Fat Boy Deluxe

This past Sunday I finally got a chance to give my next batch of homebrew a go. Using my new brewing equipment made the time to finish much quicker. Knowing that it will only take me 3 hours from start to finish, including clean up is huge for planning new batches in the future. No longer do I have to plan on giving up a whole day just to brew. So now I have no excuses for turning out more batches of beer this year, with the exception of probably having to buy a few more batches of bottles. Maybe I’ll get a bunch 22oz. big boys…certainly would make the bottling process go quicker. It seems each time I brew I lose about a 1/2 case of bottles for various reasons. Mostly they just get thrown away when you pass on some homebrew to friends.

Anyway, this batch is a run of the mill IPA, thats an India Pale Ale, not an Imperial Pale Ale. My last batch was an Imperial California Pale Ale (box set from Best Brew) and it had good and bad moments. At first there wasn’t enough carbonation, then it was good, but a little bitter, then it somehow gained an almost apple taste to it, and finally after a few months of sitting it was spot on…a spicy hopped beer with caramel undernotes. Timing being what it is, we finished off the last batch of homebrew while brewing the newest batch.

I like hops and I’m like them BIG! So with this recipe I took your regular IPA, added a bunch of hops to get the IBUs (International Bitterness Units) up and after it’s done sitting in the primary fermenter for a week, straight over to the secondary glass carboy to sit some more. When it’s moved over to the secondary I’m going to try and dry hop the batch. Dry hopping is a sort of misnomer as it’s full on wet. I’m basically taking an ounce of fresh Columbus hops and letting them sit in the beer while it’s in the secondary so the oil from the hops can get absorbed into the beer. If it works, the beer will have a much recognized citrus like hop taste (think Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA or Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA).

This brew was a lot of fun as I was joined by neighbor friend, Paul, an old roommate, JK, and my wife, Kristin. Having that much help is really great. It allows you to really concentrate on what your doing instead of having to worry about the little things, like boil over. I also got a great deal of help from myLHBS, which is new to Falls Church. Derek Terrell is the owner/operator and was a microbrewer back in the day. He gave me tips on how to use my turkey fryer as a brewing system, sold me my copper piped wort chiller, helped me nail down the recipe, and sold me all my individual ingredients (my first time not using a box since college). So without further ado, here’s my latest recipe:

03.12.06 - Dry Hopped India Pale Ale

Info:

• Type: Extract w/grain
• Size: 5 gallons
• Bitterness: 61 IBU
• OG: 1.063
• FG: 1.016
• Alcohol: 6.1% v/v (4.8% w/w)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. British crystal 50-60L (Crosby & Baker - Muntons Crushed Crystal - 2 Row Barley Malt)
• 3.3 lb. Light malt extract (Northwestern Gold Malt Extract)
• 4 lb. Light dry malt extract (Northwestern Gold Dry Malt)
• 1 oz. Galena (12.0% AA)
• 1 oz. Centennial (9.9% AA)
• 1 oz. Amarillo (8.3% AA)
• 1.0 oz. Columbus (17.0% AA) (Dry Hop)
• Safale US-56 Dry Ale Yeast

Description:

Steep grains while water temperate reaches 160-170°. Remove grains and bring water to a boil. While stirring, add Malt Extract and Dry Malt. Start 60 minute clock and add 1 oz. Galena hops. With 15 minutes left on the boil, add 0.5 oz. of Amarillo hops and 0.5 oz. of Centennial hops. At the end of the 60 minute boil, add 0.5 oz. of Amarillo hops and 0.5 oz. of Centennial hops. Bring wort temperature down to 70°, add Safale US-56 Dry Ale Yeast to wort and aerate. Pour wort into primary fermentation bucket with lid and airlock and let sit at 68° for one week (or until fermentation slows). Syphon beer into secondary glass carboy to continue fermentation, to filter the beer, and to start dry hopping. Add 1 oz. of Columbus hops in a mesh bag to secondary glass carboy. Leave in secondary for up to 2 weeks. Remove hop bag. Disolve priming sugar into 2 cups of water and pour in bottling bucket. Syphon beer into bottling bucket (this allows the beer to properly mix with the priming sugar, but keep it from getting air bubbles). Bottle beer. After the beer has had a chance to carbonate, enjoy!

So that’s my latest beer. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it’s ready for primetime. Being that I have another primary fermenter bucket, I’ll probably brew up another batch fairly soon. If you have any fun suggestions, let them fly. It doesn’t have to be hoppy and I’m guessing my next batch will be a little more creative. I’d like to try and reproduce Shenandoah Brewing’s Chocolate Donut beer, which I’m guessing is simply a chocolate stout with a bit of vanilla extract. Then there’s Bear Republic’s Red Rocket Ale, an upfront malty sweet red ale that does a 180° turn and slaps with you some hops at the tail end. In general I like beers you can really taste. Whether it’s just sweet malty goodness or actually being able to taste the roasted grains, it needs to be something that leaves an impression. Heck, maybe I’ll try a stout and add some oak chips. Who knows?

DT