"Hop Bomb" this weekend

[Barley Water]

God, in his wisdom, decided to bestow on me 15lbs of American 2 row malt for only $5 (I won it in a club raffle). I also have an abundance of hop pellets of various kinds as well as access to some fresh Cascade hops which a friend grows in his back yard. I thought I would brew up an American hop bomb and dispense it through my "Randall". This may surprise you but I have never made an American IPA, even thought I have been involved in this hobby for over 20 years. I figure I will do a standard 5 gallon batch (19L), does anybody out there have a good recipie they would be willing to share?

[Gurgeh]

American IPA huh. i reckon it would go something like...

for 19L

15lbs pale malt - mash at 150F as per usual.

adjust to 1.200 with extract as required

hops:

60 mins x 15lbs hop pellets
15 mins x all of the cascade your mate grows

you'd better pitch a couple of pounds of yeast to get through all that lot!



edit: nearly forgot - you'll need a press of some sort to get the wort out of the hops and then when you're done chuck in 2 drops of balsamic vinegar.

(sorry - couldn't resist)

[prodigal2]

American IPA huh. i reckon it would go something like...

for 19L

15lbs pale malt - mash at 150F as per usual.

adjust to 1.200 with extract as required

hops:

60 mins x 15lbs hop pellets
15 mins x all of the cascade your mate grows

you'd better pitch a couple of pounds of yeast to get through all that lot!



(sorry - couldn't resist)

You copied and pasted that from Northern Brewer didn't you

Have a good one Barley water

[Barley Water]

Well Gurceh, I guess I need to narrow things down a little bit. Your suggestion seems like a double IPA to me, probably more than I can handle. I would probably shoot for a starting gravity of about 1.065 or so (I would like to remember filling the glass after drinking a pint). Also, to keep things sane, I would think maybe a bitterness of something like 45-60 IBUs. Since I have access to fresh hops, it would make sense to try and get a really big hop aroma and flavor though so I thought I would use quite a lot near the end of the boil.

Although you jest, interestingly I prefer Stone's Double Bastard over the Arogant Bastard although to be honest, I would probably not purchase either at the beer store. I think what happens is that when you make real high gravity brews, the malt balances the bitterness (along with inhibiting the hop utilization) although I must say that there is nothing balanced about any of Stone's offerings.

[Vossy1]

Free hops and relatively free malt, you're a lucky man BW

[Barley Water]

You got that right Vossy, somehow inexpensive always goes down easy for some reason. Anyway, I need to figure out how to get some free yeast. Maybe if I take my yeast flask over to the local micro brewery I can put my real pittiful look on and they would fill it up for me.

[bitter_dave]

Anyway, I need to figure out how to get some free yeast. Maybe if I take my yeast flask over to the local micro brewery I can put my real pittiful look on and they would fill it up for me.

If you do that, make sure you hitch-hike there or you'll end up paying for transport

[Barley Water]

Actually Bitter_Dave, that is not the problem. What would happen I know is that I would sit there and try several of the offerings. By the time I was done, I would have a $25 bar bill (if I exercised restraint) where the yeast from the homebrew store would run maybe $6. Oh well, these are dangerous times we live in, there are perils around every corner.

[prodigal2]

Actually Bitter_Dave, that is not the problem. What would happen I know is that I would sit there and try several of the offerings. By the time I was done, I would have a $25 bar bill (if I exercised restraint) where the yeast from the homebrew store would run maybe $6. Oh well, these are dangerous times we live in, there are perils around every corner.

I like your honesty BW

[Barley Water]

Well, I actually brewed this stuff this weekend. The formulation is as follows:

6.7% light munich malt
5.4% 20L crystal malt
87.9% American 2 row malt

1 ounce of amarillo hops at knock out
1 ounce of cascade hops for 20 minutes of the boil
enough amarillo hops to get the IBU level up to 50 for 1 hour of the boil

original gravity 1.065, mashed at about 154F for 1 1/2 hours

Sometimes I wish I would pay attention to what the hell I am doing. I let the sparge go on a little too long and ended up with too much volume in the copper (that's what happens if you keg an earlier brew while at the same time sparging a new batch) . I fixed this problem by boiling forever before adding the hops to get the starting gravity where I wanted it but what a waste of propane and time. Anyway, I guess I will dry hop this with about 1/2 an ounce of amarillo hop pellets, I hope it comes out ok. I bet I carmelized the wort while boiling it down so this may be interesting to say the least. With my luck, it will turn out really well but I will not be able to duplicate my efforts, oh well.

[Barley Water]

Yes, I sometimes do it on purpose also, generally to get a more malty taste to the beer (a poor mans decoction). I usually do only about a quart or so rather than the entire volume of wort. Although I was really just reacting to my screw up, I may have learned something at the same time. I noticed that the wort was getting noticably darker over time. If it turns out that there is a definate caramel taste, I will start employing this "screw up" when doing Wee Heavy for instance. I will just have to wait and see what happens.

[Gurgeh]

that's going to be a really citrusy brew - yet to get my hands on Amarillo but LOVE cascade

[Barley Water]

I suspect you are exactly correct there Gurgeh. The aroma that comes off those Amarillo pellets is like Cascades on steroids. Since I have never used them before I guess I will have to wait and see what happens. This brew is actually a rather radical departure from my normal work, I usually prefer much less hopped offerings and more malt. I make quite a bit of heffe, helles, dunkel etc all of which have very little in the way of hops. I do however lover pale ale but my preference is the English style which is not nearly as over the top. If it turns out that this stuff is too hopped for my taste, I will just pass it off to my buddies in the brew club, I swear some of those guys would chew on a hop plant if it was socially acceptable.

[Barley Water]

Just to report back in on this brew after tasting a little this last weekend. Since I concentrated on hop flavor and aroma rather than bitterness, this beer came out pretty well. My take on amarillo hops is that they are highly recomended. Big time hop flavor and aroma but the bitterness is not harsh (I really don't care for some of the high alpha hops as many are "crude" tasting in my opinion). This beer has enough malt to balance the heavy hop load so that helps things also. Finally, since I carmelized the wort with the long boil, the beer is dark copper colored which may be on the dark side for style but who cares, I think I like it that way better. I am going to let the beer clear just a little more then maybe set up my "Randall" and see what that does to the taste (just have to play with my toys sometimes).

[bconnery]

I don't know that I'd get lemon grass from amarillo but it is a great citrusy hop that works very well in a good pale ale.
American Pale Ales and 'Summer Ales' or blonde/golden ales, using Amarillo and other US hops such as Cascade, Simcoe, Chinook etc are very popular amongst Aussie homebrewers and microbrewers right now and they don't have to be super highly hopped IBU wise, just made so that the hop flavour is the predominant one.
I personally like to put a bittering hop in with US types hops like Cascade etc but is isn't necessary. They provide a nice level all on their own.
Go a good ale malt, a little medium crystal, use a neutral yeast like S05/US56 and lots of late hop additions...