Abit confused by this recipe, please HELP

[Bennyboyca]

Hey guys! I’m wanting to brew a punchy/ zingy American IPA and after having a can of JUICEBOX IPA, it ticked every box. So I went on here and found a recipe for that actual beer, not sure how accurate it is and I’m not sure if this is going to be too advanced for me :/

Anyway, I use a Grainfather and it says on the recipe notes:

Upon finish of boil, rapidly cool to whirlpool temps with lid on to retain as much hop oil retention and minimize oxidation.

What does this actually mean? Only unless I’m thinking wrong, it’s a contradiction saying rapidly cool yet keep the lid on??

Then it says:

Chill via icebox method to 64F and enter fermentation chamber - move up to 70F (1 degree per day) as fermentation slows.

I’ve not done this before, could anyone explain it? As I say, I’m not sure if this is going to be too advanced for me..

Thank you in advance!
Ben.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Rapidly cool to whirlpool temps can mean a few things. Not sure which one the recipe writer meant, but I generally think of three variations.

• Chuck your hops in at flameout and leave the lid on for half an hour or so - pros, very simple, cons, you'll probably lose some hop aroma/oils as it's so hot. And you'll get a fair bit of isomerisation of the alpha-acids, which can be a pro or a con depending on your recipe.
• At flameout start cooling and when it gets to 80C/176F, stop cooling, chuck in the hops and wait a while - pros and cons are very similar to the previous though there will be less isomerisation and possibly less loss of aroms and oils. From what I've heard, It seems likely that most of the hop extraction (both oils/aroma and isomerisation happens in the first ten minutes.
• Same as the second, but stop cooling at 60C/140F. There should be very little isomerisation at this level and there's probably more retained aroma/oils

The people I've heard talking about the research around at the moment generally say there's a lot of room to move and no clear winner with any of these approaches. It all quickly jumps into the personal preference space anyway, so try one and then try another and see what works best for you. You could even try layering the different flavours by trying combinations of the above or vary the temperatures and timings.

I'm doing the first but that's mainly because I don't have a chiller so the other two approachers are a bit of a pain.

I'm guessing the icebox method is to use tap water and recirculate the wort back to the grainfather to get the temp down to tap water temperature first. Then use iced water instead of tap water to transfer to the fermenter so that you push the temp down to 64F. Something like this, but with your counter flow chiller -

The stepping up the fermentation temp near the end is a standard process for a lot of brewers. It adds a bit more energy into the beer to help it finish out cleanly. Everyone has there own process on working out timings, but 1°F temp raises aren't a golden number, they're just a simple way to track your temp rise to finish the beer up.

 

[jschein]

Cool your wort to 170, drop in your whirlpool hops put the lid on and continue to recirculate for 30 minutes. Then chill to pitching temperature.
How do you control your fermentation temperature? If you don’t then 1 degree per day is a moot point for you. If you do control the temperature then let it rise 1 degree per day

 

[Bennyboyca]

Rapidly cool to whirlpool temps can mean a few things. Not sure which one the recipe writer meant, but I generally think of three variations.

• Chuck your hops in at flameout and leave the lid on for half an hour or so - pros, very simple, cons, you'll probably lose some hop aroma/oils as it's so hot. And you'll get a fair bit of isomerisation of the alpha-acids, which can be a pro or a con depending on your recipe.
• At flameout start cooling and when it gets to 80C/176F, stop cooling, chuck in the hops and wait a while - pros and cons are very similar to the previous though there will be less isomerisation and possibly less loss of aroms and oils. From what I've heard, It seems likely that most of the hop extraction (both oils/aroma and isomerisation happens in the first ten minutes.
• Same as the second, but stop cooling at 60C/140F. There should be very little isomerisation at this level and there's probably more retained aroma/oils

The people I've heard talking about the research around at the moment generally say there's a lot of room to move and no clear winner with any of these approaches. It all quickly jumps into the personal preference space anyway, so try one and then try another and see what works best for you. You could even try layering the different flavours by trying combinations of the above or vary the temperatures and timings.

I'm doing the first but that's mainly because I don't have a chiller so the other two approachers are a bit of a pain.

I'm guessing the icebox method is to use tap water and recirculate the wort back to the grainfather to get the temp down to tap water temperature first. Then use iced water instead of tap water to transfer to the fermenter so that you push the temp down to 64F. Something like this, but with your counter flow chiller -

The stepping up the fermentation temp near the end is a standard process for a lot of brewers. It adds a bit more energy into the beer to help it finish out cleanly. Everyone has there own process on working out timings, but 1°F temp raises aren't a golden number, they're just a simple way to track your temp rise to finish the beer up.

Thank you! I will have a go .. on another note, can you recommend a good recipe for an American IPA, APA that has lots of hop aroma?

I’m struggling to find a legitimate/ reliable one..