Comments on The Mad Fermentationist - Homebrewing Blog: Big IPA Recipe (1 lb of hops)

I'm not quite following how wort loss to hops ...

2012-02-03T14:32:36.594-05:00

I'm not quite following how wort loss to hops would affect gravity efficiency? Can you explain? I understand the volume loss to the thirsty hops, but it would seem that hops would soak up more water than dissolved solids, and if anything might further concentrate the wort. Of course, this is based on assumptions and not science.

The huge amount of wort that the hops suck up coul...

2012-02-03T08:15:36.941-05:00

The huge amount of wort that the hops suck up could also have something to do with it. I often drop 5-10% efficiency when doing highly hopped beers. It should still be delicious (and you could always add some DME if you want to boost the gravity).

Well it looks like something went wrong with the b...

2012-02-02T15:23:40.442-05:00

Well it looks like something went wrong with the batch. My friend's system generally gets around 78% efficiency. The recipe was adjusted for his system, but we only ended up at 1060 OG.

I suspect the issue happened during the sparge. This is a brutus type system, and the ball valve allowing water in from the HLT was flowing at a faster rate than the wort was leaving the MT. Combine that with too much talking and not enough watching, and what you end up with is an overflowing MT. We caught it immediately, but I believe that messed up the grain bed and probably allowed for more sparge water than wort to make its way into the BK.

Looks like we're going to have a hopped out low ABV beer :)

Exactly, corn sugar is a fine substitute for the c...

2012-01-20T22:55:46.932-05:00

Exactly, corn sugar is a fine substitute for the candi sugar. No tweaks for the recipe, but this Galaxy DIPA post has some tips on brewing hoppy beers in general. I also would consider adding that first dose of flame out hops and letting them steep for 20-30 minutes before you proceed with chilling and the other additions.

Good luck, and let me know how it turns out!

I plan to do a double batch of this recipe tomorro...

2012-01-20T22:23:40.758-05:00

I plan to do a double batch of this recipe tomorrow to split with a friend, and wanted to know if you have made any further tweaks that you are happy with. I think we will be using corn sugar rather than candy sugar to keep from having residual sweetness or flavor impact, which I assume is only in the recipe to step up the ABV.

I was given the Hopslam hop bill by a Bells rep. H...

2011-11-27T20:28:24.512-05:00

I was given the Hopslam hop bill by a Bells rep. Here is the entire reply: "We use Hersbrucker, Centennial, Glacier, Vanguard, & Crystal in the kettle, and then dry hop with Simcoe. Hopslam has an unusually high degree of fermentation, so you also encounter a fermentation profile that you wouldn't find in many of our other beers. Our internal taste panels regularly identify a peach aroma that is unique among our brands to Hopslam. That, in concert with the various hops, may be the tropical flavor you asked about."

I've never done a side-by-side to measure the ...

2011-07-12T19:42:08.403-04:00

I've never done a side-by-side to measure the effect, but my hope is that staggering the additions gives more hop complexity since you have hops that are exposed to heat for different lengths of times. In more recent batches I've added flame-out hops and then waited 10-20 minutes (more closely mimicking the whirlpool addition many craft brewers do) before proceeding with another addition and chilling. I was actually surprised how little hop aroma I had before dry hopping my last Pliny the Younger clone which had three additions of 3 oz of end of boil hops, I seemed to have better results with the faux-whirlpool addition in my India Red Ale.

I don't think hot side aeration is a big issue for homebrewers unless you are filtering (especially not in a hoppy beer that will be consumed quickly).

About to do another series of hoppy beers, so more opportunities to try out new schedules.

I've never thought of staggering my knock out ...

2011-07-12T17:18:40.531-04:00

I've never thought of staggering my knock out hops as you do here. What effect do you feel it has, and is there any increased risk of hot side oxidation.

Never used them, but there are some great Noble ho...

2010-11-08T11:57:26.689-05:00

Never used them, but there are some great Noble hop bombs out there (Sam Adams Imperial Pils for example). A guy in my homebrew club did a relatively light beer with 1 lb of Hallertau, I was surprised at how moderate the hop character was compared to an American IPA with a much lower amount of hops (can’t remember what his schedule was like). I’d go with a pale, moderate gravity beer and load it up with the hops and see how it turns out. I’m sure they’d also work in a pils if you wanted to go that direction.

Worse comes to worse maybe a local brew pub or homebrew shop would trade you for a couple pounds of another variety.

(commenting on an old post because my question is ...

2010-11-08T11:01:37.518-05:00

(commenting on an old post because my question is relevant to this recipe)

I was recently given 11 lbs of Slovenian Celeia hops (2.8% aa) and i am really at a loss with what i should do with all of them especially considering the low aa percentage and the fact that i have never heard of them before.

i plan on giving half of them to freinds of mine that brews but that still leaves me with some 5.5 lbs of hops.

ideally i would like to use as much as i can in one batch but i am extremely burnt out on ipas as of the moment.

which direction style/recipe wise would you go with these. i was thinking something along the lines of an imperial hopped up pilsner (i have never made a lager) or a strong ale / barley wine.

what do you think?

How did this beer turn out? It looks like its a ni...

2010-07-06T22:40:19.432-04:00

How did this beer turn out? It looks like its a nice one.:) I've got a few IPA's on my blog you might fancy trying? Did you get on any further with the brewery upgrade you were planning?

http://bennachiebrewery.blogspot.com/

If I recall correctly Lagunitas actually makes the...

