posted about.  But we designed the recipe using the hop oils calculator, and as I sit here enjoying one right now, it occurs to me, the engine was right on the money.   We were trying to make a hoppy, citrusy wheat beer with some pine notes.  That is exactly what the engine said we would get, and that is exactly what we got.

But designing this recipe is a little more challenging.  The hop oil calculator does not have every hop yet,  Scott is doing his best, but remember this is just an amateur home brew blog. Not amateur in appearance or performance, just in the fact that it is not Scotts full time profession.  Since we were Using some hops that are not in the calculator yet, we had to find the closest substitution hop and plug that in.

When I first put the recipe in I was convinced of a hop schedule that featured Nugget as our bittering hop.   Nugget fit the bill.  I was sure of this fact.  But, I have come to trust Scott's hop oil calculator.  And when I put in my hop bill I got something that looked like this...Mild and pleasant with spicy floral tones.... what the what?   I'm trying to make a tongue stinger.   A tongue stinger that features very lemony, citrusy, pine, and black pepper tastes.  Here was my first attempt.

That is not what we were trying to do.   Mild and pleasant?   What is this the Lawrence Welk of beers?    We want interesting and cool.   We want flavors you can identify when you drink the beer.  But that is the cool thing about ScottJanish.com.   It allows you to test your recipe before you brew.  And based on the knowledge we have accumulated about hops, you can adjust your recipe.  Which I did.  Here is the second attempt.

Citrus and lemon notes with cedar, pine, floral black pepper and subtle green melon.  "Hello! yes please Ill have two of those, and get the dame a cosmo please, thank you!"  That is exactly what we wanted.   So that is what we are going with.    Just to make sure, before we brew, we will be running this by some experts at BSG.  But I think you all get my point.  What a cool resource.  One little change.  Changing the initial bittering charge to Centennial makes all the difference.  And isn't it cool that we live in a time where we don't have to just keep making the same beer over and over to figure that out?
So now our final recipe looks like this.
5.5 Gallon Batch.   Yield 5 gallons.
OG - 1.081
FG - 1.012
ABV - 9.1%
IBUs - 142 - yup 142 percieved IBUs but total AAUs of 160.85  (Pliny is 199 percieved IBUs and 152 AAUs)  So this is an insane hop monster.

The mash is a simple 60 minute rest at 150 F.    We will certainly do a no sparge for ours, but you brew it however you want to.  You could even make this as an extract.  There is so much hops in this that you really wouldn't notice much of a difference.   We wont be mashing out, or sparging, or step mashing or anything complicated.  Just straight forward hop attack.   That is it.  Nothing more to this one.   It is all about the hops.  We will be turning on our Jaded Hydra right at after the flame out additions go in.  We will be under 140 F, in under 2 minutes.  The 2 day dry hop is not a typo.  For the final dry hop we don't want to expose the hops to any yeast activity.

Next stop Brewing the beast.   But before we brew, remember we are running it by our experts.

So that is it sports fans.   A true hop monster.  But a hop monster developed with thoughtfulness and technology.   I am not saying this is the final version of the recipe.   I am sure we will make adjustments and modifications as we brew this beer.  But for now, this is our version of a double IPA. The brew day photos and videos will have to wait a while. As we are all very busy right now.   With family coming into town, work travel, church, and school activities.   I for one can't wait to brew this beer.   We will also be making my "by Grace" IPA in the near future (the best IPA I have ever tasted, an entire 5 gallon batch disappeared at just 2 cast parties)  and John's cream ale.  It is a fantastic summer beer. Thank you for your comments and questions.   I hope you will also brew this beer, and tell me what you think of it.

If you need an extract version of the recipe.  Just substitute the entire grain bill for 9.9 lbs of Light Liquid Extract (not pilsen or Maris Otter, just standard extract) and 2 lbs of extra light DME.   We are working with a home brew supplier to bring you all pre packaged versions of our recipes.  More on that to come soon.

UPDATE:  The good folks at BSG think our recipe looks good, and want to try some when it is done. We'll make sure they get to.

UDATE 2 Hoptonite will have to wait for a couple of weeks.  Easter is coming fast.  We have convinced our SWMBOs to let us brew on Holy Saturday, but it has to be fast.  So were doing a 10 gallon no sparge Saison.  Hoptonite will not be a fast brew day, every detail will be checked and re checked when we brew the monster.

UDATE 3 Hoptonite is about a week old.  It is chugging away in the FC.  The whole basement smells like hops.  We had a slight blowoff, and by slight I mean it took over an hour to clean up, so use a blow off tube and a large bucket.    Cant wait to taste it.

