Bravo IPA

I tried out the Bravo hops yesterday in an American ipa. They are 15% alpha acid so I used them as the bittering charge with Simcoe as the flavor and aroma. Both have a piney citrusy flavor profile so I think they will pair nicely. I hit all my numbers and volumes, I had forgot how easy it is to make a single infusion five gallon batch.

I also attempted to create a whirlpool during the end of the boil/chill period by recirculating through the pump. The point was to collect the hops in the middle of the kettle (bottom of the whirlpool) to prevent it from going into the fermenter, but I think the immersion chiller got in the way. It's possible to do, just needs some tweaking.

March Madness!

Alright so I finally got my brewing caught up yesterday. I got 20 gallons done. Here's how it all went down:

Round 1: Sounder IPA

This IPA was a mutation of one of the beers that I did for the Election (Biden IPA), but I mixed up the hops some and made some slight changes to the grain bill and have decided to name in honor of Seattle's new MLS team. (Go Sounders FC!!!)

Sounder IPA 10g
22# Two Row Pale
2# Crystal 20
1# Aromatic
1# Flaked Oats

2oz Warrior 60
2oz Cascade 30

Safale US-05
2oz Mt Hood 5


I've got all kinds of computer problems so I don't know what my OG was supposed to be but it came in at 1.062, which seems about right because before the minor changes it was supposed to come in at 1.063.

I also used the cake from the last pale ale for this one. I wasn't even boiling the second beer before it started to spew yeast everywhere. 24 hours later its still fermenting like a fiend. Hopefully it will be done in a day or so at this rate.




Round 2: Porter?

So the second beer I'm not as solid on, but still optimistic. Like I said I don't have the software that I usually use to write my recipes so I was kind of shooting in the dark with this recipe. It is based off the old recipe for the Pumpkin Porter (without pumpkin).



Porter?
22# Two Row Pale
2# Crystal 40
1# Brown
1# Chocolate

2oz Halletauer
2oz Fuggel
1oz Tettanger

Safale US-05

I was shooting in the dark with the gravity here and somehow came out with 1.068! That's about 10 points higher than I think I want, but we'll still make it good. I also think that I'm going to take 5 gallons of it and try adding cranberries. I have a lot of them I don't know what to do with. It could be good.

Well that's the scene here on Lucile Street. Time to think about chili.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin