White Star IPA

[pantsmachine]

No worries mate, i'm a happy bunny.

Had a look in the fv this morning and a nice krausen is lurking


I drew a sample off the bottom to check for debris. 1st picture is immediately after drawing and second is after 2 hours in the fridge.
The third picture is from an IPA i brewed around March for pre and post process change comparison. Both samples are around the 1/4 ltr mark and both drawn around the same time in the fermentation process.
Recirc through the hop bed is now a foundation of my brewing process!





I have been increasing the temp of this one and its now sitting at 22 deg. This is to speed up the process so i can bottle before going on Monday.


P.S The sample tastes great, tropical with an edge!

[pantsmachine]

Drew a fresh sample last night. FV Temperature has been at 24 for the past 24 hours. Its finished at bang on 1.012. This seems to be my finishing gravity for US-05 pretty damn consistently. Anybody else have the same?



I'd like to have left this beer to settle a bit and have more time on the hops and oak but needs must so its going in the bottle this morning. Another smell this morning gives citrus and tropical fruit notes(again). A portion of this batch is going into the loft space for the rest of the Summer to simulate a 'hot maturation'.

[pantsmachine]

That's it all bottled. Ended up with 54 bottles. Primed with enough honey to achieve around about 2.3 Co2 vols.



While stirring the honey and waiting on the microwave to finish i had another smell of the latest hydro sample. Smell was fantastic so i decided to try it. Wow, its monster, huge citrus and tropical bursts and a large bitterness. That's the first time i've ever downed an entire hydro sample! Thinking about how impressed i was with the taste of this beer and then onto the American thing about drinking these IPA's young(goes against the UK grain) i thought why not? So in the interest of increasing my own knowledge I have primed three bottles with 1/2 the volume and sat them in my extension window. I had been watching the way the original hydro sample would take off in that room the minute the sun came out. My theory is that i can get the bottles to carbonate in around 6 hours. I'll crash chill them this evening to drop some of the yeast out and then i'm going to try one of them tonight. That is as fresh as you can get! Don't get me wrong, there's a part of me calling myself an arse for doing this but there's another part that is VERY interested to try this beer if only slightly carbed.


Pulled the dry hops and chips out. The hops will go into the next brew as bittering hops and the oak chips are on the composter. i'm very glad i didn't just throw the oak chips out. I had a smell ofthem on the way to the composter and can now place one of the sweet aromas that was coming off the hydro sample today. Would not have expected whisky barrel shavings to impart a sweetness but they have!

[Birdman]

Just doing my 2nd AG today pants

Must say. After seeing this and your Vulcan IPA you are my hop idol I think. Defo gonna have to try and get some of those chips off ebay to try

[Manx Guy]

Hi PM,

Another great looking IPA!

Is that an Igloo 'Marine' cool box? I got one from my brother last week a 49 Litre one... Was just going to us it for picnics BBQ's. but nowI've seen yours 'converted' to a mash tun...
How did you do it? false bottom or manifold?

I considered it but the internal ridges put me off the idea of using a false bottom....
Safe trip for Monday!

Slainte!


Guy

[pantsmachine]

Just doing my 2nd AG today pants

Must say. After seeing this and your Vulcan IPA you are my hop idol I think. Defo gonna have to try and get some of those chips off ebay to try

Jeezo, shucks and all that Glad your enjoying the threads, that's what its all about, entertaining the guys and sharing the info. The oak chips are a true 'YES!!!!' find. Just hope you guys don't tell the cooperage that your using them for beer. That's when the prices go up!
Whatchoobrewing?

Hi PM,

Another great looking IPA!

Is that an Igloo 'Marine' cool box? I got one from my brother last week a 49 Litre one... Was just going to us it for picnics BBQ's. but nowI've seen yours 'converted' to a mash tun...
How did you do it? false bottom or manifold?

I considered it but the internal ridges put me off the idea of using a false bottom....
Safe trip for Monday!

Slainte!


Guy

Hi Guy,
It is an Igloo cooler. They are the bolloxs. I use a manifold and i get crystal clear wort recircing with a pump. Used to get to a good clarity with the old tun as well but that was returning the wort by hand in a jug and there's only so much of that i can be bothered to do! False bottoms are more professional looking and reduce the risk of a stuck mash but TBH the couple of times i had a stuck mash with the old tun i just blew back through the tap and gave the whole lot a stir no problem.I didn't see the added benefits of a false bottom being worth the hassle in my case. On this one i underlet so i have a water source gravity feeding from at the minimumn 1mtr above the mash tun tap. I've not had a stuck mash with this one, Here's a photo of the manifold beside a standard hydro and trial jar for scale.


As you can see its just a normal slotted manifold only bigger. It has the standard 2" spacing from the sides of the tun to minimise channeling. The recirc pump makes all the difference though. There is a thread knocking about on here where a guy sourced a small plastic pump for a very good price and the pump is the biz for recirc of wort, might be worth tracking it down?

[WishboneBrewery]

"Hop Idol"

That sounds like a Forum Challenge in the making

[garwatts]

Yeh - my names Simon Cowell - send me your beer to judge

[pantsmachine]

Myself and SWMBO tried a couple of IPA's tonight. Went with hop bomb and Vulcan long mash. Turns out my White Star 6 hour carb and crash chill experiment didn't work out too well! Got a small psst when opening but it was a dead duck in truth, Hey ho and all that. On the other hand we got this from the other 2 beers.
Hop Bomb
Explosion of citrus, tingling on the tongue,spicy. Almost honey like flavours coming through as it warms(a bit like a lockit throat lozenge).

Vulcan Long Mash
Caramel with bitter undertones.Smooth and creamy, well balanced. Heats up with big tropical fruits in the nose.

Simon who?

[Manx Guy]

Cool,

I have obtained some no.20 mesh and cut it to fit the 24l MT as a 'sort of' false bottom (I'm mainly concerned my stiring will dislodge the manifold- I can be cack handed) I have I'm sure I'll get a nice clear wort if I sparge slowly and recirculate the runoff using a jug until clearer...

I cant wait to use my AG gear and get brewing... Unfortunately work and other projects are not allowing me time to brew at the moment...
But all is not lost as I have some beer in stock and wine on the go!

Cheers!

Guy

[pantsmachine]

Got home tonight, SWMBO and myself tried the white star alongside vulcan long mash. White star has shot into first place as SWMBO's beer of choice. Its too bitter at the mo but we now admit that SWMBO is as much of a hophead as i am. Bit of chill haze but that cleared up nicely as the temp came up. I'll try another one tomorrow at room temp and see what i'm getting off of it. Its a good pint!

Vulcan long on the left White star on the right


Happy days!

[pantsmachine]

Edit from 2nd sample
Chilled a bottle in the fridge for an hour only. It came alive in a way the first well chilled bottle didn't. Big old citrus hops on the nose and a smooth sweet fruitiness on first sip which then changes to almost but not quite a hint of pineapple at the end of the sip. After that i'm getting the mango thing. Carbonation is quite high as you can see from the head. Body and malt supports the hops nicely which come through as bitter but nowhere near as bitter as my Hop Bomb IPA(November 2009) which was tried side by side with this. Smooth is the word that comes to mind(possibly from the FWH). It doesn't drink like a 6% beer.

This beer is going to develop nicely and is already starting to taste rounded. It surprised me with a couple of ' och,wait a minute what's that flavour moments' God knows what else is going to emerge during its maturation but i think it will be interesting finding out. Life is good.

[WishboneBrewery]

Such entertainment from a beer Good stuff.