Imperial IPA

[gometz]

Alright, I am probably annoying everyone with recipe ideas on this sub-forum, but this one I am 90% sure on and have all of the specialty ingredients either on order or in my fridge already.

The idea is to use the 12 oz of fresh-ish hops I have (vacuum sealed and frozen the day after harvest) in an imperial IPA. After this recipe I will throw a imperial black ale on top of the yeast cake as well.

This is also my first attempt at using Conan. I have never had Heady Topper, but from everything I have read, the yeast is great. I ordered a vial from Yeast Geek and can't wait to use it.

______________________________________________
Method: All Grain
Style: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.064 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 8.72%
IBU (tinseth): 104.56
SRM (morey): 8.14

Yeast: YG001 (Green Mountains Ale AKA Conan) (Used ECY29 in the calculator to estimate attenuation)

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
13 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 80%
2.5 lb United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 15.4%
8 oz Belgian - CaraVienne 34 20 3.1%
4 oz United Kingdom - Crystal 90L 33 90 1.5%

Mash Guidelines:
Type Temp Time
Infusion 148*F 120 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.2 qt/lb


Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
2 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 60 min 42.48
1 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 20 min 22.97
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 15 min 10.54
0.5 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 10 min 6.88
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 5 min 4.23
0.5 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 5 min 3.78
3 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Boil 2 min 4.9
3 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Boil 2 min 8.75
3 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Dry Hop 14 days
3 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Dry Hop 14 days

When cooling allow for a 15 minute hop stand at 170*F

Primary: 1 week at 68*F (hold at 68*F until FG is reached, then ramp up to 70*F for remainder of primary)
Secondary: 2 weeks at 50*F
Allow to carb in bottle for 3-4 weeks at ambient temperature*

*by the time I am on this step, it should be about 65*F ambient in my home.

_______________________________________________
My thoughts:
1. 4.5% crystal doesn't seem like too much for such a big beer, plus YG001 should be a strong attenuator, so I may end up below 1.016, so some residual sweetness would be nice (especially with the long low mash and 100 IBU).
2. Debating if I should either get a different hop for a neutral bitter and/or maybe pick up another 6 oz of the fresh-ish hops to do a little more dry hopping.
3. The low secondary temp is to clear up the beer (I could start off at 65*F and drop it to 50 for the second week I suppose).
4. 2 weeks of dry hops: too long? Should I throw in the dry hops during week 2 only? (this would require some work trying to get 6 oz of cones into a full carboy).

 

[LoloMT7]

Alright, I am probably annoying everyone with recipe ideas on this sub-forum, but this one I am 90% sure on and have all of the specialty ingredients either on order or in my fridge already.

The idea is to use the 12 oz of fresh-ish hops I have (vacuum sealed and frozen the day after harvest) in an imperial IPA. After this recipe I will throw a imperial black ale on top of the yeast cake as well.

This is also my first attempt at using Conan. I have never had Heady Topper, but from everything I have read, the yeast is great. I ordered a vial from Yeast Geek and can't wait to use it.

______________________________________________
Method: All Grain
Style: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.064 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 8.72%
IBU (tinseth): 104.56
SRM (morey): 8.14

Yeast: YG001 (Green Mountains Ale AKA Conan) (Used ECY29 in the calculator to estimate attenuation)

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
13 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 80%
2.5 lb United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 15.4%
8 oz Belgian - CaraVienne 34 20 3.1%
4 oz United Kingdom - Crystal 90L 33 90 1.5%

Mash Guidelines:
Type Temp Time
Infusion 148*F 120 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.2 qt/lb


Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
2 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 60 min 42.48
1 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 20 min 22.97
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 15 min 10.54
0.5 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 10 min 6.88
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 5 min 4.23
0.5 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 5 min 3.78
3 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Boil 2 min 4.9
3 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Boil 2 min 8.75
3 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Dry Hop 14 days
3 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Dry Hop 14 days

When cooling allow for a 15 minute hop stand at 170*F

Primary: 1 week at 68*F (hold at 68*F until FG is reached, then ramp up to 70*F for remainder of primary)
Secondary: 2 weeks at 50*F
Allow to carb in bottle for 3-4 weeks at ambient temperature*

*by the time I am on this step, it should be about 65*F ambient in my home.

