Second BIAB Recipe - WC IPA

Megary said:
Not to upset anyone, but if you can notice the contribution from 4-5% Carapils, then you are a far, far more in-tune beer drinker than I.
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I would be upset if it weren't so true!
 
Thanks for the help, everyone. Here is the final recipe I settled on with everyone's input:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1491231/labor-day-west-coast-ipa

For the mash bill, I decided to go with about:

85% pale 2 row
5% Crystal 60
5% Munich 10L
5% Flaked oats

I changed the hop schedule to include mostly 15 min or less additions and increased the hop additions as time went on. I think I will also try to dry hop this since it seems easier than I thought. I wasn't able to get US-05, so the homebrew guy recommended that I substitute with the Lllamend East Coast. It dropped my ABV down by a whole half a point, but I'm excited to try a new yeast.

Thanks again! Looking forward to a fun Labor Day weekend brew.
 
Lots of great advice for you here.
If I may, I would suggest that you settle on a recipe and brew it exactly the same way for a number of batches to refine your process. Once you have repeatability then start adjusting the recipe if you want to change or improve the beer. Try not to make too many changes at one time so you can gaige your results as you go.
 
I brewed this yesterday and had a lot of fun. Some positives and some negatives here, but I learned a lot more.

First off, my pre-boil gravity was pretty close to being spot on. It was supposed to be 1.037, and I ended up with 1.035. I got a refractometer and this made it much easier to take this reading as I went along.

My final OG, however, ended up being only 1.046, and it was supposed to be 1.060. I also ended up with about 3/4 of a gallon more water than I was supposed to, so I think I clearly need to adjust my boil off rates. I'm in Denver, and my water boils right around 202, so I imagine this might have something to do with it. I know I probably should have figured out my boil off rates before, but I guess I'm learning the hard way lol.

Otherwise, everything went smooth, and even though the ABV is going to end up quite a bit lower, I'm looking forward to dry hopping it in the upcoming week. I think I'll also adjust my efficiency. BF says I'm at 64%, so I'll make this change for my next brew.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! The fermenter is bubbling away nicely as we speak.
 
It can take a few brews dial things in, sounds like you are moving in the right direction
 
Prairie Dog said:
I brewed this yesterday and had a lot of fun. Some positives and some negatives here, but I learned a lot more.

First off, my pre-boil gravity was pretty close to being spot on. It was supposed to be 1.037, and I ended up with 1.035. I got a refractometer and this made it much easier to take this reading as I went along.

My final OG, however, ended up being only 1.046, and it was supposed to be 1.060. I also ended up with about 3/4 of a gallon more water than I was supposed to, so I think I clearly need to adjust my boil off rates. I'm in Denver, and my water boils right around 202, so I imagine this might have something to do with it. I know I probably should have figured out my boil off rates before, but I guess I'm learning the hard way lol.

Otherwise, everything went smooth, and even though the ABV is going to end up quite a bit lower, I'm looking forward to dry hopping it in the upcoming week. I think I'll also adjust my efficiency. BF says I'm at 64%, so I'll make this change for my next brew.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! The fermenter is bubbling away nicely as we speak.
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Sounds pretty good.
Boiling off from 037 to 060 seems like a lot. Is that a 5 gallon batch, or smaller?
 
Prairie Dog said:
I brewed this yesterday and had a lot of fun. Some positives and some negatives here, but I learned a lot more.

First off, my pre-boil gravity was pretty close to being spot on. It was supposed to be 1.037, and I ended up with 1.035. I got a refractometer and this made it much easier to take this reading as I went along.

My final OG, however, ended up being only 1.046, and it was supposed to be 1.060. I also ended up with about 3/4 of a gallon more water than I was supposed to, so I think I clearly need to adjust my boil off rates. I'm in Denver, and my water boils right around 202, so I imagine this might have something to do with it. I know I probably should have figured out my boil off rates before, but I guess I'm learning the hard way lol.

Otherwise, everything went smooth, and even though the ABV is going to end up quite a bit lower, I'm looking forward to dry hopping it in the upcoming week. I think I'll also adjust my efficiency. BF says I'm at 64%, so I'll make this change for my next brew.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! The fermenter is bubbling away nicely as we speak.
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The 64 would be close. I actually have mine set at 60. The boil off rate you have to learn the hard way. I was off about as much as you are the first time. I expected a much higher boil off rate the first time, but I am in Florida where it is usually humid as hell, so that was not correct.
Keep in mind a couple of things I have learned with BIAB (others are going to disagree) 1. Munich does not convert worth a shit for me. 2. Flaked adjuncts do not convert worth a shit for me. The flaked stuff is bad enough with my simple set-up that I make it non-fermentable in a different software, and that does get me close usually.
I like the idea for your grain bill. Let us know. You will just have a session IPA which may be a happy mistake.
I am a big fan of a restaurant/ brewery in Winter Park that does a double dry hopped 4.5% Pale Ale. It is wonderful and sessionable at the same time. You might find something doing that beer.
 
