In terms of beer style: this is a juicy American IPA except with big bready/nutty notes from Indian Fada and sturdy sweetness from so much CaraPils and dark crystal malts to support the intense New World hops. And I love the fruity/caramelly aspects of McEwans Scottish ale yeast for hoppy stuff like this.
My homemade invert syrup is a trick you've seen me do before. To make normal invert sugar, you simply boil any sugar with water then add a little acid to "invert" the sucrose into glucose and fructose, thus rendering it more easily fermentable, placing less stress on the yeast. What I do is similar: sometime during the mash when I'm just waiting around anyway, I bring a little water to boil, stir-in raw brown sugar or turbinado, corn syrup, molasses, honey, maple syrup...whatever, then I add a few drops of yummy lime juice. As it darkens and thickens, I cheat-in some heavy first-runnings from my mash/lauter tun to caramelize that too. Eventually I pour it all into the boil kettle, rinsing it with wort during the sparge. It's even easier than it sounds and definitely adds an extra layer of rich complexity. This "simple sugar" also helps thin the body in a husky grainbill like mine. 8% of fermentables will sound like a lot if you have negative opinions about adjunct brewing, but a half pound isn't excessive. In my opinion, this ought to be a tool in every homebrewer's belt.
It smelled amazing during the boil and my hydrometer sample was very tasty. High hopes.
SEYMOUR LEGACY HOPPY WHEAT
3.5 US gallons = 2.9 Imperial gallons = 13.2 Litres
GRAINBILL
59% = 3.7 lbs = 1678 g, Pilsener Malt (US)
18% = 1.13 lbs = 513 g, Fada Unmalted Wheat (India)
11% = .69 lb = 313 g, CaraPils/Dextrine Malt (US)
3.5% = .22 lb = 100 g, Cara 120L Malt (US)
.5% = .03 lb = 14 g, Aciduated Malt (Germany)
8% = .5 lb = 227 g, Dark Invert Syrup (homemade)
TOTAL: 6.3 lbs/2.86 kg
I used a MULTI-STEP MASH to maximize conversion of so much unmalted wheat:
140°F/60°C for 30 min
158°F/70°C for 50 min
Increase to 170°F/77°C, rest 10 min
I SPARGED to collect 4.5 US gal/5 Imp gal/22.7 L pre-boil
I BOILED for 90 min to drive off DMS from the Pilsener malt, adding a pinch of gypsum at beginning, Irish Moss at 15 min remaining.
HOPS
.3 oz = 8.5 g, Legacy, first wort addition, boiled the full 90 min
1 oz = 28.3 g, Legacy, 30 minutes remaining
1 oz = 28.3 g, Legacy, at flame-out, steep until chilled
1.7 oz = 48 g, Legacy, dry hops added 10 days before bottling
Total: 4 oz/113 g
YEAST
McEwans Brewery ale strain (Scotland), available as Wyeast 1728 and White Labs WLP028.
APPROXIMATE STATS
OG: 1052
FG: 1012
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 65
COLOUR: beautiful orange golden amber with white foam and lace
Here are some crappy pics taken with my phone:
Measuring the ingredients:
Drill-powered Corona grainmill:
Water treatments, hops, yeast starter:
Making the dark invert syrup:
Vorlaufing before sparging, check-out this great colour:
Sparging:
Measuring the hops:
Ready to ferment:
Original gravity = 1052:
