SW's Rakau Rumpus (IPA) 02-11-09

[spearmint-wino]

First brew for about 6 months, nice to be back. Sparging right now with no foul-ups so far - like riding a bike

Rakau Rumpus
Style: 14A-India Pale Ale(IPA)-English IPA

For 23l in the fermenter

Expected OG: 1.051 SG
Expected FG: 1.012 SG
Expected ABV: 5.2 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 37.0

Fermentables
UK Pale Ale Malt (Low Color) 5.000 kg (93.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Wheat Malt 0.200 kg (3.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Vienna Malt 0.150 kg (2.8 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
NZ Rakau (12.0 % alpha) 30 g Bagged Whole Hops used 60 Min From End
NZ Rakau (12.0 % alpha) 10 g Bagged Whole Hops used 15 Min From End
NZ Rakau (12.0 % alpha) 10 g Bagged Whole Hops used Dry-Hopped

Interested to see what Rakau are like - they're described as tropical fruit-y, so hopefully this will be somewhere in the region of a BrewDog Punk IPA, only a little easier-going.

[spearmint-wino]

Hehe thanks Chris
Just doing a post-boil steep and sanitising the new fermenter.

[spearmint-wino]

They're some kind of new-fangled NZ high-alpha dual-purpose hop. I fancied trying something a little different to mark my return to brewing.

Anyhooz, I pitched 2 rehydrated, DFS'd packs of Nottingham and the yeast absolutely ripped through it - it had fermented right down and was floccing and slowly clearing by last night. Plan to keg on Saturday morning after giving the yeast the chance to cleaning up after itself. Brewing again, good times

[Aleman]

Rakau are great hops, I've never brewed with them, but have tried a beer that was definitely overdone with them 'late' . . . Massive Passion fruit flavour and aroma, with a twangy after taste. . . . Probably a nice beer once it had aged . . . . Rakau are not subtle like Nelson Sauvin . . . but are a nice hop used appropriately

[spearmint-wino]

Yes indeed! Looking forward to cramming in as many brewdays as I can before Christmas

I took it easy on the steeping hops - I drank the trial jar whilst kegging and bitterness, flavour and aroma were more subdued than my normal efforts... it actually tasted balanced. Almost a first for me

[WishboneBrewery]

How did this beer turn out?