English Honey IPA 8/31/2012

8/31/2012
Steeped grains in 1 gal of water for 40 mins @ 160d
Rinsed grains with 1 gal of water @ 130d
Added 1 gal water to kettle and brought to a boil.
Added 60 min. hops, no extract yet. Will be added at 30 mins.
Cooled wort to 90d. Need wort chiller.

OG: 1.055 @ 78d = 1.056

Pitched @ 78d working to bring temp down.

9/6/2012
Added dry hops. 74d up from about 70d two days ago. Allowing a diacetyl rest. A lot of temp swings, but no way to really dial that in yet :(

9/11/2012
Hydrometer reading 1.015. Probably as low as I'll get with this yeast. Decided it fit the profile of an English IPA because of the hops used and that the yeast strain is basically an english ale yeast strain.

5.37% is pretty respectable still and if I understand attenuation right, the beer will be a tad sweeter and have better mouthfeel than a drier beer.

Still plan to add orange extract to the batch before bottling. Should be interesting. Could've used orange peels in the fermentor, but I have the extract on hand and would like to test its effectiveness.

9/18/2012
Finally bottled today. Used 5oz dextrose for priming added a few drops of extra strength orange oil to the primary before bottling. Didn't take a taste so the end result with the orange will be a surprise. There was a nice orangey scent though.

Got 24 25 oz bottles out of it. Super hazy, tons of sediment stirred up because of my crazy insistence on no secondary and adding priming sugar to the primary.
Bottled 12 right away, then waited 30 mins to do the rest. Will keep the batches separate to see if the 30 min. wait allowed the sediment to settle at all. Should be able to tell by what's visible in the bottom of the bottles.

The sediment will settle and pack on the bottom of the bottles, but still, next time I'm either gonna have to add the dex. & flavorings earlier to allow time for the gunk to re-settle or add a screen to the spigot opening. Probably both. I'm stubborn. The main reason I stick with extract brewing is for the relative simplicity of the process. Anything I can do to make the process even less complicated, I intend to do :)

9/20/2012
I know it's green, but I had to see what the base product is like. I chilled one, the sediment is already settling nicely but of course the beer isn't clear yet. First sip is twang! Maybe the orange oil did come through, maybe it's the hops? Then it smooths out to honey sweetness, can't say about the victory malt yet, probably lost in the rest but may meld better later. The back end is slightly bitter hops. Not much of a hop nose, especially after all those Red Hoptobers over the past few weeks, and I did go with noble hops, pretty mellow.

Good body, almost thickish, and it's very warming so the FG may have dropped a couple more points at the end. I rocked the bucket a few times toward the end to make sure the dry hops were fully utilized and to rouse the yeast. If there are fruity esters I don't know it because my palate isn't up to tasting yeast yet, and there's the orange. There should be according to the yeast specs, esp. considering the temps I fermented at!

There's a lot going on in this one, and I can't discern particular hop flavors very well yet either, but for being green I'd say it's got promise as a good summer beer when the carbonation kicks in :D Can't wait to try it in another month....