2010-02-24T13:46:18.539-05:00

If I recall correctly Lagunitas actually makes their own hop extract and uses it for all of their additions. That is certainly something that not many other breweries are doing.

Despite the recipe for 5.5 gallons I was at only 5 when i racked to the fermenter. I dump my wort through a sieve, but with 10 oz of hops I lost a good deal to absorption.

Speaking of hop extract, I believe Hop Stoopid by ...

2010-02-24T12:32:06.795-05:00

Speaking of hop extract, I believe Hop Stoopid by lagunitas uses extract as well (according to the label of the bottles I have had)...although I don't know where in the process. It has an awesome hop aroma and taste. I would assume with the extract they also use tons of late hops like lots of the hop bombs these days do.

How much liquid did you leave in the kettle? I find with beers with lots of hops I am better off bumping up the recipe volume an extra .5 gallons or so due to hops soaking up wort and also not wanting to clog ball valves and chillers.

btw...first comment on this blog, but have been reading for quite a while. cheers!

It is turning out very nicely, just had my first p...

2010-02-22T07:34:00.504-05:00

It is turning out very nicely, just had my first partially carbed sample over the weekend. Huge pine forward hoppy nose, lingering bitterness, deceptive alcohol etc...

That pellet hops giving a grassy flavor is an observation I've made. It makes sense as the pellets are broken into smaller pieces and the cell structure is damaged making chlorophyll (which I assume is responsible for the grassy flavor) more available for pick-up by the beer. It would be an interesting side-by-side experiment to dry hop to portions of the same batch with an equal amount of pellets and cones and taste them over the course of a month or two to see how the flavor changes.

I strain the wort through a sieve post-cooling to remove most of the hops and some of the break material. Never had any off-flavors (to my knowledge) from not doing a better job to remove the break material.

Looks like this will be a good one. Where had you...

2010-02-22T00:05:29.003-05:00

Looks like this will be a good one. Where had you heard that pellet hops will give a grassy/vegetal flavor? There's plenty of debate about grassy flavors from dry-hops, but I haven't heard anything specifically about pellets. Also, your wort look like it has a lot of settling to do... do you remove the hot/cold break? If not, are you tasting any off-flavors?

Following this one closely - I'm a big fan of ...

2010-02-19T11:21:08.319-05:00

Following this one closely - I'm a big fan of a specific variety of hopbomb, i.e., the intensely dry, full of hop flavor but not overly pungent or bitter west coast variety (Sculpin, Alesmith IPA, PtE, etc.). I've long thought along the lines of Kevin that leaning towards late hop additions (as well as freshness) are the key to this (the brewer at Alpine once said something very similar), but the wife and I are just now starting down the road to all-grain brewing, so it may finally be time to test these ideas. The extract discussion is interesting as well.

I happen to live down the street from the head bre...

2010-02-17T12:20:06.391-05:00

I happen to live down the street from the head brewer from Three Floyds, and he gave me a nice tip as to getting that super green fresh hop flavor that craft beers have. The main thing to aim for is not so much HOW MANY hops you use, but WHEN you use them. Essentially, he recommended trying to get 50% to 75% of your IBU's from the flavor and aroma additions. Meaning, you're basically going to end up with a pretty small bittering charge, and most of the hops will end up being put in the beer in the last 15 minutes.

Chris, go for it! Either use them fresh and green...

2010-02-15T22:02:53.063-05:00

Chris, go for it! Either use them fresh and green right after harvest, or dry them first. The hard part will be figuring out how bitter they are, so you might want to use commercial hops for the first addition, and the wild hops for the additions near flameout. Good luck, hopefully they are tasty enough that you can go back to the same spot every fall to get some for an annual batch. Good luck.

Mike I live in SE Michigan and I've found some...

2010-02-15T17:54:06.214-05:00

Mike I live in SE Michigan and I've found some wild hops growing near my home. They have a great fresh smell. Should I try and harvest them and make a beer or mead out of them?

I had been eying that extract at some point, but I...

2010-02-14T08:17:04.423-05:00

I had been eying that extract at some point, but I had so much Columbus in my freezer it didn't seem worth it this time around. I'd love to brew the same recipe again and just make the change to bittering extract to see what difference it makes. The way Vinnie talks about it, not only does it save wort but it also reduces the grassy character of the beer. I'll be interested to see the results on your blog.

I got the Hop Slam hop schedule off a message boar...

2010-02-13T20:13:19.884-05:00

I got the Hop Slam hop schedule off a message board at some point, but something that weird strikes me as legitimate.

is that Hopslam hopping schedule confirmed?

2010-02-13T19:59:06.155-05:00

is that Hopslam hopping schedule confirmed?

(Should have said that Vinnie uses in the boil FOR...

2010-02-12T21:02:50.718-05:00

(Should have said that Vinnie uses in the boil FOR Pliny.)

Northern Brewer sells the Hopshot if you're ev...

2010-02-12T20:59:34.047-05:00

Northern Brewer sells the Hopshot if you're ever interested in using the same hop extract that Pliny uses in the boil. I'm 99.9% sure it's the exact product he's using just repackaged. I just bought 5 of them to share between me and a friend. I'm going to try an malt extract pale ale with all hop extract and dry yeast pretty soon.

Pretty close, the saison I kegged a month or two b...

2010-02-12T18:56:46.371-05:00

Pretty close, the saison I kegged a month or two back was pretty hoppy (Saaz), but nothing like this.