I Am Brut

Style: Brut IPA

Batch Size: 7 Gal

Born: 2018-05-26

Bottled: ????

Batch #: 110

ABV: 7.3

IBUS: 45

Calories: 165

Pre-boil SG: 1.064

Pre-boil Gal: 6.7

Post-boil SG: 1.048

Post-boil Gal: 8

Volume into Fermenter: 8

Finish Gal (into bottling bucket): ???

Target OG: 1.048

OG: 1.052

FG: 0.996

Mash Target: 145* deg for 45 min, then 155* for 45 min

Initial Mash Temp: 144.6*

Mash Temp @ 30 min: 145.4*

Mash Temp @ 45 min: 143.6*, heated to 154.4*

Final Mash Temp: 149.5*

Mash Gal: 4.75

Sparge Gal: 3.25

Mash Water Additions: 7.1g Gypsum, 0.5g Calcium Chloride, 1.9g Epsom Salt, 0.7g Salt, 2.9ml 88% Lactic Acid

Sparge Water Additions: 4.9g Gypsum, 0.3g Calcium Chloride, 1.9g Epsom Salt, 0.5g Salt, 1.6ml 88% Lactic Acid

Estimated Water Profile: pH 5.27, Calcium 142, Magnesium 20, Sodium 26, Sulfate 292, Chloride 58, Bicarbonate -5

Boil Length: 90 min

Efficiency: 86%

Fermentables:

11 lbs Briess Pilsen

3 lbs Quaker 5-Minute Grits

Hops:

0.75 oz Azacca 12.2% 10 min

1.75 oz Hallertau Blanc 9.7% 5 min

2.25 oz Hallertau Blanc 9.7% 20 min whirlpool

1.25 oz Azacca 12.2% 20 min whirlpool

1.75 oz Hallertau Blanc 9.7% 3 day dry hop (day 0)

0.75 oz Azacca 12.2% 3 day dry hop (day 0)

2 oz Hallertau Blanc 9.7% 5 day dry hop (secondary)

Spices/Other:

1 Whirlfloc 10 min

Yeast: Stumpy 1.75L starter from slant

Fermentation Temp: 68*

Bottling:

Vols: ???

Priming: ???

Bottle/keg: ???

Tasting Notes:

Date: ??? Taster: ???

Aroma ?/12: Comment on malt, hops, esters and other aromatics

Appearance ?/3: Comment on color, clarity and head (retention, color and texture)

Flavor ?/20: Comment on malt, hops, fermentation characteristics, balance, finish/aftertaste and other flavor characteristics

Mouthfeel ?/5: Comment on body, carbonation, warmth, creaminess, astringency and other palate sensations

Overall Impression ?/10: Comment on overall drinking pleasure associate with entry, give suggestions for improvement

Total: ???/50

Notes: My attempt at a Brut IPA, but I also plan on adding dry hops on day 0, so it’s some sort of weird Frankenstein between a Brut and an NEIPA. I made my mash much thinner this time, and did a slower sparge. I would mix up the grains, then pour over 1/2 gal at a time, then wait a few minutes for it to all drain. Between this thinner mash, the slower sparge and the 90 minute mash, I got some pretty crazy efficiency. Of course, the grits may have some to do with it too. I also decided to do a 90 minute boil on this one, because it is supposed to help, and if a beer could benefit from it, this would. Topped up to 8 gallons. I didn't aerate with the drill, but I did mix the wort up quite a bit after adding the water. I manually recirculated a couple gallons. I then added the yeast to the wort, and manually recirculated a couple more gallons, then I added 1 tsp of alpha amylase to the wort and manually recirculated a couple more gallons. 1.75L starter. I am fermenting this one in kegs (A and 3) since I'm trying to really keep oxygen to a bare minimum.

2018-05-29 - Pulled out the dry hops. It’s bubbling away like crazy. I’ll probably add a second charge of dry hops in a couple days.

2018-05-30 - Nice article on developing Brut IPAs. http://www.thebeerscholar.com/beer-scholar-cicerone-blog/2018/3/28/brut-ipa-from-san-francisco-is-it-the-next-big-thing-how-to-make-it I’ve been testing out BeerSmith a little bit. There are a few things that bug me about BrewTarget. It still doesn’t have 2015 BJCP styles, so I have to add each style manually when I brew. There’s a bug that makes lactose register as fermentable, which has been fixed, but the binaries are way behind the releases, and I don’t really want to compile it. One other thing that BeerSmith does that BrewTarget doesn’t is estimate IBUs from whirlpool hops. I used quite a bit of whirlpool hops in here, in the thinking that they mostly add aroma/flavor and little to no bitterness. I haven’t really played around with whirlpool additions too much, since I don’t generally do many IPAs. Well, BeerSmith seems to think they doubled the IBUs. Oops.

2018-06-04 (I think) - Added 2nd dry hop charges.

2018-06-09 - I finally pulled the 2nd dry hops, then flushed each keg with CO2. I then transferred ½ gal total of I Am Brut post-fermentation, split between two 1 gallon glass jars. The reasoning behind doing it post-fermentation is two-fold. 1. I forgot to pull some for the solera while I was brewing. 2. This was a fairly hoppy beer, so it should help up the IBUs for the first pull. I did a closed transfer, so hooked the gas up to the ball lock keg (A) to pressurize it, then took it off the gas and connected a length of hose to the beer side and pushed it out that way. I didn’t taste a sample, but the I Am Brut smelled amazing, as did the solera. The solera smelled very clean, and not overly sour. I then filled each of the jars up to the neck from the solera. Since I don’t have a dedicated siphon, what I did was I poured the solera into a pitcher, then from the pitcher into the jar. I tried to avoid any splashing, etc. to reduce oxygen. Hopefully it doesn’t mess it up. I need to get another siphon. Once I was done, I racked new wort onto the solera from the White IPA (Batch 112) and then purged with CO2. Since I heard some bubbling coming from the fermenters a couple days before, I decided to leave them out (needed to make room in the fermentation chamber) in the basement for a few days before I cold crash in the keezer.

2018-06-22 - Put in keezer, set gas to 30PSI, will drop to 20 in a couple days. This is supposed to be carbed really high, like a champagne. I think 3 volumes CO2 is about the limit for a regular beer bottle. Using some fudging, I estimated this to be about 17-18 PSI served through my system. Since bottling off the keg loses a bit of carbonation, I think 20 PSI will be the sweet spot.

2018-06-30 - Added gelatin to kegs because I plan on bottling off keg soon.

2018-07-02 - Took gravity reading. Since it was already (heavily) carbed, I left it out for a couple hours, swirling the hydrometer every once in a while until a nice tornado of bubbles would form. Once the bubbles would no longer form, I figured it was ready. 0.996. I’m sure that’s a record for me.