Imperial IPA brewday. With Picture goodness.

[196osh]

Down to 1017 today. Hopefully it is getting there.

[Lugsy]

Looking good! My Ruination clone started at 1.072 and got down to 1.012 (7.9% ABV) after two weeks with US 05. The last few points were a bit slow, I'm not sure if all the fermentables finally got eaten up or if the yeasties just gave up in all the alcohol!

[196osh]

I would hope it gets down to 1012-1010, but I think it will be a bit slow, I am ok with leaving it for a few weeks just to make sure everything drops out. It tastes spectacular as it is.

[Lewy]

This looks great mate, really into huge hoppy beers at the mo, must be the changing weather. Got an SNPA clone (Msterio one, hat-tip) on last week, was going to just going to roll with it, but have a load of Citra, Simcoe, Chinook and Centennial waiting in the wings, and this brew is due to go into secondary tomorrow. Sorely tempted to bomb it...

[Lugsy]

Mine stayed in the fermenter for 4 weeks as I didn't have any empty mini-kegs ready. I'm just drinking one now and it's nice but it's lost a lot of character. After two weeks in the fermenter it was fantastic, mouth-puckeringly bitter for the first taste and then settling down to a Centennial grapefruit bomb! I regret leaving it that long before kegging but I've learned a good lesson.

[196osh]

I am going to secondary it next week or the week after with dry hops. For a week, then bottle it.

[pantsmachine]

Looking forward to the tasting notes come the day.

[196osh]

Dry hopping today. I am unsure if I should put the whole 200g in at once or two 100g attacks. What do you think?

[pantsmachine]

If you are committed do both but TBH i think 100grmms is plenty dry hopping!

I'm not sure what you lose to the air from the hops you already have in the beer while waiting for the dry hops to take effect. We all know that the hop mols are volatile so they must be venting off once primary is complete and secondary is taking place? Not sure myself as i don't know your set up but its one for the hopheads to ponder?

[pantsmachine]

No aging on this one, the hops drop out quickly and you loose some of the intricate flavours.

I would drink it straight out of the fermenter. The hydro samples are superb.

I like that, proper dedication to the cause.

[196osh]

Think I will do the 200g charge at once. I am going for a big aroma, which I find is lacking in my IPAs vs some commercial examples, so going big, although not unheard of big. I have done 200g before.

[pantsmachine]

Cool! I think a lot of commercial breweries use hop oil at the end of their processes. Fair play to them but they won't get into hophead heaven that way!Do you freeze you dry hops and use them as kettle hops next time out? Worth trying IMHO.

[196osh]

Thats not a bad idea actually. Never thought of that. Would the alpha acids not leach out into the dry hopped beer, but not be bitter because they haven't been isomerised? I have no idea

[pantsmachine]

I do it all the time now. Its based on how honking the hops are of hopness even after dry hopping. Not scientific at all but damned effective.

Or you use them as flame out hops next brew.

[bosium]

200g of dry hops? Holy sh1tballs, that's a ton! The biggest dry hop I ever did was 70 odd grams in a 23L batch, and I could smell the aroma from across the room when I poured a pint! Aren't you going to lose too much beer to those dry hops, or are you using pellets?

Looks fantastic, can almost smell it from here! Let us know how it turns out..