How to make a Ridiculous dIPA volume 2 - Hops, with Chad Roberts of YCH HOPS

This is a long one, but it's worth it. 

"Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities' confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail.

There it is, the Reinheitsgebot.  The first of many laws governing how beer was to be made. What?  you don't care for the Reinheitsgebot? You are a free brewer, and you'll add what ever you want to your wort...  OK, cool, I'm cool with that.  But,  understand, this is where the use of hops became not just common, but also standardized and regulated.   And thank god it did.   From this point on hops were the key defining flavor of beer. Hops became the flavor that separated one style from another.  

When you back up to 50 yards away and watch a brew day.  They all look very similar.   Water, malt,  hops, and yeast.  Brew in a Bag, 3 Vessel, eHERMS, RIMS, they all look very similar from 50 yards away.  It isn't the method that creates the flavors.   It is the specific choice of ingredients that defines a beer.    Tell me what is the difference between a blonde ale and a american India pale ale?   It is the hops. Nothing else.  What about the yeast smart guy? Well, as much as I talk about yeast, I will acknowledge that yeast is also a key ingredient.  But true yeast whisperers,  the guys who really understand yeast, can use many different yeasts to get the flavor they want, or use the same yeast to get many different flavors. One of the best saisons I ever had was made with US 05 fermented at high temperatures.   The guy knew how to get what he wanted from the yeast.  But there is no way to fake hops.  Each hop has unique properties that make it what it is.  Each hop variety is a separate variety and is genetically different than the other varieties.   

So whats in a hop?   By now I am assuming you know what a hop is.  If you aren't familiar with what hops are, this blog may be a little technical for you.   But have heart, I'll keep it as understandable as possible.  And when I say "what is in a hop"  I don't mean cellulose,    I mean what are the compounds in a hop that we as brewers care about?  How do these compounds (acids and oils) react to heat and mechanical agitation?  How can we use this knowledge to control (maximize) hop flavors. For that information, we turn to a pro,  Chad Roberts of YCH Hops.    Chad is the quality control officer of YCH Hops.  He is a wealth of information on hops and how to use them.  YCH Hops is an awesome provider of hops.   They have pioneered small packaging for home brewers.   When you are making a beer for competition, or true excellence, small packs are the choice.  Their Small packs are low oxygen packages that damn near guarantee freshness.   YCH HOPS

What are the compounds in hops that give beer flavor?

Numerous hop compounds contribute to the flavors they add to beer, from the obvious ones such as alpha and beta acids, various oils, as well as polyphenols and the vegetal hop matter itself.

So they are acids and oils?

Primarily, yes.  These are what are judged for their flavor and aroma contributions.  We are beginning to understand more what the other elements contribute as well.

What are the acids and how do they affect flavor?

Alpha and beta acid are comprised of various acids present in hops, and are placed into these two groups for ease of calculation.  They are housed within the hard resins of the hop glands.

What flavor is alpha acid?   

Aside from “hoppy and bitter”, I don’t think you can really assign a specific flavor to alpha acid.  Most of the flavors come from the connection to aroma contributed from the oils.

What flavor is beta acid?

Beta contributes somewhat to the bitterness of the beer as well, but as it does not isomerize or solubilize, beta acid bitterness primarily comes from it oxidizing, and has been described as “harsh, or medicinal”.

How long does it take for them to give their maximum bitterness?

A 60 minute boil isomerizes about all of the bitterness that is going to come from boiling the alpha acids in the hops, but some perceived bitterness from polyphenols may also come from dry hopping.

So the longer they are exposed to the heat the more bitterness they provide? 

To a point.  After 90 minutes, the only way you are extracting more than the maximum utilization of 30-35% is by actually reducing the total volume of liquid and increasing the bitterness that way.

So does the choice of bittering hop matter?

Absolutely.  While some brewers have anecdotally favored low co-humulone hops for bittering in the belief that they provide a “smooth” bittering, blind taste tests have not given data to back this up.  However, bitter character is most likely informed by the genetics of each hop, which is why some use high alpha, clean hops such as Magnum and Warrior™ to achieve the bitterness they desire while contributing little conflicting flavor or aroma.

What are the oils and what flavors do they give? 

Myrcene

Myrcene is normally connected with tropical fruit flavors, and is the most volatile of the oils in hops, so the first to disappear with age. 

Caryophyllene

Earthy, woody, spicy character is classically ascribed to this oil.

Farnesene 

Farnesene can range from primarily floral tones into some citrusy character as well.

Humulene

It is very much like Caryophyllene, and so produces much of the same aromas.

Geraniol

Strong floral aromas come from geraniol.

