I don’t brew a lot of other people’s recipes, but I this one sounded really good to me so I gave it a shot.
I just tapped it last it. To me, it is more bitter and has more hop flavor and aroma than Pliney. I’d go so far as to say that it’s the hoppiest beer I’ve ever tasted. It could actually stand to mellow a little bit.
That does indeed look like a hoppy recipe. I didn’t see the calculated IBUs anywhere. I’ll be kegging / dry-hopping a Blind Pig IPA clone today, that’s pretty similar, but based on the delicious wort hydro sample I’m expecting a very tasty beer. Mine is calculated at 82 IBUs + 10 minute hop stand due to lots of flameout hops. I will be adding 4 oz pellet dry hops per corny, which will pack a lot of punch. I’ve been dry-hopping 4 days ~65F and then 4 days @ 35F, and give the bag a good squeeze before removing, which has been working for me well for my tastes.
I have never used the Hop Shots, but plan to next time I brew a Pliney clone.
I’d be happy to post my Blind Pig recipe if you care to see it.
I used Mangrove Jack’s West Coast Ale (M-44) yeast for this, and am about to go see if it attenuated fully, as it has the reputation for at 78% as attenuating 2-3 points higher than US-05.
Thanks for motivating me to get busy!
Last summer, a friend gave me a bunch of whole cone cascade hops from his back yard, and I used them in an IPA. I had read to use 5x more fresh hops than dried, and I did, but hadn’t adjusted for the amount of drying time, 2- 3 days after being picked and then at least 2 weeks in the freezer vacuum sealed.
Anyway, it was definitely over the top hoppy, but after enough time was delicious, and even good fresh if you felt like engaging the experience.
Gotta say, I regularly brew IPAs that hoppy (and hoppier). I like to shoot for IIPA level hop flavor and aroma in an AIPA strength beer, for drinkability, while keeping bitterness appropriate but not overbearing. To each his own.
Calculated IBUs per Beersmith are 289. I’m sure the actual IBUs are significantly less.
The 20ml of hopshot alone contributes 180 IBUs, if I’m reading the documentation correctly.
Wow! That’s a lot of calculated IBUs, even though as I believe we all know in terms of perception, bitterness tops out around 100 IBUs.
I should have said that my Blind Pig is similar based on the hop variieties used, but no where near the IBU load. I just finished the transfer to kegs and dry-hopping and was extremely pleased with the taste going into the keg.
OG 1.059, FG 1.012 so with the Mangrove Jack’s yeast I got 79% attenuation. The FG is what I was expecting given mash temp 153F and 2.5 lb total of crystal + carapils for 11 gal batch.
Cool, please post. I’ve never had blind pig though it is supposedly on tap at a bar in my neighborhood.
Yeah, that is a LOT of bitterness. I like hoppy beers, but not melt your face bitterness.
While I haven’t tested it, I’d be willing to conjecture that hop extract is going to run into the ~100 IBU limit the same way pellet/leaf hops do. And human perception is reported to max out somewhere in the 60-80 IBU range, anyways.
I’d guess that the only way to get significantly greater than 100 IBU into a beer would be to add pre-isomerized hop extract to a finished & filtered beer.
Interesting, I thought that the whole discussion about hop bitterness not exceeding 100 IBUs was related to human perception.
How else is bitterness measured (besides calculation) so as to identify its maximum at 100 IBUs, if calculated it’s much higher?
IBU is defined by a lab test (absorption of light at a defined wavelength by 1 cubic centimeter of beer). This roughly equates to the concentration of iso-AA’s, but not exactly.
Some have proposed that it is a solubility issue, where the max concentration of iso-AA’s is roughly around 100 IBUs. Others suggest that it is related to yeast during fermentation. Personally, I sent a beer that I calculated in the 4-500 range out for analysis. It came back at 98IBU. I know that’s only 1 data point, but it certainly matches what is predicted.
U-rock Eric! Thanks for the explanation, on a Sattidy nite even.
Steve
Yes there is a saturation limit to how much ISO-AA can desolved in a finished beer. The max is around 110 IBU. If you see claims above that most likely those are from calculations which do no take saturation into account.
The IBUs can be higher in Wort, but some drop out when the pH drops, some cling to the yeast membranes.
I don’t know if it’s my allergies or what, but right now I feel like this beer has about as much hop bitterness and character as a Miller Lite.
I had severe acute bronchitis last winter followed by long-term recovery with assistance of corticosteroids – ended up in Urgent Care twice and the ER once, I believe largely since nobody seems willing to prescribe strong antibiotics these days except when it approaches malpractice.
Anyway, I have been supporting my lungs’ ability to rebound hopefully completely, and so last winter I bought a couple air purifiers to help with that, and in part as a defensive measure due to a nearby neighbor who likes to burn noxious wood in his woodstove in winter, and his crap smoke blows against my house.
I also have low to moderate seasonal allergies to pollen/grass/trees/mold.
Anyway, in case you’re interested you might at least seasonally consider an air purifier. The one via the link below is whisper quiet, works very well, and has provided me with lots of relief and clear air passages, both lungs and sinus, especially overnight via the one in the bedroom. My other one is in my living room.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0067D7CKU/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I go through that with my hoppy beers sometimes. I have allergy issues and I’ve had times where I drank one of my beers and felt really disappointed and underwhelmed with the hop character, only to have one a day or two later and realize it was pretty darn good.
Try eating Raw Local Honey 1-2 times a day. It will help with this type of allergy.
/Derail Thread
That happened to me one time at the RR brewery, the next day was bad for the old schnozzle and sinus.
I’ve been experimenting with hop shots lately. The last two IPAs I have made, my 60 minute addition was one 10 ml hop shot. The first one turned out really good, the second one just started cold-crashing. I may try a 5 ml hop shot next time though because I wonder if my wort is beyond saturated with a a 10 ml HS.
The reason I’m wondering this, is that when I use a HS, I get reddish brown resinous spots all over my boil kettle.