Maris Otter and Falconer's Flight SMaSH

[JimH]

Ok, so I think it is time to brew this over the coming weekend and the time for final tweaks is upon me. Here is what I have in Qbrew right now:

3lbs Marris Otter
1/4 oz FF @ 60 (FWH)
1/4 oz FF @ 30
1/4 oz FF @ 15
1/4 oz FF @ 0 (dry hop)

1 Unit Nottingham

OG 1.086
FG 1.021
ABV 8.3%
IBU 81
Color 11

Now, I wonder if I wouldn't be better served having the 30 min add at 45. That puts the IBU at 99. Also, debating if the dry hop should be a Flameout add, or at 5. Opinions?

[philm00x]

At flameout is called an aroma steep (or hop stand). Any of the hops added when after the boil will not add IBUs, but will all be for aroma, so ultimately it will depend on how strong you want the aroma of the hops to be. If you're working with just the 1 oz of FF, and rather emphasize the aroma, and not as much of the flavor, you can always omit the 15 minute addition and add it into your LBK for the last 3-5 days of your fermentation for a dry hop. The flameout addition, let the hops sit in the hot wort for about 30 minutes before cooling (with a lid over the wort so foreign items don't jump in).

I can just picture this as a mango-y, citrusy moufgasm. LOVE falconer's flight hops!

[mashani]

My experience is that you do get some IBUs from a hop stand. I pretty much am hop standing any American style beer these days. Anything above about 170 will extract IBUs based on my current "knowledge", it doesn't actually need to boil to do so. You only get maybe 10% utilization in a 20-30 minute hop stand, but you do get some. When I hop stand I've found that I should adjust my bittering slightly to make up for the stand.

[JimH]

Finally decided on a hop schedule!

1/4 @ 60 min (FWH)
1/4 @ 30
1/4 @ 15
1/4 @ 5

94 IBU. I was thinking of dry hopping, but I decided not this time on this batch. I want to try it some day, but I just almost feel like it's a waste of hops. I know that sounds like blasphemy, and after I do a dry hop I will probably change my mind, but for this beer, I felt like a 5 min boil was more "bang for the buck" so to speak.

Edit: Whoops, forgot to update qBrew with the actual AA% of the FF hops. Had to tweak it a bit.

[JimH]

Well, this went terribly! So, I thought I knew my boil off rate. Started with 1 gallon plus 1 quart. Should have left me just a bit shy of a gallon, maybe 3/4. Ended up short by 2 quarts and 1 cup. Missed my OG by quite a bit, too. Supposed to be around 1.086. It was 1.132 before I added the top off water. Now, 1.050. Really screwed the pooch on this one! Well, that's why I did this as a 1 gallon test batch. I think from now on, 1 gallon is for cider only, and I will stick to DME until I figure out some better ways to do this.

[Inkleg]

Sorry Jim, I laughed a little while reading that. I have brew days like that from time to time, so that's what made me giggle.
Thought I was alone in this, but now I have a "what the heck" brew buddy.
Hope you took notes, cause it may be the best damn beer you've brewed and you might want to replicate it .............or not .

[JimH]

Thanks Inkleg! I definitely take notes, so next time I will hopefully not make the same mistakes, at least the boil off part. No idea why my OG came in so low. It will be beer, I just don't know how good of a beer it will be. It is chugging along right now, and I need to get a picture, because I might have a blowout.

[JimH]

Bottled this up this morning. FG came in at 1.017, ABV at 4.3%, so about 1/2 what I wanted. It did taste fantastic, though. So, not all is lost. I am working on posting a couple pics here in a moment.

[JimH]

IMAG0595.jpg (99.63 KiB) Viewed 1227 times

[JimH]

IMAG0596.jpg (40.44 KiB) Viewed 1227 times

[JimH]

IMAG0597.jpg (96.58 KiB) Viewed 1226 times

[JimH]

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to add all three in one post. But, you can see the level the krausen reached, ruining that tubing. The beer color came out pretty nice, though!

[Inkleg]

Bottled this up this morning. FG came in at 1.017, ABV at 4.3%, so about 1/2 what I wanted. It did taste fantastic, though. So, not all is lost. I am working on posting a couple pics here in a moment.

When all else fails, that is what matters.

[Brewbirds]

Holy Cow it looks like all your hops blew through the blow off tube. Haven't used one before is that normal when doing commando hops?

[philm00x]

Wow that's intense beer pr0n! Yeast must have reeeeeally liked all that MO!