Monday, December 6, 2010

Bitter Beaver IPA

Okay, okay this post is a little later than it should have been after all the talk of "Midnight Brewing back online" but better late than never! If you have not done so already, crack open a homebrew and read on about the first weekend of brewing in almost a year.

We chose to brew an IPA about a month ago. Now with that first sentence I am sure you are thinking something like "Wait, wait, wait A Brewer. You distinctly said last time B Brewer had moved away so what is this 'We' you speak of?" A fair question. Well as it turns out there are other people here in business school that are interested in homebrewing but like most, have never taken that interest anywhere. Personally I can't let that stand. If I have the equipment and you have the interest then by god lets brew some beer! So the new "We" would be me and a group of 3 or four other (new) homebrewers. But I digress.

RECIPE
As I said we chose an IPA by popular vote. We aimed for a copper colored IPA with bitterness under 90 IBU. We weren't aiming for a West Coast IPA or East Coast IPA in particular though in general I prefer the citrusy West Coast flavor. Details:

8.5lbs 2-row
2lbs Crystal 40L
0.5lbs Vienna
1oz Nugget (Pellets) 60min
0.5oz Nugget (Pellets) 30min
1oz Cascade (Whole) 10min
1.5oz Nugget (Pellets) dry hop - 4 days

So it has been a long, long time since I have made an IPA so this is the rough beginnings of a new recipe. I am a little concerned about the effect on flavor and body of 2.5lbs of Crystal & Vienna, but on the other hand I am curious so why not try it. As far as the hops go, BrewPal says this should lead to about 66 IBU but this does not necessarily reflect the perceived bitterness. I try not to get too hung up on IBUs in general as I have had a 50IBU beer that tastes less bitter than a 23IBU beer due to the balance of malt flavor. So while IBUs are certainly a good indicator, it is not a guarantee of how bitter a beer will actually taste. Again, the best choice is to taste the beer we end up with and adjust for the next time.

THE RESULTS
I wrote the above portion of this post many moons ago when we actually brewed this batch and the beer has since fermented, been bottled and mostly consumed. This batch turned out absolutely delicious and I can't wait to make another batch. It is a bit thicker than I expected, but I think that the mouthfeel fits well with the overall beer experience. As I expected the perception of actual bitterness is not up there, but it is definitely in IPA territory. The malt and the body of the beer balance the bitterness very well and make for an extremely drinkable beer. As for color, it is a deep copper with a decent straw colored head. The aroma of the nugget hops really comes through as soon as you pour yourself a glass and people that have sampled it have said they expect it to be very bitter from the aroma but are pleasantly surprised. If you love IPAs and have a friend who you want to get hooked as well I think this would make a great "gateway" IPA. It is bitter, but balances so well that the newbies will not run in fear at the first sip.

A great comparison to this beer would be to Troegs Nugget Nectar. If you are on the east coast and have the opportunity to try Nugget Nectar I highly recommend this IPA. If you like Nugget Nectar then by all means try out this recipe.

A few other notes: Our efficiency was pretty abysmal at 62%, but there were some issues I will go into in another post about the current equipment situation. The final abv was 4.5% which is respectable enough for me though could be higher if we can achieve better efficiency. Overall though I am very happy with this beer and can't wait to brew it again. We just bottled a Spiced Holiday Ale so I will try and throw up that recipe soon. If you haven't brewed your holiday beer at this point though it is not likely to be ready by Christmas.

You have made it through another post fair readers so why not congratulate yourself and crack open a homebrew! Cheers!