3rd Time Lucky | Beer of the Month October 2019

Beer of the Month Program

October 2019  - 3rd Time Lucky

One of the best parts about making beer (aside from drinking it) is the social aspect. Brewers love to swap recipes, discuss what well or horribly wrong in their brews. We thought it would be a fun idea to start a beer conversation here. We're going to make a beer every month here and encourage other brewers to make it as well. In the end, we're hoping we can share our opinions and experiences with the recipe and crowd-source some improvements. The recipes will be easy to make and we will gladly assist new home brewers in the production of these beers. They will all be 5.5 gallons in size. We find that after fermenting and racking a 5.5 gallon batch turns into a standard 5 gallon batch pretty quickly.

At the start of every month we will post the recipe in store, as well as on our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We will also have a set price for the recipe that will include a discount of up to 25%!

3rd Time Lucky

Double IPA - 5.5 Gal - OG 1.071 - FG 1.015 - ABV 7.3% - IBU 40-60 - SRM 5

Good things take time. That is something that became evident when trying to create this recipe. This iteration is the 3^rd attempt at making a double IPA. The first two were failures, but we learned a lot of lessons from those duds, and the final result is a big beast of a hop forward beer.

The key to a double IPA is that it needs to be extremely hoppy, with juuuuust the right amount of bitterness. Too much and it tastes unbalanced even though it is an ‘IPA’. Too little and the beer comes off sweet and flat. The mistakes we made in the first two was to add hops during the boil. It was only an ounce or two, but that, combined with the post boil hops created a beer with far too much bitterness.

It was after the second failed beer that we realized that we needed to take a leap of faith and not add any hops during the boil. It seemed against all the rules, but ultimately it worked out perfectly. The key is timing. Adding hops at “whirlpool” (ie, post boil) WILL add bitterness, the temperature you add them at determines the level of bitterness that comes through. The main advantage to adding hops at the whirlpool stage is that a tremendous amount of flavour comes through. This recipe has a two stage hop addition during the cooling phase. The first round goes in between 180-185°F and sits for 10 minutes, the second round goes in at 160°F. This combination of hops gives the beer a massive hop aroma and flavour.

During the fermentation process we then dry hop to add even more hop aroma and flavour. At the end of the process we have a big, bold, delicious IPA that is surprisingly approachable to non-IPA drinkers. It has lots of hops in it, but the bitterness is smooth.

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Ingredients

Grains

• Maris Otter x 12.0lbs
• Flaked Wheat x 1.5lbs
• Flaked Oats x 1.5lbs
• Carafoam x 1.0lbs
• Acidulated Malt x .4lbs

Hops (Total 11 ounces!!)

180°F Addition

Azacca x 1oz, Mosaic x 1oz, El Dorado x 1oz, Simcoe x 1oz

160°F Addition

Azacca x 1oz, Mosaic x 1oz, El Dorado x 1oz, Simcoe x 1oz

Dry Hop Addition

Mosaic x 1oz, El Dorado x 2oz

Yeast

• Cerberus Yeast (Escarpment Labs)

Extras

• Calcium Carbonate - 4g (.8 tsp) to the mash (if using standard Guelph water)
• Dry Malt Extract (0.4 cup for priming at bottling)

Important Tips on Brewing

• Be extra cautious when it comes to cleaning! Once you have stopped boiling your wort everything that gets in contact with the beer MUST be sanitary.
• The temperature of your mash is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. Not being in the 150-155f range can drastically affect your beer. Make sure you correct the temperature ASAP once all of the grain has been added to the mash.
• Always let your beer ferment for 10 days! Do not disturb it, do not open the lid. It is absolutely natural for the airlock to stop bubbling after a few days, it is still fermenting though.
• Oxidization: Airspace is always something to consider. When undergoing primary fermentation airspace is needed so that the beer can bubble up and ferment vigoursley without leaking out of the container. The fermentation creates a layer of CO2 that remains in the pail due to the airlock. Once primary fermentation is over, and the lid has been opened, the layer of CO2 dissipates, and oxygen replaces it. At this point airspace can ruin your beer. When racking into carboys make sure they are filled to the top, or you blast CO2 inside to prevent oxidization. Ask us for details on this!
• When racking your beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket, we recommend attaching a nylon or muslin bag around the siphon output to catch any hop residue. This is especially important if kegging. One hop chunk can clog up your entire keg line.
• Before bottling, make sure you use a priming calculator (many can be found online) to verify the amount of sugar that needs to be added.
• Whats the deal with the acidulated malt? If you're using Guelph water, or any tap water from Ontario it is almost always very hard water. Hard water has a high pH, in order to get the pH down to the proper level for brewing we recommend adding 2.5-3% acidulated malt to your beer. It depends on the style a bit, but this is a good rule of thumb. Get in touch with us if you'd like a more in-depth explainer of pH and water adjustment!

Instructions

Mashing -> converting the grain into a fermentable liquid.

