Pat's Pillowfort

Mill the grains, mix in the rice hulls and mash hops, and mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 7 gallons (26.5 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 60 minutes, adding Brewers Crystals and Whirlfloc according to the schedule. After the boil, stir or recirculate for about 5 minutes to create a vortex and add the knockout/whirlpool hops (at about 205°F/96°C). Continue to spin, cooling if possible to 180°F (82°C), and add the remaining whirlpool hops. Chill to about 69°F (21°C), oxygenate the wort, and pitch a healthy yeast starter.

Ferment at 72°F (22°C) for a few days, or until the gravity has dropped to about 1.024, then raise the temperature to 75°F (24°C) for a few more days or until fermentation is complete and the gravity has stabilized. Soft crash over 2 days to 56°F (13°C), drop the trub (or rack to secondary), then continue crashing to 34°F (1°C) and drop trub again. Add dry hops. For 3 days, rouse the hops or burp with CO2 once per day to get the hops back into suspension. On the third day, drop trub again. Package and carbonate to about 2.45 volumes of CO2.

BREWER’S NOTES

Mash Hopping: Adding hops to the mash helps beer stability via the alpha and beta acids’ ability to break down metallic compounds that could promote the oxidation of beer (iron, copper, and manganese).

Brewers Crystals: These are a commercially available blend of glucose solids and corn syrup; they are a way to add strength while maintaining body and mouthfeel—similar to malt extract, but without malt flavor.

Bitterness: Don’t worry about it. The IBUs are here to help you dial in quantities, but given the beer’s body and emphasis on whirlpool hops, this beer will not taste like 90-plus IBUs.
Whirlpool: We do our whirlpool hops in two stages just to help the flow of our brew day. However, optionally, you can add all the whirlpool hops at 180°F (82°C), and this will also help to keep the bitterness down.

Cold Dry-Hopping: Because we dry hop at 34°F (1°C), it’s important to rouse the hops once or twice a day, getting them up into the beer where they can extract. The colder temperatures increase the speed at which they will drop to the bottom of your vessel.