NE Style IPA, too tough for a beginner?

[marjen]

So brew day #2 in the books. Overall I think I cleaned a LOT of things up. Held my steeping temp pretty much right on. Got the kettle up to boil much quicker. Fixed an error where I used 1 wrong steeping grain. Handled my whirlpool correctly this time, got temps down post boil MUCH quicker. Had a great starter kicking. One slight issue, I ended up with just under 4 gallons (stated with 6 in kettle) post boil pitched to the fermenter. I took an OG and got a really high, 1.096. So a couple hours later I added .75 gallons of water to try and compensate. Also the starter was added post reading. It is possible the hydrometer was "stuck" in muck and not really able to drop correctly as I do recall a ton of sludge over the bottom 2" or so. But seeing how I burned off more than expected anyway I dont think I hurt things adding the water back in. I also pitched at a higher temp (78) last time as I had major trouble getting the wort down to temp. This time it went great and pitched at 70 right on target. The fermenter is sitting at around 68 right now and I have a ferm blanket coming tomorrow to really lock in the temps.

Overall I think it was a great step in the right direction, though I did come close to boiling over several times dispute using ferm cap and using a 10 gallon kettle. Not sure why, last time I had no such issues.

 

[marjen]

I think I am moving this one to the keg later today on day 5. Activity seems over, getting a bubble maybe once every couple of mins. everything seems to have settled to the bottom except the dry hops I added which are mostly still sitting on the top but I have read that they probably would not actually drop unless i cold crashed it. So I am going to try and do a forced Co2 transfer into the keg. Still debating if I should add more hops to the keg.

 

[Sbe2]

Dry hops will drop on their own in my experience. I added 2 oz on Monday and they dropped to the bottom yesterday.

 

[marjen]

So I pushed the beer over to a keg this evening. Did a pressure transfer. Went well until the end then the top popped off. I was pretty much done anyway so just pulled the connectors off.

I have a question. Now that it is in the keg I was able to get a gravity sample. It's at about 1.022. Will t continue to drop over the next couple days even though it's in the keg? Should I have pressure on it or no?

 

[schatzke]

If the yeast are not quite done but you keg and chill it they will give up.

 

[marjen]

There was zero activity as far as I could tell. It did start with a really high OG FYI.

 

[Tarpon87]

Next time up the temp a few degrees for fermentation. 5 days is really early to move to the keg. Probably should have gone to low 70s and given a few days for the yeast to clean things up and hopefully drop you a few more points. Probably still be a good beer anyway.

 

[marjen]

First few days did spend most of the time in the 68-74 range. Last I checked the airlock I watched for over 5 mins with not a single bubble.

 

[Tarpon87]

Gotcha, thought i read you locked it in at 68. My reading comprehension isnt so good

 

[marjen]

Nah might have been my posting comprehension. Started at 68 but was reading a lot higher after that through the first 3-4 days. Dow. To around 67 today.

 

[BeginnerBebeBrewer]

It may be worthwhile to give it a little longer with yeast. In my past experience when these fermentations have been done in 5 days I get a little diacetyl off-flavor in my beer. This mellows and is removed if you allow the beer to spend a few more days in contact with the yeast. The yeast is able to remove this compound. If you can maybe give your beer a quick taste....if there is a buttery taste then this would be diacetyl and I would give it a little more time.

 

[brew_darrymore]

I also think you're rushing it. 5 days is not enough time especially for a high gravity beer. How long did you dry hop for? I keep my hops for 5-7 days.

 

[marjen]

So I ran the beer through the quick carb last night and let it sit in the keg over night. I just sampled it, a couple times and it is definitely a step up over the first batch. Not quite where i want to be, but very drinkable. And judging by how i feel after a pint and a half the 1.022 is not an issue. Feels like I still ended up in at least the target range of 6.5, honestly seems higher. Since it was only brewed last Sunday I am expecting this will only taste better over the next week, lets hope and if so, great sign!

 

[marjen]

So I had a couple pints the other night. It was 10 days post pitch and it is tasting VERY good! Considering this is only my second batch I am very happy. I would honestly choose this over so many other beers I have tried. No off flavors that I can tell, tons of citrus aroma and smooth pleasant taste. I seem to have nailed the bitterness as well. I have a friend coming over tomorrow to try it out, will be nice to get some other feedback. Next batch I am going to go BIAB instead of extract and slightly switching up the hops. Cant wait to see how that comes out. I think going all grain will get the color closer to what I am looking for. Its a little too orange, think its from boiling the extract 60 mins. I guess we will see.

 

[marjen]

Had a friend come over this weekend to try out my beer. He is the kind of friend that would tell me if it sucked, lol. He ended up loving it. We then did a side by side with some great beers that I usually drink and he preferred mine over those. I was in the middle. Doing side by side I actually think mine fared much better than I would have thought, it is actually very good and if doing blind I might have actually picked mine as a favorite. Now the other beers were about 6 week old cans (NE IPA style), so I am sure they have dropped off some, but still. VERY cool considering this was only my second batch and I used extract (with specialty grains)!

So after a not very successful first batch, the second one was a HUGE improvement. Its important to take notes and work on fixing mistakes.

Wanted to brew this past weekend but my ingredients never arrived so going to be this coming weekend. All grain BIAB is up next! A quick 8 days later it will hopefully be my easter sunday brew.

So for all the beginners like me out there, good beer is within your reach.

 

[marjen]

Just wanted to follow up to this thread. i now have added 2 BIAB brew days under my belt. The first one I kegged and quickcarbed on day 7 and drank yesterday. It was awesome! Ended up being a 7.6% double, over the expected 6.8% I was shooting for and honestly might be the best double IPA I have had. Really enjoyed it. Very different color and a bit different taste than my first 2 extract brews. Brewed again this past weekend, had a few issues crop up but I am learning how to deal with them and have solutions to most issues so that they dont escalate. Loving this new hobby.

I am currently out of my favorite beer (trillium), drank the last cans on Friday so its up to me to get this right so I have good brews in stock. So far, so good. Also gotten very positive feedback from 4-5 others who have now tasted it. Not that I really care, but nice to share with family and friends. I have them all asking for more.