Linalool

Linalool is closely related to myrcene, and responsible for many perceived aromas in hops, from floral to woody to fruity.

There has bee a lot of focus recently on late hop additions and dry hopping.   Can you discuss that?

Adding hops late in the boil and dry hopping are where you are going to get the majority of your hop aroma, as aroma compounds are volatile and would be boiled off otherwise.  

Heat creates isomerization and boils off volatile oils,  fermentation creates biotransformation.  How can brewers use that to their advantage? 

Isomerization creates your bitterness, so that is why your bittering addition is at the beginning.   Hop oils boil off at much lower temperatures than water, and the flavors provided by the oils degrade much faster than isomerization occurs.  “Biotransformation” and hydrolization by yeast take the aroma compounds found in oils and change them into other aromas.  Whether or not this is desirable is a point of contention between brewers, and people dry hop with or without yeast present to control these effects.

Is it fair to say you can custom design the flavor of a beer by knowing the amounts of the acids and oils, and how to maximize them?

By using calculators to control the amounts of IBU you extract from Alpha Acids in the hops you use, you can absolutely control how bitter your beer is.  By knowing the oil contents, you can definitely get closer to what you are looking for but a whole host of variables between brewing and consumption affect whether or not the character you are shooting for will be exactly what you planned for.

So if a person wanted to make a ridiculously hoppy double india pale ale (the focus of this series)  they could literally choose what flavors they wanted to emphasize and choose hops and hop usage techniques to maximize those flavors?

Designing your hop bill thoughtfully and controlling all of your processes will absolutely improve your beer and get it closer to what you are designing.

We want a citrusy, piney, somewhat floral, maybe even a little peppery 5 gallon batch of beer at about 95 IBUs   What would you recommend for hops and additions?  

For Citrus, I’ve always liked Cascade and Citra™, with pine coming from Chinook and Simcoe®, floral from Spalt and Sterling, and pepper from Summit and Columbus.

How important is freshness and packaging?

Cold storage, packaging quality and retaining an inert (low oxygen) atmosphere for the hops is integral to keeping them fresh.  The crop year isn’t as important as keeping them cold and sealed.  I have professionally used hops over 8 years old and made a great hop forward beer, so I personally am very against the “current crop year or bust” mentality.  (did you all catch that?)

How can a home brewer get the best quality hops?

Buy from your local home brew store, as long as they keep all of their hops cold (below 40 F), even their back stock.  Yakima Chief-Hopunion “Small Pack” product is the first in the market to provide quality controlled, commercially packaged and guaranteed product to the home brew market, and we hold our products to a standard of excellence and trace-ability to ensure that all of our customers receive the highest quality hops we have to offer.

So faithful readers, to sum up what we have learned.   Using hops is not as simple as putting them in your beer at certain times.   A well designed recipe uses the knowledge we all have built to create the flavors we all want.  Some of the techniques that brewers have developed are great.  Some of them are... well, let's just say they don't accomplish what was intended.   And there are exciting new techniques you can use to maximize the flavors you want.  It is really just like everything else. Understanding what you are doing is the key.  So lets summarize what we have learned.

• The bitterness comes from the acids in the hops, and to a certain extent the polyphenols
• It takes about 60 minutes for the acids to isomerize (re arrange) for maximum effect
• So if you want a super bitter beer, you need to add hops at 60 minutes, and those hops need lots of acid content.
• The taste of one hop added at 60 versus another hop added at 60 is noticeable.  So the idea that any bittering hop will do is not true.  
• Many brewers like bittering hops with low Co-Humulone levels. Warrior and Magnum
• Much of the hop flavor comes from the volatile oils in the hop
• These oils boil at much lower temperatures than wort.  
• When the oils boil they loose their flavors, they are volatile
• This can happen in as little as 10-20 minutes in the boil
• Tell us exactly how long they can boil safely with out losing the flavors
• I can't.  It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what flavors you are trying to create.  One thing I take from this, is that for the purpose of flavor and aroma... I add my hops in the last 10 minutes or in whirl pool or dry hop only.  
• Whirl pool additions over 140 F will continue to isomerize.   Which isn't to say you shouldn't whirlpool.  Just know that you are loosing some aroma and flavor, and gaining some additional bitterness.  Sometimes that's what you want.  Remember people its about understanding not rules.
• But late additoons, with out fast chilling of the entire volume of the wort will continue to do 2 things
• Isomerize
• Oils will break down
• This isn't bad or good, it just is.  late additions and whirlpool additions are just a tool you can use to get the flavors you want.   
• Basically, Whirlpool and hop burst additions exposed to high heat for long periods of time will muddle.  
• Meaning their flavors and aromas will diminish and you will get some additional bitterness from them. Which may be what you want, but not really what we want in a monster dIPA. 
• Hop oils exposed to active fermentation can undergo bio-transformation.  This is a process where the yeast acts upon the hop oils (looking for anything it may need).  The hop oils can change.  This is also neither good or bad.  It just is what it is.   You may want this, you may not.  
• There is debate on whether or not this is actually perceivable.  My best advice is try it yourself.  Brew the same beer 2x or split a batch.  One time follow your normal dry hop schedule.  One time add the dry hops a day or two before packaging after most active fermentation has subsided.
• Can't you ever just give us a rule to follow? 
• No, no I can not.  other than clean and sanitize constantly.   
• Great brewing is not about rules and recipes, it is about understanding. 
• Understanding how your ingredients will behave based on the factors you can control

