IPA out the door

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So, the IPA I made last month was technically a “contract brew” for a friend. As it neared completion I was a bit concerned as it tasted a little off. The Hop bitterness I thought tasted perfumy or soapy and it didn’t ferment down as far as I had hoped leaving it a bit too heavy and sweet.
I needed to have it done before Christmass as the person I was making it for, planned to give them out as presents. That realy added to the pressure and stress.
I mean, if you make something for yourself and it doesn’t turn out quite right its no big deal. But when you get it all finished and bottled up and hand it over and say “…here you go, oh by the way it’s not that great…” it takes a lot of the fun out of the whole process.
My little bottling apparatus, worked very well and the carbonation was maintained, just right. Maybe even a little too much, which is an OK problem to have.
He picked up the beer (nearly 2 cases of it) and mentioned that he was going to be sharing some with some friends at a dinner party that night. Now I was really worried. I can see it now. “Hey check out this awesome beer a guy made for me…here have some…”
However in the end, I got a text message a few hours later about how much he liked it and that it went over pretty well.
I guess I’m just a nervous Nellie. I still feel like I owe him some of what I consider a better effort.

Fermenter #1 Locked and Loaded

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This one went off without a hitch. I knew that with 6oz total of whole leaf hops I would have to aim a bit high on total volume, since they soak up so much. Couldn’t have come out any closer, though. A little over 6 G in the fermenter. SG is at 1.052 which is a touch lower than i wanted but if I had boiled off another half gallon like I typically do, I would have nailed that too. Still, if I get down to 1.014 even, that will be OK, and still get me 5.1% ABV which will be fine. I am hoping for a little more attenuation though, and if it gets down to 1.01 , that will be about 5.6%, which is a bit more like it, and would really bring out the hops more.
I went with .75oz 14% AA Columbus for 45min (42 IBU)
2oz 5.7% AA Cascade for 10min (20 IBU)
2oz 5.7% AA Cascade For 5min (9 IBU)
2oz 9.5% AA Amarillo at flame-out
Alll that should get me about 60 IBU which is fairly modest but about right for this moderate gravity IPA. I’ll be dry hopping as well with probably an ounce each of Amarillo and Cascade for a week or two in Secondary, which will ramp up the fresh hop aroma and flavor.
I am using yeast I harvested from a pale ale I made last month. If it doesn’t show decent signs of taking off after 24 hrs, I will pitch a new vial.
I don’t want to jinx myself, but I have high hopes from this one.

IPA Brew Day

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Next batch up will be an India Pale Ale. Going with a similar recipe as I have done many times, but this time I have a lot more whole leaf hops to use. I might add a little something else there just to give it a little character. Biscuit malt, or Aromatic malt…something.
11# 2-Row
.5# Melanoidin
1# Wheat
.5# Dextrin 20L
Mash at about 151F to increase ferment-ability and keep the finished product a little on the dry side to enhance the Hop flavors. Shoot for about 1.055 SG and 1.010-1.015 FG.
1 oz Columbus 40 min
1 oz Amarillo 10 min
2 oz Cascade 5 min
2 oz Cascase 0 min
That should give me about 60 IBUs and all that Cascade at the end should add plenty of Fresh citrusy hoppy goodness. I’ll dry-hop as well in secondary for about a week.
Probly start this late Saturday afternoon. I think.

Bourbon County Stout tasting

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I couldn’t wait any longer and after nearly 48 hrs of sitting collecting dust in my “celllar” I had to crack one of these open. Lovely rich chocolaty aroma, lots or roasted, notes and a little coffee and burnt marshmallows.

The Bourbon aroma and flavor is nicely interlaced with the rest of the big up front stout characteristics. I sipped this from a snifter for a couple hours while I updated my contacts on my new iPhone and discussed basic macro economics with my 12 yr old.

As I sip this lovely smooth full Stout, I am at the same time describing and explaining at a reasonable level, the tough desicions of taxing people and businesses and at the same time encouraging growth and the counter-intuitive ideal that to increase revenue, you can’t tax business into relocating from your area, in an effort to raise funds.
Things like that.

Even if I steered her in a totally wrong direction…this beer was still divine. I would like to grab a few more and see how they do, sitting for a year or two.

