New England IPA v1.0

Crush grain extra small

Starter
Make about 3 days before hand.
2.2 liter starter;
use 220 grams (0.485 lbs) DME (light)
Cold crash day before brewing

Mash/Sparge
Mash at 154F (strike at 166F) with about 5.5 gal water for 90 min
Sparge with about 2 gallon water at 170F to bring volume to 6.5 gal

60 min boil

Add all dry hops after fermentation is complete (about 3-7 days) and dry hop for no more than 3-4 days (see link below)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/dry-hop-for-3-days-yes-or-no.466941/


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brew Day Notes:
pre boil gravity was actually 1.070 (temperature adjusted)
that calculates to an efficiency of 85%

boiled for slightly too long and also more time trying to cool (95F outside) and couldn't bring down to 70F with wort chiller. This resulted in larger than expected boil off of 1 gallon - actual was probably more in the 1.5 gallon range

Also much larger trub loss with the late hop additions. All the hops led to clogged siphon and transfer tubes. Total trub loss was approximately 1 gallon.

I added about 2 gallons of water to the fermentor, which was slightly too much - I ended up with about 5.75 gallons in the fermentor. I should have added about 1.5 gallons. the resulting OG is between 1.056 and 1.060 (I failed to take a temp reading). But this was outside with an ambient temp of about 95F. Likely temp was approximately 90F. Giving OG of 1.059. This should give a beer with approximately 6% ABV.

After 12+ hours, very vigorous fermentation.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

actual FG was about 1.017 giving ABV of 5.5%

Priming: this beer is slightly over carbed. I think I primed with 4.7 oz of corn sugar, but this may be slightly off but it was about that. part of the reason for the over-carb may be because of (yet another) massive loss due to trub from the hops. I probably lost about 2/3 gal when bottling from trub loss.

Aroma: spot on! delicious and citrusy!

Taste: Very good, slightly too bitter for what I was aiming for

Mouthfeel: poor - there's so much hop particles in it. to avoid that you need to leave about 2 oz left in each bottle

overall: decent for the first try. issues with carbination, target abv, and bitterness should be addressed

TO IMPROVE next time:

1. carb with less sugar - although this may have also been affected by trub loss since I calculated the amount I would bottle before I transferred it to the bottling bucket. I would still carb with slightly less sugar unless there is very little to zero trub in the fermenter and therefore the total volume to be bottle is more
   
   
2. use hop bags in secondary and maybe in the whirlpool as well
   
   
3. the abv was hard to get on this beer because of the massive amounts of trub loss. I lost about 1 gal when transferring from the boil to the carboy. to compensate I added another gallon to the carboy (but I overshot and added 1.5 gallons). This dropped my abv down
   
   I lost another 2/3 gal when bottling. this didn't affect the abv but probably added to the over-carb issue.
   
   
4. get rid of the azacca in the boil and add it to the whirlpool.
   
   overall - using hop bags should alleviate the abv, over-carb, and mouth feel issues, and moving the azacca from the boil to the whirlpool should help the bitterness taste issue.