In our next episode we will design our ridiculous dIPA using what we have learned, and I will give you more resources to use in designing a beer.   There have been some amazing developments in the last couple of years.   That is all for now sports fans.  

PROST!

YCH HOPS

How to make a ridiculous Imperial IPA... Part 1 the pitfalls

Ok, here it is, the series you have all been waiting for.  The big one.   How to make a ridiculous double India Pale Ale.   This is the first in a 3 part series on this topic.  Part 1; the pitfalls, Part 2 Hop Oils and how to use them, Part 3 The Counterbrew dIPA recipe "Hoptonite".  I wont bore you with too much information and history about dIPAs.   But give me just a little leeway.   Until 1974 American beer was bland.  Bland, bad, yellow, fizzy lager. And not even great lager.  Then Fritz Maytag of Anchor brewing said, enough.  He came out with an English style pale ale hopped with Cascade hops, called Liberty Ale.   Liberty Ale was off the charts hoppy, clocking in at a reported 31 - 35 IBUs.  In a world where most beers were 12 to 16 IBUs, this was a game changer.  Fritz was soon followed by Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada and his gift to the world, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Vinnie Cilurzo the father of dIPA
and probably still the best brewer of the style!

But the world really changed in 1994 when a young brewer at a winery named Vinny Cilurzo came out with a high alcohol, high IBU beer called... Pliny the Elder right?  Wrong.... Blind Pig actually came first and is widely considered the first double IPA.   He took his IPA,  doubled the hops, increased the malt bill by 30%, and kept dry hopping  for a year while storing on oak chips.   And the revolution that was preserved by Anchor, Minhas, and Frankenmuth, and fueled by Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, Stone, and others got the turbo charge it needed.  The Double India Pale Ale, or Imperial IPA.

So, double India Pale Ales are a bit of a misnomer.  They are an American invention.  They are incredibly hoppy.   Believe it or not they are easy to make taste decent.  But really hard to make taste incredible.  This is why they are so very popular with home brewers.   Even if you don't absolutely nail it, it will still be pretty damned good.

But today, for this day only,  we here at Counterbrew will break open the secrets of making a great double India Pale Ale.   We will explore the pitfalls, we will explain techniques, and we will give some good guidelines to follow when making a dIPA.  At the end of the series we'll make a great dIPA and post all about it.

First the pitfalls.

many, many aftershool hours were wasted playing this
iconic game. Good Ol Atari, and Activision!

Guys get excited when they are making a dIPA, and really why shouldn't they?  A good dIPA is something we all long for.  The ability to create one gives a brewer great satisfaction, and pride. Sharing it with other brewers gets a brewer respect and a bit of brew geek glory.   But there are potential pitfalls to avoid when making a dIPA.  Today we focus on the pitfalls.

