It's been a while since I did this, the proper job and a small child take up whatever time I have to the point where a working lunch at the local every now and then is the closest I get to a bar (it's a nice bar anyway), and I haven't had a chance to completely clean up from this back in September, let alone do another beer.
I had a load of Simcoe left and bought a big bag of Bullion on a hunch from the Malt Miller. Simcoe seems to have run its course as the hop of the moment of autumn of 2013 or thereabouts and Bullion doesn't seem to have got any traction in the Craft Beer Revolution which is strange as it's an old fashioned bittering hop with a long pedigree - it was the bittering hop in Guinness and other stouts but needs a flavouring hop to shine. My attempt at a SMASH with Simcoe did finally mature into something interesting and drinkable that pointed to a darker malt combination. A combination of Bullion and Simcoe seemed like a good idea. I also had a bag of Amarillo and added that in. As for the darkness, I wanted flavour rather than colour so rye seemed to be the direction to go in. I also felt like making a big beer that would mature, so came up with this:
- Maris Otter 78.9%
- Crystal Rye 10.5%
- Munich Malt 10.5%
- Bullion 40 IBU at 60 min
- Amarillo 4.2 IBU at 15 min
- Simcoe 5.2 IBU at 15 min
- Amarillo 1.7 IBU at 5 min
- Simcoe 2.1 IBU at 5 min
- Amarillo 4.2 IBU 60 mins steep
- Simcoe 5.3 IBU 60 mins steep
This came out at an SG of 1071, an IBU of 62.7 and a lovely red EBC of 30. I did a full batch of 60L and it all got to the cooling stage with no problems. I'm still struggling with cooling. In September it was still an unseasonable 18 degrees or so and water cooling and air cooling was still not working that well. I tried to cultivate some yeast from the previous brew and it grew a bit but I had nothing to compare it with and I ended up pitching at around 28 degrees. I left it for a couple of days but there was no attenuation so three packets of S-33 came to the rescue and, thrown into the by then nicely cooled wort, it did its job and, with still no temperature control, attenuated to around 1021. It went into secondary with equal amounts of Bullion, Simcoe and Amarillo for dry hopping for another couple of weeks.
Bottling was done in two passes with what should have been a reliable carbonation level and I left it, still in the garage, for another month. The carbonation didn't happen, again the garage just isn't warm enough for that, so I've ended up with 90-odd bottles of a beer with just enough carbonation to be drinkable. What is great though is that it has got better over the three months that it has been in the bottle and, despite its lack of fizz, it's a very drinkable IPA at around 6.6%. The malts are sweet and peppery and the hops show elements of blackcurrant and orange and all in all, if it had some sparkle it would be a pretty good beer even if I do say so myself. I'm enjoying drinking it, which is I suppose is the main thing, but now I feel like I need some time to get it right. Or get anything right. So there's a slight pause for some retooling but time for another one soon.