Home Brew Forum

First brew in 5 months! Why haven't I been brewing? No, I haven't become a dad. No, I haven't done my back in. No, I haven't started drinking wine. Truth is, I just needed to walk away from it. My relationship with brewing was starting to become unhealthy. I was spending FAR too much time brewing, racking, designing new beers, on JBK, researching styles etc. and then 5 months ago, I just stopped. Simple as that. I had enough and needed a break. I didn't intend for it to be so long, but I enjoyed the break.

I'm back on it now though. However, I'm going to tone it all down a bit. Maybe brew once a month as opposed to 2 or 3 a month. Jesus... if anything, my liver needs a break!

SO! I brewed the most delicious beer I could think up: A heavily hopped Red IPA - ALL late hops. Columbus and Apollo have resinous qualities that I absolutely love and Amarillo is so fruity. The delicious Munich malt should give a really strong malty back bone and there should just be a gentle hint of roast from the Carafa III. This, gentlemen, is my interpretation of beer heaven:

Late Hopped Red IPA

Size: 28.0 L @ 20 °C
Efficiency: 85.0%
Attenuation: 77.0%

Original Gravity: 1.050 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 31.41 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 5.04% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 34.9 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
4.5 kg (80.6%) Maris Otter - added during mash
400.0 g (7.2%) Munich Malt - added during mash
270.0 g (4.8%) CaraMalt - added during mash
225.0 g (4.0%) Crystal Rye Malt - added during mash
90.0 g (1.6%) Carafa Special® TYPE III - added during mash
100.0 g (1.8%) Torrified Wheat - added during mash
50 g (15.9%) Columbus (14.5%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
15 g (4.8%) Columbus (17.1%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
50.0 g (15.9%) Apollo (19.5%) - added during boil, boiled 5 m
100 g (31.7%) Amarillo® (10.9%) - added after boil, steeped 45 m
50.0 g (15.9%) Apollo (19.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
50.0 g (15.9%) Columbus (14.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter

The fermenter smells SO damn good already... will smell even better when I add another 100g of hops...

No wonder theres a hop shortage.......your using them all up in that beer !
....sounds lovely, have you brewed this one before?

What's going on with the differing AA% of the Columbus, different harvests?

Good to see you back!

I really like the look of that recipe. Does the crystal rye give much of a distinct flavour over barley crystal?

eguin wrote:No wonder theres a hop shortage.......your using them all up in that beer !
....sounds lovely, have you brewed this one before?

Hahaha - Sorry for being a hop hogger!

I have brewed similar beers to this but never with all late hops. The inspiration for the the Red IPAs that I have brewed have all come from Dark Star's Carafa Jade. Fantastic beer.

orlando wrote:What's going on with the differing AA% of the Columbus, different harvests?

Yep, had two packs. One from WHS and one from the Malt Miller.

jimp2003 wrote:Good to see you back!

I really like the look of that recipe. Does the crystal rye give much of a distinct flavour over barley crystal?

Cheers J!

The Crystal Rye adds a deep richness. Dark Star use it in their Carafa Jade recipe so I kinda use it in my Red IPAs now.

Brewed this red monster last year. I still have pleasant dreams about it...

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=52142

Sounds delicious! I'm also having something of a Columbus/Apollo fixation ATM.

Nice to see you back, Floyd, but also nice to hear the rest did its business!
You were due a wedding anniversary some weeks back, I believe; congratulations!
Is the first year the paper one? I hear Randy Mosher's book's made of paper. Perhaps not the right thing if you're wanting to slow down a bit, mind.
The beer sounds on form; good job, buddy!

David

DaveyT wrote:Nice to see you back, Floyd, but also nice to hear the rest did its business!
You were due a wedding anniversary some weeks back, I believe; congratulations!
Is the first year the paper one? I hear Randy Mosher's book's made of paper. Perhaps not the right thing if you're wanting to slow down a bit, mind.
The beer sounds on form; good job, buddy!

David

Yep, it has been a year Davey. Thanks for remembering. Really touching dude.

Yep paper. To be honest, Mosher's book is WAAAAAAAAAY more exciting!

This sounds like a beauty, I brewed yesterday but after a quick peak at this I tweaked my hop schedule somewhat.
Whoever said 'less is more' lied. More is more. Lots more.

Cpt.Frederickson wrote:This sounds like a beauty, I brewed yesterday but after a quick peak at this I tweaked my hop schedule somewhat.
Whoever said 'less is more' lied. More is more. Lots more.

I love your hop philosophy!

I just dry hopped 50g of Apollo and 50g of Columbus on this baby. I'll keg it in 4 days and let it have a 4 week beauty sleep before tucking in. It smells absolutely amazing. Jesus... why did I stop brewing for 5 months? I can't buy beer this good!!!

Perhaps the beer made me remember. Often does!

floydmeddler wrote: I can't buy beer this good!!!

Kegged. Quickest fermenter to keg I've ever done... 9 days!

Roll on 4 weeks!!