1. Over complicated grist! -  Remember it is just a beer. You do not need 14 types of grain.  You do not need organic Himalayan spelt, malted by monks in a temple.   Keep your grain bill simple.  We here at Counterbrew (mostly me and John) have examined winning dIPA recipes from all over the internet.   Most winning recipes we have examined have no more than 4 grains.   Almost always those grains include pale ale malt and dexterine malt.  Often they include a crystal grain 20 to 40.  It is the attention you pay to the mash, and your skill as a brewer that will determine your mash quality, not some freaky ingredient.  
2. Over complicated hop bill -  dIPAs tend too get muddled when you use to many hops, or you combine your hops carelessly, or you do not have a good schedule for adding your hops.   Muddled is a term that means... the hop flavor is there, but it is not definable, it's all mixed together.  The individual flavors offered by the hops can not be identified.  They have just kind of mixed together into a big conglomeration of hoppy goodness.   Still delicious.   But not at all what you want from a world class dIPA. That muddled taste can be what you want sometimes, especially in a pale ale, but not in a ridiculous dIPA.  
1. A good rule of thumb is 1 flavor or aroma hop at a time, separated by 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Over pitching yeast - yes over pitching yeast.   There has been so much focus in recent years on proper pitch rate.  Some of you missed the point.  Proper pitch rate, not ridiculous over pitch.  I recently fielded a question from a guy who put a 1 gallon starter in a 5 gallon batch of 1.050 beer.   He wondered why it didn't attenuate... duh!  Because it didn't need to attenuate.   The colony was already at its desired healthy population level.  Yeast only "eats" sugar to have energy to reproduce and colonize.  The population was already at its maximum density.    Remember yeast only "wants" to survive.  When the colony is healthy and full it is genetically coded to move into a "maintenance" cycle.    (Not exactly how it works, but a useful way to view things)
1. Use a trusted calculator and stick with what it says.  I like homebrewdad/brewunited yeast and starter calculator.   I also like the pitch rate calculator on Brewtoad.  It never lets me down.   
4. Underpitching yeast -   I feel like this has been covered very thoroughly on this blog.   But underpitching can create off flavors and keep the beer from attenuating completely.  dIPAs are supposed to be crisp.  The sweet flavor, if there is any, comes from the hop oils and sugars in the hops (yes there are sugars in hops).  A dIPA that is too sweet is cloying and gross. 
5. No temperature control -  Once again if you spend $2000 to $5000 on a wort production machine and you can not control the temperature of your fermentation, you missed the point!  Many of you fancy boys would find our equipment ghetto.  Many of you new and intermediate brewers would be blown away by our toys.  But any of you who can't control fermentation temperatures would be jealous.  John has a Cold Chamber, and a Hot chamber (for sours and saisons), I have an ale chamber and 2 individually controlled lager chambers.  You see?  we didn't miss the point!  You must be able to ferment at the correct temperatures for your yeast.  Period!   There is really nothing more to say on this topic.  
1. If you do not have temperature controlled fermentation, I strongly suggest you use a yeast that is very forgiving, US05.  WLP001  WY1056.  
2. If you can't control fermentation temperatures, this should be a high priority, right after full volume boil, and before switching to all grain.  
3. By the way, don't even talk to me about specialty liquid yeasts (other than those I've mentioned above, if you can not control fermentation temperatures)
6. Chilling too slowly - As you all know I sometimes make batches of "no chill" beer.   But you may have noticed, I never do this with hoppy beers.  No chill works fine with a house cream ale.  It doesn't work with hop monsters.   You must chill your beer quickly.  If you do not have an immersion chiller it may not be time to try this recipe yet.  (Or message me and I will scale it down to 2 gallons that you can chill in your kitchen sink with ice)
1. With a dIPA it is critical to get the entire batch to under hop isomerization temperature quickly.  We believe an immersion chiller is the best option for this.  We believe Jaded makes the best chillers.   It is the only method by which you can quickly bring the entire volume of wort down at once.  
1.  Why is this so critical?  Hop Oils continue to isomerize above 140 F.
2. What the heck is isomerize?  Isomerization is the process by which a molecule rearranges its atoms due to an outside force like temperature.   Still the same number of atoms but they are in a different arrangement.   It literally changes into a different molecule.   With hops exposure to high temperatures for long periods of time causes the oils in the hops to change.That is literally how we use hops in beer. The longer the exposure the more the change.
1. Change from the bright herby, spicy, citrusy, etc... to just plain ol bitter.  
2. You want some bitter in a dIPA but you also want clearly defined hop flavors.    
2. If you can recirculate you could use a counter flow chiller, or a plate chiller to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible while recirculating. 
7. Lack of attention to detail during brewing -   This is the number one thing brewers do wrong.  It isn't water chemistry, it isn't pitch rate, it isn't lack of temperature control.  It's not paying attention when brewing.  Believe me I understand, family, friends, other chores, a great game on television, a Doctor Who marathon, and Verdi's Othello (I love opera) have all distracted me on brew day!  But when you are brewing a dIPA there is no room for distraction. (Really when brewing anything there is no room for distraction).  Keep a brew day log.  Put every step of your brewing on the log.  Follow it.   Basic brewing has a great log book. 

Those are the common pitfalls when brewing a dIPA, and really almost all beers.  Some beers are more forgiving, some are less forgiving.  But in general these are the pitfalls of brewing a great dIPA, and good practices to follow with any brewing session.  So as you plan your recipe, don't just plan the ingredients take the time to plan out everything.   It will dramatically improve your brew day. 

In our next installment we will be looking at hop oils... what are they, and what flavors do they create?  How can you use them best... notice I did not say maximize them... Use them best...