Recent content by BreathingHeat

If your using grains of paradise, go very easy with them, as they're exceedingly powerful crushed. I think we used a 1/4 teaspoon crushed (6 gal) and it was plenty for a solid background flavor.

I'm on the hunt for another exceptional, PUNGENT southern hemisphere hop variety. Love love love Nelson and Galaxy. Ones that I have found to be just okay, nothing special: Motueka Stella Pacific Gem (great in a tripel) Wimea Are there any others that are close to as interesting as Galaxy or...

Thanks. What about adding more dextrose if nothing funky is happening? Yay or nay?

I'm with Manticle. My best sours have been by brewing a solid sacc beer (I typically do a saison) and adding the funk (bacteria and/or brett) later in the process. I'm now typically splitting off 1/3 of pretty much all of my Belgian batches to sour part, post primary fermentation. One...

Pils + Pacific Gem (lots of late additions) Trappist High Gravity OG 1.076 FG 1.010 AMAZING

Let's see the recipe. You would be surprised. The esters of belgian yeast + lots of hops = pure awesomeness. Almost every time I brew an IPA, I split a 1/3 batch off and ferment it with Belgian yeast (usually ardennes) for diversity. Check out Green Flash's Le Freak. Creature's Quiet American...

If you want proper bitterness in an IPA, do a 60 minute additional.

Thanks for the help everyone. Those pictures were taken pre-boil and it's looking at bit better now. We had only intended on serving beer at this point, though I suppose serving some of the wort that made the beer would be a nice touch. Not sure the masses would get it though.

Are the photos not showing up? I can see them.

Not a happy camper over here. I'm making an American Farmhouse/Strong Golden/IPA hybrid and the wort looks like shit. The beer is for a wedding, thus an appetizing appearance is essential. What I was/am going for a very light golden/yellow color and this ain't it. 30 lt batch (final) 7 kg -...

I have never gotten the hype for AleSmith IPA. I actually found it to be overly dry, regardless of what the stats say....and I like a dry IPA. I have a sneaking suspicion that their staff, family and friends are ratebeer members. For IPAs and IIPAs, I generally mash low around 64, limit...

Yep, definitely the Stella. Rather unpleasant in my opinion. Harsh bitterness would be a precise description. On the flip side, a beer like SN Torpedo is very bitter, but yet a smooth bitterness. Far less tough stinging. I have struggled with superficial/harsh bitterness in many of my IPAs...

While Columbus is largely considered a bittering hop, it's also a great aroma and dry hop. I would round off your dry hop with some Columbus for the end to end trifecta.

So what is the connection to Dogfish Head? I suspect that 180 g of mid-alpha hops at 30 minutes will make a 1.056 beer way too bitter.

I would consider replacing the late addition and dry chinook with more columbus. Chinook is one of the few hops that does next to nothing late in the game. Should be used exclusively as a bittering hop IMO. Next time consider way less crystal. I was using <3%, but just brewed a big IPA w/no...