Hop Blocked CDA

[Osedax]

This is part recipe share and part pimping out Grouse co. For anyone that doesn't know, Grouse co is a gluten free malting company. They have a great product in my opinion.

I recently brewed an Imperial Black IPA. I think it is a solid beer. Although, it's not quite mature yet. Almost 2 months in bottles now... This thing is big, bitter, and dark. Twila, from Grouse, was very interested in the beer. I sent her the recipe and a pic, and she posted the recipe on her blog. I thought it was cool. I just wanted to share a link to the recipe and to her blog. Yeah, I know I didn't take a very good picture.

http://grouseco.com/gluten-free-brewing-recipes-hop-blocked-cascadian-dark-ale/

I will be entering this beer into the state's (PA) largest homebrew competition. I entered it last year and tied for 3rd in the specialty category with a beer not half as good. Best of show gets entered into the GABF pro-am semis. I don't plan on getting that far but, the tasting notes should be a good read. I will update this when I get them back in May. Yup it's a ways off but, registration just opened. :rockin:

Anyone else on here enter their gluten free beers in competition? I know they don't really judge how good a beer is but, they sure are fun.

 

[glutarded-chris]

I have considered entering just to participate, not for competition. I get the impression that competitions reward "big" flavor. I don't go for that in my beer so my beers would not likely catch a judges attention. I would travel to a competition or a beer festival that would have a variety of GF brewers available. I read about all of these recipes, but you don't get to taste them. I would want to try them and then to discuss the recipe with the brewer.

The Deland Florida beer festival is this weekend and I am going to try to get over there. Maybe next year you should come south out of the cold and enter some of your beer here!

Do you treat your water or do you happen to have a good mineral profile in your tap water? I build up my water from distilled water. Not many people post details of their water treatment so it is hard to judge if I am doing it correctly.

Good luck in the competition!

 

[Osedax]

Haha. I was born in Jacksonville. I go down to St. Augustine every year. Usually for bike week in Daytona. I pass by Deland every year. Sadly, not this year...

Judges actually rate based on how well a beer represents a style. For example, If everyone in an IPA category enters an amazing pale ale but one person enters an awful IPA, the IPA has a much better chance of winning. Obviously, that example is a little out there but, it still serves the purpose.

I love doing these. The judges don't really know what a gluten free beer is supposed to taste like. They tend to let flaws slip by because they think they are part of gluten free. I usually enter specialty category because there are no guidelines. It's more fair for gluten free in my opinion. I have taken best in show before. It's proof that good gluten free can compete with good barley base.

Most of the judges are very intrigued by the technique. Some of them even give me their contact info because they want to find out how I do it.

I didn't treat the water in this beer. I have since started. My natural water profile is very low in calcium, sulfate, and chloride but high in alkalinity. I can post my profile if you would like to cross reference.

Thanks for the encouragement! I like being apart of it more than winning but winning doesn't hurt.

 

[glutarded-chris]

I live in New Smyrna Beach and the water is not very good. I have not bothered to send off a water sample for a report so just build up my water. I use John Palmer's spreadsheet and have done a lot of reading but I still feel like I am missing something. I would be interested to know how you build up your water, test pH etc.

 

[igliashon]

Looking at that recipe with my commercial brewer hat on makes me cringe at how expensive it would be to try to produce that on a commercial scale...if I could even get my hands on the fancy hops ya got going there! But I'll bet it's a dang tasty beer.

Looking at it with my homebrew hat on, I am surprised at the sheer amount of grain that went into that puppy for the resulting OG you got. With the step-mashing I do as well as the use of amylase enzymes, I get somewhere around 10-15% more efficiency than you do, and better attenuation too--even with an English ale yeast like S-04 my attenuation is usually in the 85-90% range. Not sure if you're really concerned about that stuff, but if you start getting more budget-conscious, I figure you might want to know that you can get a bit more mileage out of the grains for a modest bit of extra effort. Though I reckon it'd be more of a PITA if you're not mashing in a boil kettle.

