Single infusion mash
153°F
Rest 60 minutes
Mash-out about 170°F
Boil 60 minutes
Whirlpool 30 minutes at 170 - 140 degrees (as the temp will drop through the process). Probably spends more time around 140 than anywhere else, owing to manual homebrew methods.
Chill wort to 70°F, pitch yeast, and ferment between 68°F and 72°F for one week. Dry hop at chilled temp for an additional week. Try to minimize oxygen exposure. Purge the keg with CO2 before transfer. Purge keg with CO2 if dry-hopping in keg.
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Brew notes were lacking for my last batch, but that is likely what I did to bring it to ~7.4% ABV. OG was ~1.070 and FG was ~1.012. It didn't feel as boozy or as cloying (as DIPAs often are to me). In fact, it was astonishingly delicious--possibly the best beer I've ever produced.
2019-01-27: Got a catastrophically stuck sparge today. Had to punt and use a straining bag. As such, I think it threw off the efficiency and left me with a low efficiency (OG: 1.055). Brewing partner's process went more smoothly, but still came up a little low (~1.063).
2019-06-23: Achieved less than predicted efficiency (around 62-63%) The kettle volume was just shy of 6.5 gallons. At 1.042 coming out of the mash tun, we noted the wort was a little thinner than expected (1.045), so we did a 10-minute pre-boil to cook off some volume. However, an aggressive burner, vigorous boil, a boil-over, and the extraordinary heat of the afternoon really took an evaporative toll. A volume of 4.37 gallons ultimately went into the fermenter with an OG 1.068. WYEAST 1056 was pitched at ~74 degrees and the fermenter put into a bath of water ~62F to control the temp. The poorer than expected efficiency might have something to do with how we milled the grains, not checking the delivered grain weight, sparging a bit too quickly, and/or a low mash temperature (as I'm not fully confident in the accuracy of the digital probe which registered higher than the IR gun). Did not have brown sugar, so we used ~14 oz of white granulated sugar and 7oz of molasses. Replaced the regular pellet hopping schedule with a hybrid pellet/cryo approach. 0.6oz cryo/1.8oz pellets @ 5m, 1.2oz cryo/0.6oz pellets @ WP (144F - 170F), 1.2oz cryo/0.6oz (DH). The goal here was to (a) experiment with alternative approach (b) reduce the amount of volume loss due to hop-sludge (c) determine if the flavor is any different. Pellets came from Farmhouse Brew Supply and cryo hops were YCH from Midwest Brew supply. The Columbus bittering addition was, I assume from 2018's harvest and it had a notably onion-esque aroma. DH added after about 24 hours when the airlock's activity suggested maximum activity. To avoid yeast settling on top of the hops (and reducing their contact with the beer), I shook the fermenter several times per day.
2019-07-04: Kegged. After working out that one of my hydrometers was inaccurate (reading too high by 0.002 points), I measured the the FG at about 1.008 (significantly lower than expected). It's been noted that hop/yeast biotranformation will often over-attenuate, and I suspect that's what happened here.
2019-07-14: Definitely still too young with a harsher-than-desired bitterness, but no off flavors. Will let sit for more time.
2019-07-23: Keg has had time to mature. As expected, it's dryer than intended and thus a little out-of-balance, but the hop flavor has smoothed significantly and it tastes delicious. Will add some malto-dextrine.
