This is the last of the 7 straight brews for the wedding and birthday! It's been a huge project for me with the planning, preparation during each week, the brewing and bottling. More than that, it's been great sharing the fun of brewing with friends and having their help with the physical side of brewing. I couldn't have done it without them.
The Playoffs Rye IPA had its beginnings in the month before the 2012 NBA playoffs when I realised that I'd need some very American beer to drink while watching basketball. There were some brilliant series along the way with LeBron James and the Miami Heat crushing OKC in the finals. The Playoffs Rye IPA was exactly what I wanted to go along with that. It was by far the best beer I'd brewed to that point and I was crushed when it ran out. I tried to brew it again later in 2012 but due to a couple of ingredient changes that were forced on me it ended up being a big disappointment. This brew is a chance for vindication and will hopefully go nicely with smokey pork ribs and pulled pork.
It's interesting to see how much has changed since I brewed this one the first time. At that stage I was brewing 1/2 size batches on the kitchen stove, I wasn't altering mash pH or water chemistry, I didn't always pitch enough yeast, I didn't have fermentation temperature control or the ability to oxygenate wort. It's great to be able to look back and see the improvements I've been able to make to my process over 18 months or so. The only recipe difference between this version and the first is that I used pilsner malt instead of Golden Promise to keep the malt flavour out of the way of the rye and hops. I debated raising the rye malt percentage to around 20% but in the end I decided to keep it the same as the first time around.
Huw and Will both came around to help me brew this one and it was awesome. They've both been around for several brews and they know the process well enough to be able to manage it on their own and help me to conserve energy. I've reached head brewer status!
Playoffs Rye IPA (21L batch)
OG: 1.062
FG: 1.011 (1.012 measured)
IBU: 65 (estimated)
EBC: 12.1
ABV: 6.7% (6.6% measured)
82% Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner malt
14% Rye malt
4% Caramunich II
20g Columbus @ 60 minutes
30g Columbus @ 0 minutes
30g Citra @ 0 minutes
30g Amarillo @ 0 minutes
40g Columbus @ dry hop
40g Citra @ dry hop
40g Amarillo @ dry hop
Starter of WLP090 with an estimated pitch of 300 billion cells
9g CaSO4, 2g CaCl2, 3g MgSO4 for a sulphate leaning, hop bitterness enhancing brew. Also adjusted the pH with 4ml of lactic acid.
Stepped mash: 62C (45 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a 78C mash out
90 seconds of O2 prior to pitching yeast
28/12/13 - Brewed with Huw & Will
05/01/14 - dry hopped with 40g each of Columbus, Citra and Amarillo
08/01/14 - Bottled
I've been keeping an eye on the blog pretty closely lately as i've been doing a couple of brews for an Aus Day BBQ. Another question for you, did you buy a kit to oxygenate the wort or piece something together yourself? I've found a couple online but thought i'd check your opinion?
ReplyDeleteHi Duncan, what have you been brewing for Australia Day?
ReplyDeleteI bought mine from www.connorbreware.com, they've now got an upgraded version with a stainless diptube which helps get the stone to the bottom of the fermenter which I would have bought if they'd had it when I pulled the trigger. You can buy the parts yourself and save a bit, it's just a question of whether the hassle is worth it. For me I was happy buy it and use it out of the box.
I'd like to get a flow meter for mine down the track so I can have a better idea of how much I'm pumping into the wort.
Cheers Nick. I've seen the one from connorbreware but was unsure of how much shipping would be. I've also seen another kit with a regulator which i may invest in upfront. Do you get oxygen refills locally?
ReplyDeleteFor Aus Day i've done a Belgian Witbier, sneaky sample bottle proved quite delicious, and a APA using Ella hops. The APA came out slightly under gravity and didn't attenuate that well but my packet of S05 was quite old so i've put that down as the reason. It smelt and tasted quite nice out of the fermenter so it should go down well!
Nice work! They sounds like exactly the kinds of beers for a lazy Australia day.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got the cash, go for the best oxygenation system you can find. I'm not sure if the regulator will give the information I'm after but I could be wrong about that. Mine just uses disposable bottles, they're around $25 each so once this first one has run out I'll have a sense of what it will cost each brew.