It's been a real nice summer in Btown thus far. Perhaps a little too much rain, but it keeps it cool, which has prevented me from overheating when I'm out on my bike, so no complaints here. Mrs. Brew and I moved last week into a townhouse literally across the street. Now, that most everything has been put in its place I figured I christen the new digs with a new brew. I love hoppy IPA beers like almost every red-blooded american beer geek, but I don't brew a ton of them because there are so many great ones available commercially. Here in Indiana I have
FFF Alpha King (I realize that AK is technically an APA, settle down) readily available all over the place. Need I say more? That being said, I usually get the itch around this time of year to brew something hoppy for late summer/early fall. I have never tried my hand at an India Red Ale before so I figured I'd go for it. For the unfamiliar, an IRA is essentially a red IPA. The redness comes from some of the caramel, chocolate, and in this case, black malt additions.
One thing that I've never really mastered is water chemistry. Here in Btown we have fairly soft/neutral water which works decently for many styles. However, I thought I'd toe in the water by adding a touch of calcium chloride, which I frequently see added to RO water in hoppy IPA-esque recipes. I was pretty conservative in the amount that I added and I am curious to see if I notice more bite in this hoppy ale. I may not due to the low quantity that I added. I'd love to hear from others brewing in Btown to see what they add to the tap water here for their brews.
Also, I tried out a relatively new product that I've been interested in giving a whirl, the
Hop Shot. the hop shot is essentially a 5ml syringe filled with hop resin. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what hop resin is, but I've seen others on the net using it for bittering additions with great success. I've heard it adds a mellow bitterness that is not overly sharp, which sounded perfect. I used all 5 mls at 60 mins which adds approximately 50 IBU to a brew in the 1.060s (OG). The word on the street is that Russian River uses something like this in their double IPAs for bittering. I have no idea how it will turn out, but it smelled awesome when I added it to the boil, piney goodness. The rest of my hop additions were late, which I have really been digging lately. I've heard mixed results with using Summits, so I limited them to just a half ounce at 5 mins. I've only used them once, but found in small quantities that they added a nice orangey aroma and flavor.
| Style: Unassigned | | |
| Type: All Grain | Calories: 203 | |
| Rating: 0.0 | Boil Size: 5.83 Gal | |
| IBU's: 61.54 | Batch Size: 5.00 Gal | |
| Color: 18.8 SRM | Boil Time: 60 minutes | |
| Preboil OG: 1.059 | | |
|
| | Estimated | Actual | |
| Brew Date: | - | 07/14/2013 | |
| OG: | 1.065 | 1.071 | |
| FG: | 1.010 | 1.010 | |
| ABV: | 6.94 % | 7.50 % | |
| Efficiency: | 75 % | 78 % | |
| Serve Date: | 08/04/2013 | / / | |
|
| Fermentation Steps |
| Name | Days / Temp | Estimated | Actual |
| Primary | 21 days @ 70.0°F | 07/14/2013 | 07/14/2013 |
|
| Grains & Adjuncts |
| Amount | Percentage | | Name | Time | Gravity |
| 11.00 lbs | 85.11 % | | Pale Malt (2 Row) US | 60 mins | 1.036 |
| 0.75 lbs | 5.80 % | | Weyermann Carahell | 60 mins | 1.035 |
| 0.75 lbs | 5.80 % | | Caramunich Malt | 60 mins | 1.033 |
| 0.30 lbs | 2.32 % | | Fawcett Pale Chocolate | 60 mins | 1.030 |
| 2.00 ozs | 0.97 % | | Black (Patent) Malt | 60 mins | 1.025 |
|
| Hops |
| Amount | IBU's | | Name | Time | AA % |
| 1.00 ozs | 6.35 | | Centennial | 5 mins | 10.00 |
| 1.00 ozs | 0.00 | | Ahtanum | 0 mins | 6.00 |
| 1.00 ozs | 0.00 | | Centennial | 0 mins | 10.00 |
| 1.00 ozs | 49.40 | | Hop Shot | 60 mins | 15.51 |
| 1.00 ozs | | | Centennial | 7 days | 10.00 |
| 0.50 ozs | 5.78 | | Summit | 5 mins | 18.20 |
| 1.00 ozs | | | Palisade | 7 days | 7.50 |
|
| Yeasts |
| Amount | Name | Laboratory / ID |
| 1.0 pkg | Safale US-05 | Fermentis US-05 |
|
| Additions |
| Amount | Name | Time | Stage |
| 1.00 each | Whirlfloc Tablet | 15 mins | Boil |
| 0.25 tsp | Calcium Chloride | 60 mins | Mash |
|
| Mash Profile |
|
| Medium Body Infusion In | 60 min @ 154.0°F |
|
| Add 16.16 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F |
|
|
|
| Sparge 15.88 qt of 170.0°F water over 60 mins |
|
|
| Notes |
| i used danstar west coast ale yeast, not us-05 |
Bring the (d)Red,
HolzBrew