Curious how the color was before you added the candi syrup. I've been working on a CDA recently, too, but as it's a style that wasn't even on the market when I could drink gluten beer I'm not 100% what I'm actually shooting for.

Good luck in the competition--my quinoa IPA took 2nd place in the specialty category in last year's National Homebrew Competition...well, in the west coast first round of judging anyway. They neglected to notify me when they sent the packet of tasting notes back that my beer had placed, so I assumed it hadn't and drank the rest of it...only to receive a ribbon and a congratulatory letter in the mail a month or two later, when I no longer had any bottles left to send for the final national judging round. Boy howdy was I pissed about that! So let that be a lesson to you...wait until the awards are posted publicly before you drink the rest of your reserves. I'll bet you'll kill it.

 

[glutarded-chris]

Looks to me like that batch achieved about 17 ppg for 19.75 lb grain. I have been getting that with stepped mash and enzymes. I am not saying that I couldn't do better with more knowledge and a better process, but I would be pretty happy with that on a single infusion mash right now.

Not sure I understand the comment on attenuation. Isn't attenuation just the (OG-FG)/OG with OG and FG expressed as gravity points? That would give 84%. That seems pretty good. My extract beers go from 1.060 to 1.010 which is only 83% by that formula. My partial mashes have probably had a extra starch and have gone from 1.060 to 1.013. A GF all grain going from 1.077 down to 1.012 seems pretty respectable.

 

[Cainepolo12]

I thought the yield was extremely low as well. I use about 15% more grain than a barley brewer, which I deem acceptable. That was with some help from igliashon. I can't figure out how you get the attenuation you do, though. In always in the high70s to mid 80s like the OP. Is it maybe the weather where we live?

 

[Osedax]

Sorry for the confusion here. Those numbers are not my numbers. Not really sure where beersmith got those from. It actually finished at 1.014. That's about 80% attenuation and about 8.5% abv. Any time you use roasted grains, you will increase final gravity. I actually didn't get quite the efficiency I normally do. I think it was a mixture of being on my old system, huge grain bill, and no ph meter.

This bad boy was on the expensive side. Somewhere north of $10 a gallon in just raw material...

I have since step up to a new system. I actually just built my RIMS tube yesterday. I am excited to restart step mashing. I left it because of how much of a PITA it was. I have a really new and extremely strange step planned. Something like 4 steps and not in order...

Not sure if you're really concerned about that stuff, but if you start getting more budget-conscious, I figure you might want to know that you can get a bit more mileage out of the grains for a modest bit of extra effort. Though I reckon it'd be more of a PITA if you're not mashing in a boil kettle.

Care to elaborate? I am always open to new suggestions. I actually mash in a modified keggle right now. I have the big ol' false bottom too. That will help reduce scorching if heating with propane is a step. The rest of my system is electric.

I also have no idea what a black IPA is "supposed" to taste like. Many say like a normal IPA with a hint of chocolate/coffee. I dream bigger. This has a lot of chocolate/coffee with some dark fig like flavors. Beersmith says it would be 25SRM without the syrup. So a real dark brown.

Yeah, I have entered a few competitions before. The Mount Hope beer fest is pretty quick to get back the results. I also have the head of the competition's contact in case I need to bug her about the results. I already had to ask for a rule change for my beers. Either way, I plan to let this age for months if not a year. Should turn into a strong porter by then.

Thanks for all the encouragement guys! Also here is my water report. Not ideal for this beer but, it seems to work. I will probably add a load of gypsum and calcium chloride next time.

View attachment Barn Water Report.pdf

 

[glutarded-chris]

I plotted your water on Palmer's chart and if I did it correctly, you are right in the middle of the range at 12-18 SRM without treatment. I think part of my issue on my partial mashes has been that I messed up the water. Going to try a new water treatment profile and remember to perform a starch test before mash out.

 

[Osedax]

Check out Bru'un water. Great tool. Yeah, my alkalinity is good for amber and darker but, my calcium is too low for 90% of styles. I would start low and work up till you get your taste profile you want. Some like sulfate at 300ppm for IPAs but, I think it's a bit harsh. Everyone has their preferences.

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