Equinox IPA

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Jerk Alert

Equinox IPA

Post by Jerk Alert » Sun Mar 19, 2017 10:54 pm

Evening

I'm brewing a double batch tomorrow for a stag-do I'm organising in April. I'm sort of using things up in the freezer and cupboards, but as it's the spring equinox tomorrow I thought I should finally try out the hop of the same name.

Any thoughts on this recipe?;

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 46.00 l
Boil Size: 54.21 l
Boil Time: 70 min
End of Boil Vol: 48.96 l
Final Bottling Vol: 44.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 19/03/17
Brewer: Mike and Pip
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: My Gear
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7.50 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 68.2 %
3.00 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 2 27.3 %
0.50 kg Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC) Grain 3 4.5 %
50.00 g Apollo [19.00 %] - Boil 70.0 min Hop 4 50.3 IBUs
20.00 g Equinox [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 8.4 IBUs
50.00 g Equinox [15.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
25.00 g Ahtanum [3.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
25.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 9 -
50.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
50.00 g Equinox [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
20.00 g Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.5 %
Bitterness: 58.7 IBUs
Est Color: 12.1 EBC

Planning to dough-in around 8am tomorrow, so any Equinox or other hop advice would be welcome before 11 ish!

Cheers all

JA

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wanus
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Re: Equinox IPA

Post by wanus » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:01 pm

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Jerk Alert

Re: Equinox IPA

Post by Jerk Alert » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:33 pm

Ha! Well everything's prepped and my HLT is set on a timer. It should be at mash temp for when my alarm goes off at 8am.

I should be done by 2pm and I'll still have some of my day off left!

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scuppeteer
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Re: Equinox IPA

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:19 am

Looks lovely but personally I wouldn't use Apollo for bittering, only a late hop. That high AA% may give quite a harsh bitterness. You could always FWH to be sure. I've only ever used it late however so don't have first hand knowledge. Equinox is a great hop
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

Jerk Alert

Re: Equinox IPA

Post by Jerk Alert » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:46 am

Oh really?

I was hoping to use it up. Although I do have more Amarillo, cascade, magnum and equinox. Maybe one of those would be better for bittering?

Thanks

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Re: Equinox IPA

Post by MTW » Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:39 am

I thought Apollo generally was used for bittering. Bittering hops usually are medium to high AA, to suit their purpose. The exact composition of oils may affect personal perception of harshness, but I would certainly try it. That said, I would want far more of my total IBUs to come from the later addition(s).

I have yet to be convinced about Equinox, but that's just me. Green peppers.

BTW... I would stick the whirlpool additions down as 5 mins for the purpose of IBUs, especially when you're sticking that much bittering in early, and check it's not all too much.
Busy in the Summer House Brewery

Jerk Alert

Re: Equinox IPA

Post by Jerk Alert » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:18 pm

MTW wrote:I thought Apollo generally was used for bittering. Bittering hops usually are medium to high AA, to suit their purpose. The exact composition of oils may affect personal perception of harshness, but I would certainly try it. That said, I would want far more of my total IBUs to come from the later addition(s).

I have yet to be convinced about Equinox, but that's just me. Green peppers.

BTW... I would stick the whirlpool additions down as 5 mins for the purpose of IBUs, especially when you're sticking that much bittering in early, and check it's not all too much.
Thanks for the reply

Update: I got to a rolling boil at 11:52

I went with the Apollo for the initial bittering. They are leaf hops too, so suit my set up. Only just seen this message! Bit late to change the bittering elements. What's the theory behind wanting more IBUs from your late additions?

My whirlpool additions were going to be added once I'd chilled it down to about 80c - 85c, then let steep for 20mins before chilling down to pitching temp.

I'm just trying out the Equinox as I got them cheaply off this forum. I was too scared to do a SMaSH with it due to the green pepper factor! Hopefully the other late/ dry hops with create a nice blend.

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Re: Equinox IPA

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:49 pm

Jerk Alert wrote:What's the theory behind wanting more IBUs from your late additions?
As you know hops are made up of loads of different essential oils, these oils breakdown at different rates during the boil, they either stay in the beer or bugger off completely. You can use the same hop at different times and the result will be quite different. I am very much an advocate of later bittering additions.

For example I rather like Pilgrim, but used in full as a full boil addition it will provide quite a harsh bitterness. Use it later say at 10 or even 20 mins and the harshness is massively reduced to non-existant. Obviously you are using more later to achieve the same IBU. Not as cost effective, granted, but are you going to penny pinch to make a beer you really enjoy?

The last APA I made had 10g Apollo and 10g Eldorado but FWH'd them, so an average of 16.3AA%. I then used 50g of each at 10mins to achieve the required IBU, which worked out at 69IBU overall. By using them this late you are also extracting both the bitter and flavour compounds of the hops so a much more hoppy beer should result. As a note it was basically the same brew length as yours but a touch stronger at 6.1%ABV. Best APA I've made to date and I've been brewing 8 years.

First Wort Hopping also reduces the bitterness extraction somehow and if you do use a hop that is known for being on the harsh side it is massively reduced. Something to do with being more slowly warmed up and a more gentle release of compounds. I always do a 60min boil but calculate first wort hops for 90mins.

Hope this helps.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

Jerk Alert

Re: Equinox IPA

Post by Jerk Alert » Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:40 pm

scuppeteer wrote:
Jerk Alert wrote:What's the theory behind wanting more IBUs from your late additions?
As you know hops are made up of loads of different essential oils, these oils breakdown at different rates during the boil, they either stay in the beer or bugger off completely. You can use the same hop at different times and the result will be quite different. I am very much an advocate of later bittering additions.

For example I rather like Pilgrim, but used in full as a full boil addition it will provide quite a harsh bitterness. Use it later say at 10 or even 20 mins and the harshness is massively reduced to non-existant. Obviously you are using more later to achieve the same IBU. Not as cost effective, granted, but are you going to penny pinch to make a beer you really enjoy?

The last APA I made had 10g Apollo and 10g Eldorado but FWH'd them, so an average of 16.3AA%. I then used 50g of each at 10mins to achieve the required IBU, which worked out at 69IBU overall. By using them this late you are also extracting both the bitter and flavour compounds of the hops so a much more hoppy beer should result. As a note it was basically the same brew length as yours but a touch stronger at 6.1%ABV. Best APA I've made to date and I've been brewing 8 years.

First Wort Hopping also reduces the bitterness extraction somehow and if you do use a hop that is known for being on the harsh side it is massively reduced. Something to do with being more slowly warmed up and a more gentle release of compounds. I always do a 60min boil but calculate first wort hops for 90mins.

Hope this helps.
Thanks for this, that makes a lot of sense. I think in my next brew i'll add a lot more late additions, as I've been going heavy on the early bittering and dry hopping. Mustn't forget about the flavour, too!

I'm going to up the dry-hopping on this particular brew. It's currently around 6.3% and still bubbling away. 1056 down to 1008. Think I might need to mask some of that alcohol taste.

I suppose it is a stag brew, after all

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