Want to use up some Simcoe I have ...IIPA

[Spohaw]

My fermenting fridge smells awesome !

I'll have to call it WHOS ALBOM IIPA

Can't wait to get this baby into a keg !

View attachment 82977

 

[Spohaw]

Mmmmm

 

[Dan Pratt]

Where does your temp probe get its reading from ?

 

[Spohaw]

I hangs off the dial about half way up the fridge

I know I should have it on the side of the fermenter with a cut up stubby holder to insulate it so it's just reading the fermenter temp but ..... I don't haha

Probably should though

Fridge says 17 but temp sticker on the fermenter says around 16

 

[danestead]

do you just substitute the choc 1 for 1

Nooooooo. They are very different malts.

 

[Spohaw]

Nooooooo. They are very different malts.

Is that a no ?

More a question for dave , he uses choc instead of crystal

 

[danestead]

Is that a no ?
More a question for dave , he uses choc instead of crystal

I love a bit of choc or pale choc (1.5-2.5%) in an amber ale to add some complexity and I actually like the flavour it brings in very small quantities however it is quite different to crystal malts. Choc is a roasted malt so it brings those sort of flavours, it doesnt really bring the sweetness that crystal malts do. If you used 5%+ of choc malt in a beer instead of crystal its going to start tasting stout/porterish rather than a nice sweetness that pale ale and ipas have

 

[Spohaw]

Might give choc a miss then , wanted to stay away from any roasted flavours in ipa's and apa's

Think I'll just use a light crystal and some Munich and if I use a dark crystal I'll add that to the mash in the last 20 odd minutes

Is there any other spec malt you would add to apa/ipa's .......would like something that makes it nice and red without the toffee , burnt or roasted flavours

 

[danestead]

Might give choc a miss then , wanted to stay away from any roasted flavours in ipa's and apa's

Think I'll just use a light crystal and some Munich and if I use a dark crystal I'll add that to the mash in the last 20 odd minutes

Is there any other spec malt you would add to apa/ipa's .......would like something that makes it nice and red without the toffee , burnt or roasted flavours

Red food colouring or rose tinted glasses!

Make an amber ale if you want a red beer.

 

[yankinoz]

The next frontier: some day someone is going to brew using more hops than malt.

Seriously, that is a cartload of hops, and you are almost certainly well beyond the IBU tasting threshold. I'd bet that you could cut the finished beer with equal parts of Pure Blonde and hardly notice the difference. (That's an experiment a friend and I did once with Old Rasputin and Michelob Ultra Tasteless). So I'll second the suggestion to use 100g as a dry hop. Simcoe is one of the best dry hops.

A lot of brewers complain about cat piss from very large, late brew kettle additions of Simcoe. I don't know; I've always used it sparingly after -20 minutes and got no cat piss. Or maybe I don't taste cat piss. I hate cats and therefore won't test myself on the real thing..

With that mass of hops consider using a (gasp) grain bag as a hopsack for that volume. Then you can (double gasp) squeeze out liquid at the end and take it out of the brew kettle before chilling. Stir the bag around a few times in those last 10 minutes to get circulation through that mass of hops.

 

[Spohaw]

Cheers guys

 

[Spohaw]

Checked the gravity today and it's down to 1.020 .... Should go lower then that so I'll give it another week or so

Had a little sip of the hydrometer sample and it is pretty tasty . The bitterness has a huge presence as well . I have been "training" with some Sierra Nevada Bigfoot to help myself prepare for ibu hit that is coming ...... Looking forward to drinking this one

 

[Spohaw]

Checked gravity today and it's 1.008

I've had it at 22 degrees the last few days so I shouldn't need to do a diacetyl rest so I'll be crash chilling this baby for 3 days at 2 degrees then straight into a keg

Force carb ........wait 24-48 hours .......then sample .....

Woohoo !

 

[Dan Pratt]

At what gravity did you dry hop?

 

[Spohaw]

I didn't end up dry hoping , just wacked it all in at flame out

 

[Spohaw]

Kegged it up today and had a sample glass out of it and even though it's not carbed it's pretty bloody nice

I'll have to order more simcoe to make this again haha

 

[Spohaw]

It's bloody bitter ....

 

[Mr B]

Mmmm nice colour..

Bloody bitter good or bloody bitter bad?

 

[Spohaw]

Needs to be less bitter haha

Once you over whelm your taste buds it doesn't seem to be as bitter

Seems to be a bit more of a novelty beer definitely not a session beer

I like it but I can't have any more than 2 in a sitting

When I make this again I'll aim for a bit more of a normal ibu like around 100

 

[danestead]

Nice.

Ive got a Simcoe IIPA with 500g of hops planned. Just waiting on the new season hops to become available. My recipe comes up with about 120 IBUs however through speaking to other forum members who have won best IPA of show etc and reading articles by guys like Tasty who is a well regarded American home brewer, Im not sure the IBUs matter. Jeff here in Perth won best IPA of show with a IIPA with a calculated IBU in the 250s. I havent brewed anything that high in IBUs but to me it sounds like you have to aim for as minimal astringency as possible and a balance of malt against hops. I used to confuse astringency with a beer being too bitter however after trying to suss out an ongoing astringency problem, I think Ive got my head around the difference and now my beers are hopefully improving because of it.