_______________________________________________
My thoughts:
1. 4.5% crystal doesn't seem like too much for such a big beer, plus YG001 should be a strong attenuator, so I may end up below 1.016, so some residual sweetness would be nice (especially with the long low mash and 100 IBU).
2. Debating if I should either get a different hop for a neutral bitter and/or maybe pick up another 6 oz of the fresh-ish hops to do a little more dry hopping.
3. The low secondary temp is to clear up the beer (I could start off at 65*F and drop it to 50 for the second week I suppose).
4. 2 weeks of dry hops: too long? Should I throw in the dry hops during week 2 only? (this would require some work trying to get 6 oz of cones into a full carboy).

For what it's worth -

I brewed a Conan Simcoe Vienna beer that I have on tap right now. It is good but I wish I'd have gone DIPA with it. The Conan yeast is just too fruity for me and I think if I'd have used more bittering hops it would have balanced it out better as well.

I would only comment on your #4 at the bottom and recommend less than 2 weeks, (or if you want to dry hop for 2 weeks then i would keep the beer colder) but that's just me.

 

[gometz]

For what it's worth -

I brewed a Conan Simcoe Vienna beer that I have on tap right now. It is good but I wish I'd have gone DIPA with it. The Conan yeast is just too fruity for me and I think if I'd have used more bittering hops it would have balanced it out better as well.

I would only comment on your #4 at the bottom and recommend less than 2 weeks, (or if you want to dry hop for 2 weeks then i would keep the beer colder) but that's just me.

Thanks for your response. I was kind of thinking the same thing on the yeast. I actually came up with the idea in the last few days when trying to decide on a yeast (and ordered it last night).

As for note #4: I was worried about that too. I think it makes sense to go ahead and only dry-hop for the last week (may do the first week at 65*F and then drop the temperature to 45-50*F for the dry-hopping week).

 

[LoloMT7]

Thanks for your response. I was kind of thinking the same thing on the yeast. I actually came up with the idea in the last few days when trying to decide on a yeast (and ordered it last night).

As for note #4: I was worried about that too. I think it makes sense to go ahead and only dry-hop for the last week (may do the first week at 65*F and then drop the temperature to 45-50*F for the dry-hopping week).

One week at 65*F is fine.. 2 weeks at 65*F and i've ended up with grassy flavors before.

If you want to dry hop for a full 2 weeks 40*F-45*F would be a good temp though.

Good Luck !

 

[gometz]

Thanks. I thought about that, but I wonder if the yeast would be active enough to clean up the beer below 50-60*F

 

[jperry]

. After this recipe I will throw a imperial black ale on top of the yeast cake as well.

You plan on brewing a IIPA, then reusing that yeast cake for another IIPA. That will make for some very stressed yeast. Usually, people brew a session beer (~4%) to grow their yeast cake, for a bigger beer, without over-stressing the yeast.


However, If you don't want to brew a session beer first, I suggest making a larger than intended starter and harvesting a small amount of that unstressed yeast into a mason jar, for the next batch. Then step it up a couple times, to get more yeast...

 

[LoloMT7]

Thanks. I thought about that, but I wonder if the yeast would be active enough to clean up the beer below 50-60*F

Yeast should clean everything up in primary. I wouldn't worry too much about lowering the temp in secondary as long as you leave in Primary long enough.

 

[gometz]

You plan on brewing a IIPA, then reusing that yeast cake for another IIPA. That will make for some very stressed yeast. Usually, people brew a session beer (~4%) to grow their yeast cake, for a bigger beer, without over-stressing the yeast.


However, If you don't want to brew a session beer first, I suggest making a larger than intended starter and harvesting a small amount of that unstressed yeast into a mason jar, for the next batch. Then step it up a couple times, to get more yeast...

Thank you for the advice. I have never reused a cake but am ashamed I didn't think of that fact. Since the yeast should get here late next week and I don't plan on brewing until the end of the month, I have plenty of time to get a nice big starter including enough to harvest for later.

