IPA-ish project: what do we think?

[AsharaDayne]

UPDATE
Recipe I ended up brewing (basically a double IPA I guess):

Batch size: 18.5L (4.88 gal)
3kg light DME (6.6 lb)
1kg brown cane sugar (2.2 lb)

160g Magnum (5.64 oz) - bittering 60min
60g Glacier (2.11 oz) aroma 10/5min

Fermentis T-58 yeast

Bucket temp as high as 25°C (77°F) for one day, then cooled to approx. 20 (68)

Into secondary after 25 days
Bottled a few days later.

OG: 1.080, FG: 1.009, ABV 9.32%, AA 88%

I don't know how objective I am, but it's got amazing taste - strong hops flavours playing around with the banana/spice/whatever taste from the yeast. Not to everyone's taste, I suspect, but me and my friends very much enjoyed it. I'm a novice taster too, so I can't tell how balanced etc. it is, but it does play with the palate.
Perhaps along the lines of Stone's Cali-Belgique Belgian IPA, for a mainstream comparison. I drank it too soon, it started to get really tasty after a month but I was already down to the last few bottles.

Lessons learned:
- don't try to boil 9 liters of high-gravity wort in a 10-liter kettle.

Hi there,

After 3 kits, I am planning to try an Extract brew, and I thought I'd ask the community for advice/feedback
My goal: about 20L (5 gallons?) of a light-colored beer that approaches an IPA, alcohol about 6.5%.
What I am planning on using:
Light/Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
Chinook hops for boiling
Glacier hops for aroma
Fermentis Safbrew T-58 yeast

I've played around with the calculator a bit, it seems I would need around 4kg (8lbs?) of dry malt extract. Maybe I can replace part of it with cane sugar - I don't know how bit of a difference that makes.

My main question is concerning the yeast. Is one standard pack enough? Does it make sense to use several packs? I haven't figured out how to quantify yeast yet...

Apart from that, I guess I am curious to know whether there are some obvious no-nos or caveats in this recipe that I can't see ^^

 

[jeffpn]

If I were brewing that, I'd only use one pack of yeast.

 

[AsharaDayne]

All right, so a standard pack shouldn't be "overwhelmed" by that amount of fermentables then.

 

[jeffpn]

I don't see your recipe as having a particularly high starting gravity. My highest gravity beer is a Holiday Ale at 1.079. One pack of S-05 does the job fine. Even my Belgian which is supposed to start out lower than than that but ends up higher does fine with one pack of yeast. A second pack wouldn't hurt it. It just makes for a more expensive beer.

 

[J A]

I think T-58 is sort of Belgian in character and usually underpitched to develop esters. One packet should be plenty with any of those yeasts, anyway. You could re-hydrate to get a better pitch and strong start to the fermentation, maybe.
Given that it's probably going to develop a little character from the yeast, I wonder if the Chinook would get in the way of that and take over the flavor. I'm a fan of Chinook in any setting, but maybe lots of Glacier in the late additions with a little Magnum at 60 for proper bitterness would make a nice beer and let a little more of the yeast spiciness play with the subtle fruit flavors and aroma from the Glacier.

 

[jmcnamara]

Adding any kind of straight sugar will dry the beer out, increase alcohol but not the body.

Good for a nice crisp pale ale or a Belgian beer

And I like your user name, but the north remembers!

 

[Nosybear]

Rehydrate the yeast and one pack will do fine at that gravity. If you sprinkle directly on top of the wort, use two: The instant immersion in the high sugar content environment kills off about half the cells. A packet of dried yeast contains about 200 billion yeast cells, a vial or smack-pack about 100 billion. Key is rehydration before pitching.

 

[jeffpn]

I use dry yeast for almost all of my recipes. I never rehydrate. I just dump it into the wort. It works. Sometimes I see activity 3 hours after pitching. If you feel better by rehydrating, by all means do it!

 

[AsharaDayne]

A second pack wouldn't hurt it. It just makes for a more expensive beer.

