Batch 003

As I said before, I’m going to attempt a Celebration Ale clone for this years Brew Not Bombs. This one is going to be pretty hoppy,

I think.

Here’s the recipe I’m using:

• 1lb Great Western Crystal 60L Malt
• 1/2lb Breiss Carapils Malt
• 1/2lb Great Western Munich Malt
• 5lb Briess Pale Extract (liquid barley malt)
• 2oz. Belgian Admiral AAU14.78%
• 2oz. New Zealand Cascade AAU8.9%
• Wyeast 1056 American Yeast
• 1/4tsp Irish Moss

Process:

1. Bring water to boil, let cool to 170-190. Add grains and steep 30 min.
2. Remove grains, and bring back to boil. Add malt extract & 1oz Belgian Admiral hops
3. After 45 min. add 1oz. Belgian Admiral hops and Irish Moss
4. After another 10 min, add 1oz New Zealand Cascade hops
5. After another 8 min, add 1oz. New Zealand Cascade and turn off heat
6. Chill in ice bath for 30 min., then pour into primary fermenter. For this step, I got a strainer that fit over the top of my primary fermentation bucket, put my bags of hops down and poured the wort over that. The bags of hops were very effective in filtering out a lot of the sediment.
7. Add 2 gal cool water to make 5 gal total.
8. Wait for it to reach 70-80F and then add yeast.
9. Seal and wait.

OG: 1.030 @ 86 = 1.038 @ 60

Since I ordered the yeast from Colorado, when it arrived it was already room temperature and seemed to have (possibly) been activated. I know last time I used this yeast packet, once I activated it, the bag got very pumped up with activity. This time, not so much. Hopefully the yeast just went dormant and adding it will still work. If not, I’m going to be kinda pissed.

I don’t really like fermenting in the plastic bucket. A large part of that is that the plastic swells as the yeast becomes active, so the bubbler doesn’t really do a good job of reflecting what’s going on. Also, I don’t really trust plastic. But I am going to dry hop this one as it goes into the second fermenter. I haven’t done that before and I’m curious to try it out.

Tasting 002

Whoa.

Lemme just say this: Whoa.

That shit is GOOD.

As an experiment, I put one bottle into the fridge right after bottling. That bottle was hoppy, metallic, flat, and not good. I also gave a few bottles to friends before they were ready to be consumed. One friend did the right thing and left them out of the fridge ’til they were ready. The other? I don’t know.

I have a few 6′s left in my closet and I put a couple in the fridge the other night so I could have one later. After a few weeks of mellowing, adjusting, settling, whatever, I am quite delighted with how 002 turned out.

It’s more into the realm of a very hoppy Pale Ale than an official IPA. It’s smooth, easy to drink, and (apparently) high in alcohol content. Whoa. I am having trouble believing how good it is…and typing. There’s no bitter aftertaste. I actually just really, really want another one. I’m still not sure whether to call it an IPA or a Pale Ale, but I don’t think it matters.

OK, so maybe I’m a little overwhelmed by how good it is ’cause I have been surviving on less than two beers per week for the last couple of weeks (long story), but damn.

That’s an IPA

That there is what you call an “I-P-A”, short for “India Pale Ale”.

It’s done (mostly) fermenting now and judging solely by the smell of it, that is definitely an IPA. And it smells great.

I really can’t wait to get into it, especially since the sun is coming out (today and tomorrow, at least).