Brew Day (11/16/15)
Brew in a bag
Based on NB Dead Ringer IPA. 1 gallon – with final hops at flameout instead of dry hopping. Once again, I missed the target OG.
Grain bill:
- 2.2 lbs 2-row
- 0.2 lbs caramel 40L
Hops:
- 0.15 centennial at 60 min
- 0.2 centennial at 20 min
- 0.25 centennial at 5 min
- 0.25 centennial at flameout
Yeast:
- Safale US 05 rehydrated
Process
1.) Added Brita pitcher water to clean pot, about 3/4 full
2.) heated water to ~162F
3.) mashed in in bag 1 hour, flame back on low about half way thru for a bit to get temp back up
4.) mashed out, low flame and stirring by raising temp to ~168, then let rest for 10 min
Pre-boil gravity: 1033
5.) Removed bag and Boiled for 1 hr with hop additions.
added a little filtered water in last couple minutes of boil to raise volume
6.) cooled to under 80 in less than 30 mins
Post-boil gravity (OG): 1044
7.) Shook wort in fermenter
8.) Pitched rehydrated yeast at about 72 degrees (Safale us05 about half 11g packet)
Secondary Fermentation
Racked to secondary on 11/29/15 – no gravity reading taken. There is quite a bit of headspace, so I will leave it in 2 weeks (recommendation from NB Dead Ringer IPA instructions is 2-4 weeks)
Bottling
Bottled on 12/14/15. Yield was about 6.5 bottles. Like last time, I lost a lot in racking to secondary and avoiding trub. Next time I am onto my first-ever 5 gallon batch.
Tasting
Tasted on 12/23/15. Been in bottles only 1 week and 2 days, but I wanted to give it a taste since I was planning to share a few of these starting tomorrow. Unlike beer #2, it gave a nice hiss when opening and had more carbonation.
I am now detecting some kind of off-flavor or finish (I thought it was great when I tasted on bottling day, but less so now). The color is darker than my second beer, (which was the same other than less hops). Looks to be somewhere between 15-20 SRM. It might just be that it needs more bottle conditioning. It may also be due to the hardness of my water (the taste I am detecting may be closest to astringency, as described in How to Brew by John Palmer, although I am really bad at identifying these off-flavors). I will be adding the PH 5.2 stabilizer to my next all-grain brew, so we’ll see if that helps. So for the holidays do I share my flat beer or my insufficiently conditioned (or otherwise “off”, somehow) beer??