Combo NEIPA Experiment

Treated both mash and sparge water to above specifications. Mashed a little high at 154 (steady the whole time). Raised to 163 and sparged with 175. Only needed an additional 1 gallon after the mash water to reach desired volume. Added FWH, vorlaufed a few times.

Pre-boil at 5.25 gal was 1.056, just a hair higher than the expected 1.055. Reached boil in about an hour (electric kettle) after finishing mash.

Cooled to 108 and used pump to recirculate for an hour as the whirlpool.

Ended with 4.5 gal (over expectation). Cooled to 68 and put in fermenter. FG was 1.061 (Tilt), 1.062 (hydrometer), 1.063 (refractometer). Most inclined to believe refractometer as even that is low for the expected gravity of 1.065 based on adjusted volume.

Pitched yeast slurry from starter done a few days earlier (yeast was harvested from "The White Pineapple" recipe).

After about 2.5 days, gravity was down to 1.024 so pitched the first batch of dry hops. Altered the recipe to mimic the White Pineapple recipe as that was a pleasant result (previously was all in one dry hop).

Gravity was down to 1.015 by the fourth day of hops exposure (6th day overall) so harvested yeast, dumped trub, and added second round of dry hops. Had extra columbus and citra so just threw that in there (maybe .25 oz each?).

Aroma was great, but taste wasn't good. I think it was bad yeast from the previous batch. Will put harvesting on hold for the moment.

12/13/20: Did this recipe again with slight alterations. Homebrew store didn't have Citra so did Mosaic/Simcoe instead. They also didn't have the right yeast, so went with Barbarian (conan yeast). Did a starter (yeast was a little old).

Brew day went great. Used kettle on stove to be a little more efficient (updated the numbers to reflect this). Circulated mash at various points in the process but mash was between 149-150 for most of the time. Used the bottling bucket to drain out bag and add to kettle (topped off with some water because efficiency was higher than anticipated).

For the whirlpool, cooled to 105 very fast. Pitched hops, circulated for 30 minutes with pump while running the sous vide. Cooled the rest of the way to 70. Transferred to fermenter with a tube and was able to strain with the other BIAB bag. Pitched yeast slurry, fermentation started pretty quick.

Fermented down to 1.010, maybe from the lower mash temp. Pitched first dry hop dose when beer was around 1.018. Let sit for 5 days or so. Transferred to secondary keg on top of other hops. Let sit for 4 days and cold crashed. Still couldn't transfer, even with sieve around dip tube. Will probably have to get floating dip tube to do this in the future.

Aroma was great, taste took a few days to come around as it was yeasty and had some hop burn (could see particulates floating). After that settled out it was much better.

Darker orange color from the golden promise, a little more malty taste. Wasn't my favorite hop combo, but overall I think the beer was very good. Not quite as good as the white Pineapple recipe.