New Micros arrive at Boise Co-Op

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The bulletin I got from the co-op the other day was good news indeed.   A couple of arrivals that I am excited about.  The annual release of Deschutes  “The Abyss” and the Boise debut (as far as I know) of Goose Island “Bourbon County Stout” The latter is one of the best beers I have ever tasted.  Had it one time in June of 2006, and I can’t wait to pick one of these up and see if it is as good as i am remembering.   These would be an excellent choice to cellar for a year or 3. 

The Abyss is very good as well and I still have a few from the last couple of years in my “cellar”.  Compared to other highly rated imperial stouts, this one is quite sharp bitter and char-coaly.  I’ll get a few of this years as well to save.  It’s fun to bust out 3 different “editions” of the same beer and compare what age has done to each.  I will have to look into a way to post my cellar inventory on this blog somehow.

Saturday Night Tasting

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Armed with a Jumbo sized bag of Costco tortilla chips and plenty of ice water,  a friend and I are going to try to get though several eastern European beers, some of which, quite frankly that we don’t have that much hope for.  One of which claims to be a “Premium Belgian Beer”.  It must be, with a screw top and a plastic bottle.

Awsome Easter Euro-Trash Brews
Awsome Easter Euro-Trash Brews

These are the first 3…

<edit>…

The Japanese IPA (no, I’ve never heard of one before either) is not bad.  Ugly but fairly tasty…

And this Baltic Porter has potential.  Ratebeer.com has panned it so far though.

The quest for sourness

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These pics are taken 1 week after the last ones.  Some distinct island matts of… whatever that is, making gross little bacterial bio-domes of undoubtedly noxious gasses.  I think I will need to set up some sory of more reliable camera configuration.  That way I can more precisely match the angle and light for each picture.  Ten I can put together a basic little time lapse thing.  I suspect this might be fairly entertaining process to watch.

New Alaskan Beer

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Even though there was a rating for this beer posted on Ratebeer.com in April of 2008,  Alaskan’s Baltic Porter has been available in bottles only since about last November.   I noticed them at the Boise Co-Op this evening and never having seen it before and At nearly 6$ it is a bit spendy for a 22oz but not when compared to other upper tier, “big”  beers, like Stone’s Russian Imperial Stout, for instance.  In my opinion, all of Alakan’s offerings are good, if not remarkable and this one does not disappoint.Alaskan_Baltic_Porter

It pours a dark but clear deep brown with a modest tan head  Lots of brown sugar and lots of dark pitted fruit notes are evident.  Prunes, raisins and plenty of vanilla.  There is a nice woody, slightly charred smell as well.  the flavor is a modest roasted maltiness that has a distinct toasted oak flavor.  I am a home brewer and the toasted oak cubes I have from an online HB supplier taste and smell exactly like this. Ina way, I am smewhat disappointed that I recognized a component from my own repetiore, in a commercial brew.  I guess I either I expect something more complex from a professional, or maybe I am not giving myself enough credit.

The body on this beer is nice, not the full heaviness of an Imperial stout, but some of the same roasted, very dark, slightly sweet maltiness shared of its Impy brethren.  I can’t pick out the cherries so much that are said to have been used in this, but the vanilla and oak are pretty strong.

A good beer, and I must say that I continue to be encouraged at what seems to be an increased effort at the Co-Op to expand their selection of good regional brews.

Recommended

Boise Brewpub

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A part of this site will be to plug and review the local Brewpubs of the Boise and Treasure Valley area.

The first on the list is Sockeye Grill and Brewery on Cole road.  Their Dagger Falls IPA is a regular and a favorite of mine.  I also particularly liked the Hopnixious Imperial IPA and the Split tail Stout, the latter of which I think has not returned since it’s debut in early ’08.  Josh King, the brewer keeps the regular line-up going and new seasonals are usually posted out front on the reader board when they come on.

In side it is a bit dark and has a kind of old, comfortable feel.  A couple of TVs are over the bar and are not obnoxious to those that don’t care about PAC-10 “whatevers” going on.  Friendly staff and an over all relaxed atmosphere where you are not bombarded by neon, brass, 32 flavors of Margaritas and 60″ plasma TVs.

At 8 o’clock on Tuesdays and Fridays, local bands perform and the place gets pretty rockin’.  especially in the Summer when the usually full house spills out in to the patio.

I consider it my home BrewPub.  Especially on Tuesdays where it is 2$ Pints.