Sandy Feet said:
The 64 would be close. I actually have mine set at 60. The boil off rate you have to learn the hard way. I was off about as much as you are the first time. I expected a much higher boil off rate the first time, but I am in Florida where it is usually humid as hell, so that was not correct.
Keep in mind a couple of things I have learned with BIAB (others are going to disagree) 1. Munich does not convert worth a shit for me. 2. Flaked adjuncts do not convert worth a shit for me. The flaked stuff is bad enough with my simple set-up that I make it non-fermentable in a different software, and that does get me close usually.
I like the idea for your grain bill. Let us know. You will just have a session IPA which may be a happy mistake.
I am a big fan of a restaurant/ brewery in Winter Park that does a double dry hopped 4.5% Pale Ale. It is wonderful and sessionable at the same time. You might find something doing that beer.
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Interesting. I’m in Denver and have been to several breweries in Winter Park. Do you remember the place? Thanks for the notes about the Munich and flaked oats. I’m assuming conversion was okay with my beer because my pre boil gravity was only 2 points shy of what I intended, but I ended up with a little over a half gallon more volume than I intended, so I’m assuming it’s gotta be the boil off rates. Anyway I hope you’re right and it’s a tasty session IPA.
 
Winter Park here:) (North of downtown Orlando).
 
Prairie Dog said:
Haha. And now I know that Florida has a Winter Park too.
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Winter Park, Winter Garden, Winter Springs, Winter Haven, and that is just around here... We got it all LOL.
Actually, all four of them have breweries too if you count Oviedo as Winter Springs.
 
So I decided to dry hop this beer, and thought I'd go the somewhat old school dry hopping route, meaning wait 10 days until active fermentation is done, then dump in the hops for 4 days and bottle right on day 14, but I've been checking my fermenter, and I'm still getting bubbles in the airlock (maybe one every 3 minutes or so) on day 10.

I know I should check the gravity, but I don't have a spout or a wine thief/turkey baster to do so, and I assume I want to mitigate how much I open the bung for fear of getting too much oxygen inside. As you can see, this is not a high ABV beer, and I only got like 64% efficiency, so it's shaping up to be in the 4.5% range. I think maybe I'll just dump the hops in tonight anyway.

But do you guys have thoughts? Is it weird for the airlock to still be bubbling? I used Lallemand American East Coast yeast. Fermentation has been right around 69-70 F in a basement closet. Thanks!
 
Prairie Dog said:
So I decided to dry hop this beer, and thought I'd go the somewhat old school dry hopping route, meaning wait 10 days until active fermentation is done, then dump in the hops for 4 days and bottle right on day 14, but I've been checking my fermenter, and I'm still getting bubbles in the airlock (maybe one every 3 minutes or so) on day 10.

I know I should check the gravity, but I don't have a spout or a wine thief/turkey baster to do so, and I assume I want to mitigate how much I open the bung for fear of getting too much oxygen inside. As you can see, this is not a high ABV beer, and I only got like 64% efficiency, so it's shaping up to be in the 4.5% range. I think maybe I'll just dump the hops in tonight anyway.

But do you guys have thoughts? Is it weird for the airlock to still be bubbling? I used Lallemand American East Coast yeast. Fermentation has been right around 69-70 F in a basement closet. Thanks!
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No loss in waiting for the bubbling to stop.

Also the dry hop can kick fermentation back up again.

no wrong answer as long as you keep O2 out.
 
Bigbre04 said:
No loss in waiting for the bubbling to stop.

Also the dry hop can kick fermentation back up again.

no wrong answer as long as you keep O2 out.
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Okay, maybe I'll just wait for the bubbling to stop. I've heard people say that if you leave the hops in for more than 4 days, you can start to develop some grassy or "off" flavors, so I was worried that if I put them in now, and I had to wait another week or so for fermentation to stop, that might happen. But I'm probably over thinking it.
 
So I'm on day 10 of bottle conditioning, and I decided to throw a couple of these in fridge, especially considering I think I overcarbed these because I didn't take into consideration trub and bottling loss. So I just popped them, and I'm proud to say that this is a pretty tasty beer! My first attempt at all grain ended up being kind of a disaster, so I am super excited that this is a good tasting beer! Thanks for all the help! I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops in the bottle. It's still slightly harsh and has an overwhelming orange note to the nose, but I could put back a few them with no problem.

I was wondering, I checked two bottle out of the 2.5 gallons I bottled, and they are both aggressively carbonated. Like I said, I overcarbonated these a bit. Using the NB priming calculator, I think they're probably around 2.8, instead of 2.5. Should I just throw all the bottles in the fridge now or wait a few more days? Does it matter either way?
 
Prairie Dog said:
So I'm on day 10 of bottle conditioning, and I decided to throw a couple of these in fridge, especially considering I think I overcarbed these because I didn't take into consideration trub and bottling loss. So I just popped them, and I'm proud to say that this is a pretty tasty beer! My first attempt at all grain ended up being kind of a disaster, so I am super excited that this is a good tasting beer! Thanks for all the help! I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops in the bottle. It's still slightly harsh and has an overwhelming orange note to the nose, but I could put back a few them with no problem.

I was wondering, I checked two bottle out of the 2.5 gallons I bottled, and they are both aggressively carbonated. Like I said, I overcarbonated these a bit. Using the NB priming calculator, I think they're probably around 2.8, instead of 2.5. Should I just throw all the bottles in the fridge now or wait a few more days? Does it matter either way?
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Havent bottle carbed in over a decade, but 2.8 isnt terrible. its high, but not impossible to enjoy. putting them into the fridge will halt the carb. you can also just open them and pour them gently into a glass which will knock some of that carb off and then let it sit for a few mins and it will be fine.
 
if they are overcarbed, get them in the fridge. Hopefully, you have good bottles.
 
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