• Bring 6 gallons of water in your brew pot to 155°F. This is our strike temperature. Turn off the heat to the pot.
• If you are using standard Guelph tap water, add 4 grams, or .8 of a teaspoon of Calcium Carbonate to the water. This will double the calcium to sulfate ratio which will lead to a nice hazy colour and smooth out the hop bitterness.
• Wrap the muslin/nylon bag around the brew pot and slowly pour all the milled grains into the bag. Stir them in while adding to prevent clumps. The addition of grain should drop the temperature down to 150-155°F.
• We want to mash the grain at 154°F for 60 minutes. It is very important to hold the temperature at 154°F. If the temperature rises above 155°F it hurts the fermentation, or if it dips below 149°F it can lead to a thinner tasting beer.
  1. The first 15-30 minutes are essential for the success of your brew. The temperature HAS TO BE IN THE RANGE OF 150-155°F. Sometimes adding the grain to the strike water does not lower the temperature enough, in this case add a little bit of cold water to bring the temperature down. Cover the pot with your lid and let it sit.
  2. Most brew pots will be able to maintain 154°F without adding heat for 20 minutes, we recommend checking the temperature every 15 minutes, and if it drops add more heat to bring it up. We recommend opening the lid and using a thermometer in the liquid.
• After 60 minutes, bring the temperature of the mashing grain up to 170°F and hold for 10 minutes. This is our mash out.
• Time to remove the grain. Lift the bag full of grain out of the brew pot. Let the liquid in the bag dribble into your wort. Once that is done, put the bag inside of a brewing pail, or another empty pot. There will be about 4 gallons of wort in the brewpot, we need to get it to 6 gallons before we can begin the next stage.
• Run warm water through the grains in the bag, aim for 170°f – let it run through the grains and add to the brewpot. Add until you reach 6 gallons.
  1. PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all of the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out.

Boiling -> Sterilizing the wort time.

• Bring 6 gallons of your wort to a rolling boil, and let it boil for 5 minutes, this is called the hot break. Start a 60-minute timer. Keep the wort boiling (212°f) and uncovered.
• With 15 minutes left in the timer you would normally add Irish Moss, this time we are recommending to not add it. We want the beer to be hazy, Irish Moss will do the opposite. If you have a wort chiller, we recommend adding it at the 15 minute mark.
• When your timer goes off, turn off the heat, and begin to cool it. Keep a close eye on the temperature, it does not take long to get to 180°F!!!

Cooling & Whirlpooling -> Let’s Get Hoppy

• Get the temperature of your wort down to 180F°. Once it is there, turn off the wort chiller, or remove the pot from ice. Whatever it was you were doing to cool the wort, stop it. We want to hold the temperature here at 180°F.
• Once you are locked in at 180°F, it is time to add the first round of hops! Add 1oz of the Azacca, Mosaic, Simcoe, and El Dorado and let the wort sit for 10 minutes.
  1. The hops can either be tossed in directly, or you can put them in a muslin bag to contain the hop matter.
  2. We recommend stirring the beer and getting it moving in this state. This will help spread the hops around.
• Once the 10 minutes are up, it is time to start cooling the beer again. Cool the beer down to 160°F and then stop the cooling process again.
• With the beer locked in at 160°F, it is time to add the second regimen of hops. Add 1oz of Azacca, Mosaic, Simcoe, and El Dorado to the wort. Same thing as before, hold it for 10 minutes and stir the wort lightly to make sure the hops get spread around.
• After the 10 minutes are complete. Finishing cooling the beer down to pitching temperature –> 25°C.

Fermentation -> Turning the wort into beer

• After the boil is done it is time to be extra careful in regard to sanitation. We recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer called Starsan. Mix ¼ tsp of it with water in a 500ml spray bottle. Before we touch any part of the beer we spray it with Starsan.
• Transfer the cooled wort into your fermenting pail or carboy. Run it though a strainer to catch any hop or grain residue. With all of the hop matter in this beer, it might take a while to strain through all the hops.
  1. It is also an important time to take a hydrometer reading. It should be around 1.071 give or take a few points.
• Be sure to use a pail for fermentation. It will be hard to rack a carboy with all of the dry hops that are added.
• Make sure the wort has been cooled to at least 25c!!! Adding yeast at a higher temperature will likely kill it.
• Once the beer is in the fermenter, shake up and pour in the package of Cerberus yeast.
• Put the bung and airlock in the hole (make sure there is water filled up to the line in the airlock). If using a pail, make sure the lid is sealed tight. Put the pail in a room that is in the range of 21-25°c. Cerberus yeast likes a warmer area to ferment in.
• After your beer has been fermenting for two days, it is time to add dry hops. Open the lid and pour in 2 ounces of El Dorado and 1 ounce of Mosaic. They can be tossed in loosely, or in a muslin bag.
• After 10 days have passed, take a hydrometer reading. It should be somewhere between 1.012-1.016.
  1. When we fermented this beer, we found that it had stopped at 1.020 after 10 days. We added ½ of Amylase Enzyme. This helped make the wort more fermentable and after 3 days the final gravity was down to 1.013. This is something your beer might need.
• Lately, we have been of the opinion that secondary is an unnecessary step. Unless you are kegging, we recommend proceeding to the bottling stage. Clarification can occur in the bottle rather than in a carboy, and the risk of oxidization is greatly reduced.

Bottling -> We’re getting close to Beer Time now.

• Rack the now fermented beer into a bucket.
  1. Because of how many hops are in the beer, we recommend wrapping a muslin bag with a zip tie on the output of your siphon tube. This will catch any hop debris in the pail.
• At the same time, mix the priming sugar with 300ml of boiling water and add to the beer. Stir it in VERY gently.
  1. Make sure to check out a priming calculator to verify the correct amount of sugar. Too much sugar and your beer will end up foamy, or even start blowing the caps off! Too little and the beer won’t be fully carbonated.
• Rack the beer into your bottles or growlers. Then, let them sit for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. Chill and enjoy!