 

[oconnorshomebrew]

Looks solid to me. I think Cascade will work fine as a bittering addition. As far as dry-hops go, from what I have read, several commercial breweries do dry-hops for almost that long. The only downside I can think of is that you may extract some more vegetal flavors. You could experiment with multiple dry hop additions, adding half the hops at the beginning of secondary and adding the rest a few days before packaging.

I guess my question is where did you get that fresh Mosaic?

 

[gometz]

Looks solid to me. I think Cascade will work fine as a bittering addition. As far as dry-hops go, from what I have read, several commercial breweries do dry-hops for almost that long. The only downside I can think of is that you may extract some more vegetal flavors. You could experiment with multiple dry hop additions, adding half the hops at the beginning of secondary and adding the rest a few days before packaging.

I guess my question is where did you get that fresh Mosaic?

Defalco's in Houston.

Like I said, they are fresh-ish. They say the hops get to them the day after harvesting and are weighed, vacuum sealed and frozen immediately.

The Mosaics were actually being weighed while I was there, so I was able to see how fresh they were. I put them in the freezer as soon as I got home. The Cascades were already frozen. I may even see if they still have Simcoe this week and grab some for future use or just to add another dimension to this beer.

Side note: the guy gave me a single Mosaic cone while he was weighing them. I went home and soaked it in a shot glass with water, then dropped the water into my beer that night. A-Friggin-Mazing. I then soaked it some more in some vodka for a few hours and sipped on that. Again... awesome.

 

[gometz]

One last question if anyone feels like answering:
Mosaic with Cascade a good idea? Should I try to bring in some other hop?

 

[gometz]

In case anyone was wondering, here is the final recipe. I decided to get 6 oz more of both Cascade and Mosaic. I will be making this beer next Friday (11/1), with the plan of bottling on 11/14. Already have the yeast and all of the fresh hops I need

Method: All Grain
Style: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 120 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.016
ABV (standard): 8.72%
IBU (tinseth): 106.4
SRM (morey): 8.57

Yeast: YG001 (Green Mountains Ale AKA Conan) (Used ECY29 in the calculator to estimate attenuation)

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
12.5 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 80%
2.75 lb United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale 38 3.75 15.4%
12 oz Belgian - CaraVienne 34 20 3.1%
4 oz United Kingdom - Crystal 90L 33 90 1.5%

Mash Guidelines:
Type Temp Time
Infusion 149*F 120 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1 qt/lb


Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 First Wort 12.87
1 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 75 min 39.67
1 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 20 min 22.99
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 15 min 10.55
1 oz Mosaic Pellet 12.5 Boil 10 min 13.76
1 oz Cascade Pellet 7 Boil 5 min 4.24
6 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Boil 1 min 0.83
6 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Boil 1 min 1.49
6 oz Cascade Fresh 7 Dry Hop 7 days
6 oz Mosaic Fresh 12.5 Dry Hop 7 days

When cooling allow for a 30 minute hop stand at 160*F

Primary: 1 week at 68*F (hold at 68*F until FG is reached, then ramp up to 70*F for remainder of primary)
Secondary: 1 weeks at 65*F, drop to 40 for last 2 days
Allow to carb in bottle for 3-4 weeks at ambient temperature

 

[oconnorshomebrew]

Looks awesome! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[gometz]

Thanks, I actually decided to replace the Maris Otter with Vienna malt, and was told to only do 6 oz dry hop, so I replaced the 5 min Cascade with 3 oz of fresh Cascade and Mosaic. Made a bunch of mistakes during the mash (temperature too high so had to drop it with another gallon of cool water), ended up with 9 gallons of wort and did a 3 hour boil to get it all the way down. Ended up with only a 1.074 OG. Even with all of that I still had a gallon of 1.040 wort that I saved for a starter this Thursday. Oh, and no one mentioned just how much more difficult it is to cool wort with that amount of fresh hops either. They have a nice heat capacity but low conductivity.
This beer better be damned good, otherwise I will hate it for all of the work I had to go through.