Big DIPA

It's been a while since I brewed anything.  Summer is winding down, and have been spending a lot of time with my girls.  Have tried some good beer recently, and it got me inspired to brew something up.

Usually I am not one for overly hopped beers, however, a friend gave me a bottle of Pliny the Elder which you cannot get here in Texas.  I was very impressed with how good PTE was, and also recently tried Firestone's Double Jack.  Another good over the top hopped beer, or perhaps I could use their actual Double IPA nomenclature.  Perhaps my taste buds are changing, or perhaps these are simply two REALLY good DIPA beers that have better flavor and balance than most.

Custom Mash Paddle

Anyway, I set out to brew something along the lines of these beers.  Since the last brew, I've added a few pieces of equipment.  I got a Monster Mill 3, and have it rigged with my 1/2" drill with variable speed control.  Works FANTASTIC.  Other new additions are a Hop Spider for the boil kettle, an inline filter / trub strainer between boil kettle and pump, and a dry hopper - which I will definitely use on this batch of beer.

I am still working on the best repeatable workflow for the brewery.  The Blichmann Tower of Power / RIMS results in very clear wort going to the boil kettle, The Hop Spider and trub strainer will hopefully result in very, VERY clear wort into the fermenter.

For this batch, I took a look around the web for big double IPA recipes, and checked this blog as well for ideas.  I settled on a recipe that would result in around 8% ABV, 100-IBUs, and taste - well - good.

Here's what I came up with...

Grist:
88%   (26#)    2Row
4%     (1.5#)   Carapils
2%     (10oz)  C40
5%     (1.5#)   Dextrose - in boil kettle


Mash was basically Single infusion / 151F for 70min

Hops:
50ml Hop Extract @ 90 min (10-IBU/5ml/5ga batch = 100-IBU / 2 (10ga batch) ~ 50-IBU)
10ml Hop Extract @ 45 min
2oz Simcoe - 30 minutes left,
5oz Simcoe and 2oz Centennial (7.9%AA) - @flame out.

Hop Extract (HopShot from NorthernB)

Hop Spider @ work

Brew day was pretty easy / uneventful.  I used the trub filter, and the wort was pretty clear going into the conical. I was impressed with how easy the hop spider and trub filter were to clean after brewing.

7oz flame out hops

The taste of the wort was hoppy (shocker), but damned if it wasn't some malty/hoppy goodness.

OG 1.076-1.077

I recorded 076 as OG, but looking at this photo - it may have been 077, oh well.  I hydrated 3 packages of US-05; not sure why I hydrated them except the manufacturer has hydration instructions, so I guess I picked that method based on manufacturer recommendations.  The fermentation took off within 8-10 hours, likely due to the high sugar content; this will be in the 8-9% EtOH range.