I guess I could spare 2$, but if it's not required, why go there

 

[AsharaDayne]

I wonder if the Chinook would get in the way of that and take over the flavor. I'm a fan of Chinook in any setting, but maybe lots of Glacier in the late additions with a little Magnum at 60 for proper bitterness would make a nice beer and let a little more of the yeast spiciness play with the subtle fruit flavors and aroma from the Glacier.

I'm a little tired, so bear with me: are you suggesting replacing the Chinook with Magnum for the boil? Or would you add Magnum at the very end?

 

[AsharaDayne]

Adding any kind of straight sugar will dry the beer out, increase alcohol but not the body.

Good for a nice crisp pale ale or a Belgian beer

And I like your user name, but the north remembers!

Dry and crisp doesn't sound that bad... I guess I'll try and see how it feels.

Poor Ashara, Ned probably threw her out of the window himself just to make the story believable (a bit off-character, I'll agree)

 

[AsharaDayne]

If you feel better by rehydrating, by all means do it!

I do feel better rehydrating, if only because it just feels like a nice thing to do for all those millions of little critters. Plus it's not that much effort.

 

[jmcnamara]

I think he meant remove the Chinook entirely and use just magnum for bittereing. As I understand it, magnum is fairly neutral flavor wise so it wouldn't be too helpful late in the boil

 

[J A]

I'm a little tired, so bear with me: are you suggesting replacing the Chinook with Magnum for the boil? Or would you add Magnum at the very end?

Exactly what jmcnamara said...Chinook is a great bittering hop, but with a bold piney flavor. Magnum carries a deep, smooth classic hoppy bitter throughout the flavor profile. It's a go-to hop because a little goes a long way and it tends to enhance other hop flavors without getting in the way.
But definitely find a way to use Chinook in a classic American Pale or IPA.
I gotta get to work on a Chinook/Centennial Pale.

 

[AsharaDayne]

I think he meant remove the Chinook entirely and use just magnum for bittereing. As I understand it, magnum is fairly neutral flavor wise so it wouldn't be too helpful late in the boil

Exactly what jmcnamara said...Chinook is a great bittering hop, but with a bold piney flavor. Magnum carries a deep, smooth classic hoppy bitter throughout the flavor profile.

Thanks for the explanations guys. Magnum it is. I can always try something more adventurous on a further brew.

I'll wait for temperatures to fall a bit before tackling this. Maybe start some cider to keep the bucket busy.

 

[J A]

Thanks for the explanations guys. Magnum it is. I can always try something more adventurous on a further brew.

I always keep an ounce or two of Magnum around for 60 minute additions. I end up using a quarter ounce in most 5 gallon recipes, maybe a half ounce in a fairly hoppy Pale or IPA. I think some European styles benefit from a large quantity of low-alpha noble hops at 60 to develop a lot of deep hop flavor, but Magnum provides a smooth bitter base for showing off American hops in the late additions.

I'll wait for temperatures to fall a bit before tackling this. Maybe start some cider to keep the bucket busy.

If you use a plastic bucket for cider, you may have unwanted apple flavor in your subsequent beers. Maybe a good soak in PBW would get rid of it, but you might do a little research to see if it could be a problem.

 

[jmcnamara]

you could always do a swamp cooler. i've got one going now for a pale ale. brewed saturday, started bubbling that night. yesterday it was gushing out the airlock when i came home. kinda scary how much gas is coming out

anyway, swapping bottles of frozen water in and out every couple of hours, i managed to get a good 10F below room temperature (in the water, not the wort). about 66-68

 

[lilyalvin]

Using several packs may not turned out as well as using a particular one, especially the dry one.

 

[Nosybear]

If you feel better by rehydrating, by all means do it!

I do feel better rehydrating, if only because it just feels like a nice thing to do for all those millions of little critters. Plus it's not that much effort.

I rehydrate when using dry yeast only because I like starting with twice as many yeast cells. Less chance of getting off flavors that way.

 

[jeffpn]

This part of this thread has probably run its course enough to ask a tangential question. Why do you suppose that Brewer's Best explicitely states in their instructions not to rehydrate, even though the included packet of yeast gives instructions for rehydrating?