Camping hop monster

At the end of August I'm taking the family on a camping trip to a lovely place by the sea in Dorset. There'll be a campfire, there will be singing, there will be ball games. There will be beer. Last year I made an underwhelming IPA with some stale Centennial hops - but I completely underpowered it and it just wasn't any good.

This year I've decided to make a proper monster IPA. I'm using Apollo hops, described by my brewing buddy as "a really big hop" and Ahtanum for a really nice mix of aromatic and full on piny American hop flavour.

The other change is that I'm making this as a wheat malt based IPA. This is mainly because I have a few kgs of wheat malt that need using up, and because I wanted a light bodied pale beer that would let the hops shine through but give some pleasing body. Well, it is a bit of an experiment.

 I made this as a brew in the bag (BIAB) beer - using my temperature controlled boiler as the mash tun. You can see the mash hops bobbing along the top as the mash reaches 65C. Its a bit counter intuitive, as BIAB feels like a bodge rather than rigorous method. Yes, using a converted picnic cooler somehow feels more professional. But now I'm practiced at BIAB it gives a bit more control than the cooler box method. 

Running off the mash liquid. It's a very nice pale straw colour, and it has a very subtle hop flavour from the mash hops. The sweetness of the malt disguises the hop flavour quite significantly. 

 One thing with BIAB is that its tempting to try and get as much of the wort from the grains as possible. This is just a small batch, so I popped the bag in a colander over a jug and managed to get about half a litre further wort out. It's worth it even if that just gets lost in the dry hopping phase.

And here's the wort a mere 12 hours after the yeast starter has been added. There's loads of activity and the bubble lock is bubbling away and looking very healthy. Also smells amazing!


In the mash
2.008 Kg Wheat Malt
0.204 Kg Rolled oats
0.104 Kg Caramel Malt (124 ECB)
10 g Apollo hops
10g Ahtanum hops

Mash in at 65C for 110 minutes, then raise temp to 75C for 10 mins (i figured a longer mash wouldn't hurt with all the oats)

Boil for 60 mins

Hop Schedule

10g Apollo @ 20 mins

15g Apollo @ Whirlpool for 60 minutes @ 70C falling
45g Ahtanum @ Whirlpool for 60 mins  @ 70C falling

Dry hop 15g Apollo and 45g Ahtanum for 10 days.

OG 1050 (higher than intended - i might weaken the wort a bit, I was aiming for 4% abv)

Yeast - Cry Havoc WLP - using yeast starter

Lucky dip yeast

This was too good to turn down - 5 phials of liquid yeast for £10. These yeasts are usually over £6 each and so even though they are over their use by date its still a great way to try out a load of different yeasts in a very affordable way. Even though the yeasts are over the use by date, they are still perfectly viable if I make a yeast starter first, it just means forgoing the really easy pitch straight from the phial function of the easy yeast. At this price you've just got to experiment!

Because it's a lucky dip, I had no idea what I'd get in the  package. I was hoping for some interesting yeasts and I certainly got some. This also means over the next few months I have some interesting beers to make. As it turned out I was really pleased, you can see from the picture what I got. Here's an idea of what I might make with these yeasts

Vermont Ale Yeast - Kohatu IPA (I've already made this one - recipe coming soon)
Cry Havoc (WLP862) - this is Charlie Papazian's house yeast strain and said to be very versatile - I might also make an IPA with this
Dry Belgian Ale Yeast - This yeast is a monster - 85 - 100% attenuation!! I'll probably make a Leffe or La Chouffe clone with this, with added hoppiness
American Lager Yeast - I struggle with lagers because I don't have any way to control low temperatures. But lager yeasts can make very good stout or porter yeasts and have a nice silky texture so I'll probably use one for entering this competition - and above all I am tempted to make a Baltic porter.
Northeastern Abbey Yeast - another Belgian style yeast, this one much more subtle, and suitable for a wit beer so I might make a Belgian wheaty beer from this.

White House ale - a critique

Its not new news that President Obama has had some homebrew going on - that dates back all the way to 2012. But when a colleague sent me one of the recipes I couldn't resist taking a closer look. I'm fully in favour of the White House promoting home brew, but now I have some experience of my own I wanted to think about what I might do differently if I was making this, and what might improve the beer. There's no comment box on the site (which is understandable but a bit annoying in this instance.)

What I'd change:

1. Aroma hops - these are added at 60 mins and then the wort is left to stand, then cooled water is added to the liquid. This will add a lot more bittering to the wort - and much of the best of the aroma will be driven off at boiling temperature. Instead I'd add the aroma hops at the stage when the cold water is added (when the temperature is 70 - 80C) and let them stand for at least 30 minutes before removing the hops and chilling.

2. Honey - honey does two things - it adds sugar to boost the fermentation in the wort and it adds flavour. Honey can have some lovely delicate flavours and aromas, but if you add the honey at the boil stage these will be driven off. People add honey at the boil to make sure that the wort is sanitised, so that any bacteria or wild yeasts lurking in the honey are killed off. But this is at the expense of the delicate honey aromas. Instead I'd add the honey in at the end of the fermentation  (which will cause a secondary fermentation) because by this point the alcohol in the wort will limit the activity of any other yeasts or nasties lurking in the honey.

3. Yeast - Dried Nottingham yeast is fine - but it is a bit dull and has a distinctive finish. Personally if going with dried yeast I'd use Danstar Windsor (which is a bit more estery and would work well with this darker beer). If I was using liquid yeast, I'd go for a liquid english ale 

Here's the full recipe:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe

Ingredients

• 2 (3.3 lb) cans light unhopped malt extract
• 3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked)
• 1 lb crystal 20 malt (cracked)
• 6 oz black malt (cracked)
• 3 oz chocolate malt (cracked)
• 1 lb White House Honey
• 10 HBUs bittering hops
• 1/2 oz Hallertaur Aroma hops
• 1 pkg Nottingham dry yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling

Directions

1. In a 6 qt pot, add grains to 2.25 qts of 168˚ water. Mix well to bring temp down to 155˚. Steep on stovetop at 155˚ for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 2 gallons of water to 165˚ in a 12 qt pot. Place strainer over, then pour and spoon all the grains and liquid in. Rinse with 2 gallons of 165˚ water. Let liquid drain through. Discard the grains and bring the liquid to a boil. Set aside.
2. Add the 2 cans of malt extract and honey into the pot. Stir well.
3. Boil for an hour. Add half of the bittering hops at the 15 minute mark, the other half at 30 minute mark, then the aroma hops at the 60 minute mark.
4. Set aside and let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Place 2 gallons of chilled water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons if necessary. Place into an ice bath to cool down to 70-80˚.
6. Activate dry yeast in 1 cup of sterilized water at 75-90˚ for fifteen minutes. Pitch yeast into the fermenter. Fill airlock halfway with water. Ferment at room temp (64-68˚) for 3-4 days.
7. Siphon over to a secondary glass fermenter for another 4-7 days.
8. To bottle, make a priming syrup on the stove with 1 cup sterile water and 3/4 cup priming sugar, bring to a boil for five minutes. Pour the mixture into an empty bottling bucket. Siphon the beer from the fermenter over it. Distribute priming sugar evenly. Siphon into bottles and cap. Let sit for 1-2 weeks at 75˚.