Experimental New England IPA

I’ve been itching to release this post for some time now. As I am writing and editing this post I am working on gathering some statistics to put in here so you will have some info to chew on. This brew was probably my most documented brew day I have ever done and I must say it is pretty nice to look back and read what all I did for it. I took lots of photos of the entire process. The reason I did this experiment is for the Experimental Brewing Podcast, it made me brew a beer I’ve been wanting to brew for some time, but really just didn’t know where to start. Where I sorta failed at this experiment is that I actually used a Conan Yeast strain, rather than Wyeast 1318 London Ale III that the recipe suggested. I hope it doesn’t throw them off with their data.

2016-06-02 21.37.38

2016-06-04 18.21.53-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brew Day: June 4, 2016

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
11 gal 60 min 38.0 IBUs 4.6 SRM 1.055 1.013 5.5 %
Actuals 1.053 1.01 5.6 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American IPA 21 A 1.056 - 1.07 1.008 - 1.014 40 - 70 6 - 14 2.4 - 2.9 5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 19 lbs 82.61
Munich 10L (Briess) 2 lbs 8.7
Oats, Flaked 2 lbs 8.7

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Warrior 0.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 15.9
Centennial 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 14.1
Amarillo 1 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 9.2
Centennial 1 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 20 min Aroma Pellet 14.1
Amarillo 4 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 9.2
Centennial 4 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 10
Citra 4 oz 0 min Dry Hop Pellet 14.1

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Calcium Chloride 17.25 g 60 min Mash Water Agent
Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) 17.25 g 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
American Ale (1056) Wyeast Labs 75% 60°F - 72°F
DIPA Ale (OYL-052) Omega 76% 65°F - 72°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

Notes

Dry Hopped on 6/25/2016

Wort is chilled in the the carboy ready for pitch

6/6/2016 – 7 AM – Still no sign of activity from the Omega Yeast

6/5/2016 Evening after pitching. Wyeast 1056 took off first.

6/6/2016 – 6 PM – Omega Yeast has taken off!

6/7/2016 – 7AM – Both beers happily fermenting away

6/7/2016 – 7 PM – This is smelling super good

The lapse of time in between these two pictures was Homebrew Con. Ok guys, it was my first one to attend, I apologize for not documenting them daily while I was off drinking a copious amount of beer.

6/12/2016 – Activity is slowing down quite a bit

6/17/2016 - Looks like it's done with the super active fermentation now

6/17/2016 – Looks like it’s done with the super active fermentation now

6/25/2016

Dry hopped each primary fermenter with:
56 g. Amarillo (7.2% AA)
56 g. Centennial (10.0% AA)
56 g. Citra (12.5% AA)

7/3/2016 – These samples are from the carboy. Can you tell which one is which?

7/3/2016
Keg conditioned each keg with 3.6 ounces of table sugar and 3/4 cups of water. Simmered for 5 minutes.
Wyeast 1056 FG – 1.010
Omega OLY-52 FG – 1.012

7/18/2016
The kegs went into the kegerator to chill

7/21/2016 – First Triangle Test

Omega DIPA on the left, Wyeast on the Right

A little stats here for ya. Out of 25 total testers 20 of them picked the correct sample. I must know some people with really good palettes. Of the people who commented, it seemed that the Wyeast 1056 sample was the favorite among the two samples. Personally I like the Omega DIPA because it has a softer mouthfeel and doesn’t come across as sharp as the 1056. Me personally I think I get a slight touch of diacetyl in the 1056 sample. No one else mentioned this, but I would have written that down on a BJCP score sheet. There was a BJCP judge that tasted the samples and he didn’t mention the diacetyl either, so maybe I’m really sensitive to it.

This was a really fun experiment. I plan on doing more of these for sure. I appreciate the Experimental Brewing Podcast for pushing me over the edge and doing something scientific like this. Lets me geek out even more on beer.