Brewed: Baller IPA

By scot in Beer, Beer Recipes, Home Brewing on Thursday, October 6th, 2016

Over an 1.5 inches of trub after my first go around with dry hopping while active fermentation.

Home brewing beers that are named after family members has created an issue: now all my kids want a beer named after them. When the first kid (that I named a home brew after) brags to the other kids, a battle for Dad’s attention ensues. Since my oldest was the most exuberant, Baller IPA was named after her. As I mentioned before, when naming a beer I don’t typically give it the name of the real person but something that reminds me of that person. Thus, Baller IPA, is named due to my oldest child’s affinity for basketball. She plays hard, tough and with a determination that continues to soar in recent months.

Formulating Baller IPA Recipe

Baller IPA is another attempt at a Northeast style IPA (earlier attempts: Smiles and Used). The beer actually started out with intentions of being a double IPA, using some Northeast style hopping processes, while resuscitating an old, friendly on. Alas, it did not end up that way from the standpoint of gravity.

Cracking grain for me can be an adventure at times. The drill that drives my grinder doesn’t allow me to crack the grain as finely as I would like; the grinder binds as the drill doesn’t have the stones to push through the grain to the powdery mist I prefer. Instead, I back off a bit, cutting down on efficiency. The drill, mill and myself did not see eye-to-eye on brew day, more so than usual. The drill/mill bound up, multiple times, making me dump out the grain and clean out any traces before “working” again. Half-dozen times later, I was a bit miffed. I opened the mill spacing to allow for a more coarse grind, alleviating pressure on the drill. 45 minutes after starting the milling process, I was done and hating the mill, drill and anything within eyesight.

I knew my efficiency was shot but I did not change the process I was going to use in terms of the hops. I felt that the way I was going to use the hops, the drop in efficiency shouldn’t raise the bitterness to an obnoxious level.

The changes to the hopping process was threefold:

• No whirlpool hops. Happy with the aroma this adds but, perception is, not enough flavor. Also, was to be a DIPA to start.
• Add a first wort hop. It has been a long time but feel this process adds a nice flavor profile to the beer with a minimal impact on bitterness.
• Add the dry hops towards the end of active fermentation. I have been wanting to use this technique for a while. After my mediocre success with Smiles and Used, I thought that trying this technique might up the perceived aroma (never enough).

The aroma jetting out of the carboy, while racking to the bottling, was impressive. I hope that my milling blunder allows this beer to shine through once I begin tasting. Enjoy!

Recipe for Baller IPA

General Information:
Brew Date: Thursday, October 06, 2016
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-05, not hydrated
Yeast Starter: none
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.50
Original Gravity: 1.070
IBU: 136.7
Color: 6.3 SRM
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%
Alcohol by Volume: 7.6% (due to poor milling)
Primary Fermentation: 10 days @66*F

Grain Bill:
7.00# Maris Otter
7.00# Pilsner
2.00# Munich
8.00 ounces CaraPils
1.00# Table sugar

Mash:
Saccharification @150.8*F

Hop Bill:
3.00 ounce 2014 Simcoe first wort
1.50 ounce 2014 Citra @20 minutes
1.50 ounce 2014 Simcoe @15 minutes
1.50 ounce 2014 Citra @10 minutes
1.50 ounce 2014 Simcoe @5 minutes
4.00 ounce 2014 Citra dry hops 4 days in primary
2.00 ounce 2014 Simcoe dry hops 4 days in primary

Extras:
1.0 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 minutes
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 minutes
30 seconds of pure oxygen after racking to carboy
4 quarts of rice hulls

Updates

• 2016-10-09: Hard fermentation @67.8*F.
• 2016-10-10: Slowing fermentation @66.3*F. Added dry hops to primary: 4.00 ounce 2014 Citra, 2.00 ounce 2014 Simcoe.
• 2016-10-15: Cold condition @39.0*F.
• 2016-10-16: Bottled with 3.6 ounces of priming sugar and 2.0 cups of water. 28, 22 ounce bottles. Bottle crown label: LN.

Useless Fact: Spain leads the world in cork production.