Brew No. 5 - The Great GatsBeer
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had. Also, you should brew a stonking 5.5% IPA that will turn one's lips pucker-like."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
And thus is borne The Great GatsBeer IPA!
I ordered a batch of Pilgrim and Progress hops about a month ago, and they've been sat idle in the freezer waiting to be brewed. Pilgrim hops are supposed to have a citrussy-grapefruit taste, and Progress are like a stronger Fuggle. Hopefully ('hop'fully), a mass of these will achieve the big hop flavour I've been after for a while.
Why "The Great GatsBeer" as a name? Ah! - you'll regret asking - I often feel bad for the poor yeasties fermenting my beer, days on end, without any entertainment. So for this brew, I will entertain the colony with my all-time favourite (fiction) book - The Great Gatsby.
My copy of the book will remain by the side of the fermenter until fermentation is complete, open at the end of chapter 6. Possibly the most perfect arrangement of words ever made.
Goal (according to Beer Engine)
15L
EBC - 19
EBU - 60
OG - 1.055
FG - 1.013
ABV - 5.5%
Ingredients
3188g Pale Malt
156g Crystal Malt
370g Torrefied Wheat
20g Pilgrim (90 mins) (9.4%)
21g Pilgrim (20 mins)
10g Progress (20 mins) (5.5%)
30g Progress (5 mins)
15g Pilgrim (5 mins)
10g Pilgrim (dry-hopped)
26L Reverse Osmosis Water, +10g Burton Salts, +1x campden tablet. pH = 6.0, TDS PPM = 255.
Label
Grist
Mash liquor
Doughing in
Monitoring the mash with my software
Started at 66.02 C ended at 66.05 C. Much better control with this one (didn't open oven door)
Hops to go in
Starting to boil
Filtering into primary after cooling
Nottingham yeast
Made up as per instructions of packet.
Tucked up for the night with F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something - an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever."
--- after 1 week ---
Put into secondary with gelatine finings
cheeky taster when fining, tastes really nice, lots of hop presence and aroma!
Bottled and conditioning indoors
Measured FG was 1.008, so the yeast took this much further than anticipated (1.013). This gives me 6.0% abv, which is probably more fitting the IPA style.
This is still conditioning indoors at the moment. I prepared a plastic-carbonation-tester bottle alongside the glass bottles, and it's really firm so these will go outside fairly soon.
Can't wait for this one!
