Below Baldy Beer Blog

I am a latecomer as it comes to new american hops varieties, I usually just try to be crotchety about it and insist that a blend of older hops can create similar flavors. Obviously this cant always be true. For this beer I broke with my norm to just see if I could make an American IPA that has those juicy and dank qualities.

Recipe:

OG 1.061    FG 1.015   IBU No idea, with all that hop bursting its anyone’s guess.

Malt-

• 69.2% Pale 2-row (malteurope)
• 23.1% American Munich 20°L
• 7.7% Caramel 30°L

Hops-

• 60 minutes addition of Citra to 25 IBU
• *  15 minute pseudo whirlpool addition of  3.5 ounces of Citra, 3 ounces of Mosaic,  and 2 ounces Simcoe.

*for ‘pseudo whirlpool’ I added the hops right after the end of the boil when I got my immersion chiller connected and ready. After adding the hops I cooled the wort gently to around 145° and let it sit for 15 minutes or so.

Yeast- 

• Two sachets of BRY-97 fermented at 62°

Six days after brew day the beer had finished at 1.015, right where I told it to (obedient little beer). I let it sit for another week to allow it to clear slightly and kegged it with 2 ounces Citra and 1 ounce Mosaic (kept the hops in the keg in a muslin bag weighed down with marbles).

It is a pretty beer, and over the last few weeks it has cleared very well. It has medium low carbonation, just perfect for hoppy beers if you ask me. The nose is different in every glass, now its more juicy and citrusy then the first week when it was musky an pungent.

My sister said it smells like there was illicit drugs put in the beer, my wife asked me when I bought oranges to put in the beer (there was none). And one of my impartial tasters had this to say:

“Nice medium golden color, 1.5 finger white head, aroma starts heavy and floral and ends with resin, semi dry mouth feel, no alcohol flavor. Starts sweet, gets bitter, then has a sweet aftertaste.”

So all in all it was a success, also one of the fastest tapped kegs to date for me. It’s also made me feel good to brew outside of what I normally do, which is to mess with every recipe and process just to see what does what to what with what, right? This coming weekend there will be more messing around with saison and some wild local yeasts, so stay tuned.