Sunday, May 7, 2017

Elder Pig

Bottled 5/28 - very tasty. That Vinnie guy might be on to something...

My last few batches of IPA have tasted muddy to me; too much going on in the specialty malts, like drinking hoppy beers in the Midwest. To re-calibrate my recipe sense, I went back to the Vinnie-approved Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder recipes (AHA versions) and read through them again. Brewing a Pliny clone was tempting, but that much DIPA is not needed around here these days. Ultimately, decided on (very nearly) the malt bill of Blind Pig with the hop profile of Pliny the Younger, albeit dialed back a bit.

Batch #98
Best Coast IPA
5 gallons
10 lbs California 2-row malt
6 oz Carapils
6 oz Crystal 40L
3/4 oz Columbus 14.9%aa (90 min)
1/2 oz Columbus 14.9%aa (45 min)
3/4 oz Simcoe 13%aa (30 min)
1-1/4 oz Simcoe (0 min)
1 oz Centennial (0 min)
1 oz each Columbus, Centennial, Simcoe (dry, 10 days)

Water: RO with 8g CaSO4, 3g CaCl2, 2.5g MgSO4, 1g NaCl
Yeast: 1.5L starter of WLP001 California Ale Yeast

OG: 1.059
FG: 1.007
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: ~90-100

Single infusion mash at 150-152F for 1 hour. Fly sparge to collect 8 gallons wort. Kettle size meant starting the boil with 7 gallons, adding another 1/2 gal at the 60min mark for 7.5 in kettle, 5.5 in carboy. Boil 1.5 hours, chill. I let it settle a bit before racking to the carboy and pitching yeast.