Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA - A few questions

[brewedforce]

Hello all!

I am considering brewing an IPA for my second brew, and as I am generally not a fan of IPAs (but pretty much everyone I know is!), I would like to try to clone this one as this is one of the only IPAs that I would choose to buy even if I had good options in other styles.


I have found two recipes, one actually from a different thread on homebrewtalk and the other on brewtoad. Here they are, respectively:

OG 1.072 FG 1.012 7.9% ABV, 72 IBU
White labs 001 yeast (Cal. Ale)

5 gal batch (into the fermenter)

10.5 lbs Pale male (Optic)
1.5 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Carafoam
0.5 lbs Carastan (34 degrees L)

Mash at 153 F

.25 oz each of Amarillo, Centennial and Magnum - FWH
.125 oz Chinook - 60 min.
.25 oz Magnum - 60 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 10 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 5 min.

1 oz each of Centennial and Palisade - Dry Hop

Fermentables:

Steep:
1.0# Belgian Carapils
1.0# Munich Malt 10L

Boil:
2.0# Pilsen Light DME

Late Boil:
3.0# Pilsen Light DME
3.0# Pilsen Light DME
1.0# Dextrose

Hops:
Magnum Germany 1.0 oz 60 min First Wort Leaf 15.0%
Amarillo United States 1.0 oz 60 min Boil Leaf 11.2%
Centennial United States 1.0 oz 30 min Boil Leaf 10.2%
Cascade New Zealand 1.0 oz 30 min Boil Leaf 5.0%
Magnum Germany 1.0 oz 20 min Boil Leaf 15.0%
Amarillo United States 1.0 oz 10 min Boil Leaf 11.2%
Centennial United States 1.0 oz 1 days Dry Hop Leaf 10.2%
Amarillo United States 0.25 oz 1 days Dry Hop Leaf 11.2%

Other:
Irish Moss 2.0 tsp 10.0 min Boil
Priming Sugar 5.5 oz 0.0 days Bottle

OG:

Yeast:
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Yeast

Notes:
FWH of 1 oz Magnums was in kettle for total of 2 hours, 45 minutes. Dry Hopping in my case is not dry hopping, I am going to bottle hop by circulating hot priming sugar water through the hops in my hop-back for about 30 minutes then add to bottling bucket. Cascade AA estimated at 5% as they were Ohio homegrown. The late editions were 3# DME @ 30 min, 3# DME @ 20 min, 1# cane sugar @ 20 min. The yeast was harvested sediment from 6 bottles of store bought Loose Cannon, put thru 3 starters, feeding oxygen to each. Pitched whole 1 liter starter straight off stir plate. Airlock activity at 3 seconds 6 hours after pitching. SG down to 1.062 after 24 hours with ABV of 3.94%, 1.057 for ABV of 4.54% on day 2 and 1.055 for ABV of 4.67% on day 3. I'm thinking my harvested yeast is pooping out and have put some Wyeast 1056 on the stir plate and will probably add on day 4 if it stays this slow.

I have a few questions regarding their differences. In terms of the fermentables: I am under the impression that DME is the 'base malt' in the second recipe and Pale Male in the first (just trying to get my terminology down).
Why isn't DME added in the beginning like Pale Male is?

Is it because DME does not have any diastatic power so it needs to be added after amylases from other grains are already active in the wort? Or am I getting confused and DME actually stands for Diastatic Malt Extract (assuming that is basically dried malt extract AND amylases), and Dried Malt Extract is not generally used by itself?

From reading, I thought it was generally the base malt that provides the diastatic power, but wikipedia says that DME has NO diastatic power as it is all consumed during the production process - although I am confused by this as I don't really understand why the amylases is being 'consumed', I thought the amylases were consuming starches during the mash so why wouldn't it have DP?

Is Pale Male the same thing as 2-row (I checked google and I am getting confusing results)?


Carapils, Carastan, Carafoam - I understand that Carapils and Carastan are both dextrin malts, but it appears Belgian Carapils is 1.3 deg Lovibond and Carastan is 34 deg Lovibond. So the Carastan will produce a darker color, but how will the flavor profile change? And Carafoam appears to be not really the same thing, I am reading that it really doesn't affect flavor but is more for head retention - so am I correct when I say that in the first recipe, the Carastan is for the flavor and the Carafoam is to help with head retention, while in the second recipe, the Belgian Carapils is responsible for both of these aspects? The malt naming system is very, very confusing to me at this point, it doesn't seem like it really follows any rules.


In the second recipe, why add Dextrose? Is it because 1# more of DME would produce too strong of a flavor, so dextrose is added as it will be basically just fermented completely to ethanol and contribute dryness without added maltiness? Although I think I just answered my own question if I am reading correctly...

Munich malt is mainly for color but also will add some sweetness/maltiness? How is this sweet/malt character different from that produced by a base malt like Pale Male? Is it just less potent?


Thank you for any help!

 

[Yooper]

Pale malt is a grain. It's mashed. DME is an extract. If you're not an all-grain brewer, you'll want to use an extract. DME doesn't have any diastastic power- as it's not needed as it's an extract and not a grain. Only grains needs enzymes to convert.

 

[brewedforce]

Right on, I guess I knew that just didn't really put it together. That makes a lot more sense. So the first recipe is all-grain and the second is partial mash, correct? For some reason I had it in my head that malt meant extract but really it is just short for malted grains.

 

[freisste]

Yes, the first recipe is all grain and the second is extract. If I were you, I would do the extract. Get your head around all the steps.

Later (or now, really) you could try the grain recipe as partial mash BIAB. Replace 10lbs of pale malt with 6lbs extra light DME. Then you'd mash the remaining half pound of pale, the 1.5lb of Munich and the pound of crystal. After mashing, follow the boil/hop schedule. Last 15 minutes or so (or even flameout) add the DME. It's that easy. If you can steep grains, you can mash grains.

One question: why are the recipes so different in terms of hops? One has like twice what the other has.