As part of North Shore Brewers Quarterly in-club competition, the style chosen for Q2 was Double IPA. I haven't brewed a Double IPA in a long time, which is part of the fun of pulling a style out of a jar.
My first thought was to re-brew my last Double IPA, The Anti-Chris. That was a beer I brewed before I was kegging, so it was bottle conditioned which meant the beer sat at room temperature for three weeks to carbonate which isn't exactly ideal for maintaining hop aroma and flavor. Plus I didn't have temperature control back then either and couldn't cold crash.
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| These homegrown hops aren't getting any better sitting in a freezer |
In the end I made a new recipe designed to use up hops I had on hand. Money was a little tight at the time, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on hops for a double IPA.
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| Color, on-point going into fermenter. |
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| Re-pitched NovaLager yeast into this batch. |
I went with a simple grist, with a tiny amount of dark crystal malt for the sole reason of getting the color of the beer to be to style. I wanted the Super Pale base malt to showcase the hops.
For yeast, I re-pitched NovaLager from my American Light Lager. I did this for a few reasons. I saved a couple of bucks, see above. The yeast is also more estery than a typical lager strain. It attenuates well which makes it ideal for a high-gravity beer. Lallemand also claims NovaLager is capable of biotransformation.
I had a ton of process problems with this batch. I lost a gallon of beer racking to a secondary due to hop sludge and my siphon clogging. I then lost another gallon going from secondary to the keg.
I looked for more of an old-school, non-hazy DIPA to benchmark my beer against. When I saw a special anniversary batch of Smuttynose Big A Double IPA, I figured it would be perfect.
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| Beer at the meeting in June. Obligatory site-by-side photo is missing |
Aroma
Homebrew - Grass, melon with some doughy malt
Smutty - Fairly intense Peach, mango
Appearance
Homebrew - Light copper with very good clarity. Moderate white head with good retention.
Smutty - Hazy not murky gold. Big frothy white head with very good retention. More New England than old school appearance.
Flavor
Homebrew - More of an old school bitterness balanced by malt type of Double IPA. Malt has a hint of dark caramel, but isn’t sweet. Hop flavor is grassy and less intense than the commercial example. Fermentation is clean with a hint of alcohol.
Smutty - Moderate peachy, melons hop flavor. More bitterness than a lot of New England Double IPAs, but still finishes clean. Very estery.
Mouthfeel
Homebrew - Medium body and carbonation. Finish is clean to slightly dry. Hint of alcohol.
Smutty - Med full body is quite creamy. Bit of alcohol warmth.
Overall
I bought the Smuttynose Big A Double IPA because I specifically did not want a New England/Hazy Double IPA. Looking at older photos makes it clear the recipe has been changed to appeal to the contemporary IPA drinker. The color is lighter and the beer is hazier. I’m willing to bet the yeast is different as well. A perfectly fine beer, just not what I was expecting. I wish they called this beer something else.
I wanted my beer to meet the BJCP guidelines for color with minimal flavor contribution. Malt flavor is a little higher than I was going for. Given the litany of process problems I had with this beer it came out ok. There is a lot I would change next time I brew a DIPA.
I'd say the beer needed more bitterness and hop flavor. When the beer was young it was quite drinkable, the night of the club meeting I finished the growler which was probably not the best idea. The beer didn't age that well; I probably picked up oxygen along the way.
In all, not great but not horrible either.
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Recipe: North Shore Brewers Q2 2024 Brewer: Jason Chalifour Style: Double IPA TYPE: All Grain Recipe Specifications -------------------------- Boil Size: 7.02 gal Post Boil Volume: 5.68 gal Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Estimated OG: 1.067 SG Estimated Color: 6.6 SRM Estimated IBU: 92.1 IBUs Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 % Est Mash Efficiency: 85.7 % Boil Time: 120 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume 9.15 gal Salem/Beverly, MA Water 1 - - 3.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) Water Agent 2 - - 1.00 Items Campden Tablets (Mash) Water Agent 3 - - 1.00 tsp Lactic Acid (Mash) Water Agent 4 - - 0.50 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) Water Agent 5 - - 12 lbs 8.0 oz Super Pale Malt (Muntons) (1.0 SRM) Grain 6 96.2 % 0.98 gal 5.0 oz Dextrin Malt (Muntons) (3.6 SRM) Grain 7 2.4 % 0.02 gal 3.0 oz Crystal 400 (150L) (Muntons) (203.0 SRM) Grain 8 1.4 % 0.01 gal 0.50 tsp Lactic Acid (Sparge) Water Agent 9 - - 1.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 45.4 IBUs - 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 11 - - 1.06 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 21.9 IBUs - 1.06 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15 Hop 13 9.5 IBUs - 1.00 oz Homegrown Centennial CY21 [10.00 %] - Steep/Whir Hop 14 6.7 IBUs - 1.00 oz Homegrown Chinook CY21 [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpo Hop 15 8.6 IBUs - 1.0 pkg Lalbrew Novalager (Lallemand #) Yeast 16 - - 1.06 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - 3.0 Days Into Prima Hop 17 0.0 IBUs - 1.00 oz Homegrown Centennial CY21 [10.00 %] - 3.0 Days I Hop 18 0.0 IBUs - 1.00 oz Homegrown Chinook CY21 [13.00 %] - 3.0 Days Into Hop 19 0.0 IBUs - 2.12 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - 3.0 Days Before Bot Hop 20 0.0 IBUs - Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs ---------------------------- Name Description Step Temperat Step Time Mash In Add 4.16 gal of water at 167.3 F 150.0 F 75 min Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.51 gal water at 168.0 F Notes: ------ Ran out of propane and needed to use Mash & Boil. Extended boil time to 120 mins to compensate. Skipped planned 8oz dextrose addition after pre-boil gravity came in extra high - may have used too much base malt. Volume into fermenter quite low, more hop absorption in hop basketet than estimated. Repitched approx 60ml of NovaLager slurry from Muntons American Light Lager kit. Racked to secondary on 5/12/24. Kept loosing siphon from primary to secondary. Every time I had to restart, more hop sludge and trub kicked up. Left approx one gallon of beer in primary including beer absorbed by homegrown hops. 2nd dry hop on 6/22. Removed 2oz each homegrown Centennial and Chinook from 2nd dry hop. Did not want to lose more beer to hop absorbtion.
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