Thursday, April 19, 2012

AG #13 - House IPA II - Recipe

I really liked the my House IPA I that I brewed back in January. The one thing I identified for change was the fact that I thought the combination of the aromatic malt and Crystal 75 gave it a bit too much sweetness. With that in mind I have made a few alterations and hope to brew this version over the weekend.

House IPA II
14-B American IPA
Author: Mark

Size: 20.16 L
Efficiency: 63.0%
Attenuation: 71.4%
Calories: 194.29 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.058 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 24.74 (11.82 - 29.55)
Alcohol: 5.44% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 77.0 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
5500 g Maris Otter
500 g Crystal 30
250 g Carapils®/Carafoam®
10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added first wort, boiled 60 m
20 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m
10 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
10 g Simcoe (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m
13 g Apollo (19.8%) - added during boil, boiled 2 m
10 g Ahtanum (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1 m
1 ea WYeast 1272 American Ale II™

Notes
From House IPA I, deleted the Belgian aromatic and crystal 75, replaced with Crystal 30. Also replaced the Columbus additions with Apollo

Friday, April 6, 2012

New Kit in Action

Here are some pics of my new kit in action:

The new mash tun worked a treat. I overestimated the amount of temperature drop in transferring the strike water through the new pump set up, but once I added a little cool water I got a mash temp of 67c. The mash tun maintained this temperature for the full hour.
As I have previously mentioned I decided to go with a two vessel set up and so I mash-in with the full volume of water required and then simply drain this to the boiler once the mash has completed. Overall I was happy with the way this worked, in terms of moving the liquids around. However I was disappointed with the efficiency achieved, only 63%. I have a few ideas on how to improve this that I will try out on my next brew.
Cooling the wort after the boil. I was worried that my small immersion chiller would take for ever to bring the wort down to pitching temperature, however it was pretty good.
Aerating the wort. An aeration stone is submerged in the wort and then a pump diffuses air through this. Give this 20-30 minutes before you pitch your yeast and it makes a very welcoming environment for the yeast cells.
Fermenter safely tucked away, blow off tube attached.
Brew shed tidied up, brew day from start to finish was 5 hours 45 mins. Not too bad, however as I get more accustomed to my new set-up this will decrease.