Beer-lord's Chupacabra Charlie

[BlackDuck]

I drank the Chupacabra Charlie last night while watching some high school football on television. First off, this was a really good beer. It poured very nicely with a good head and orange color. It seemed like a medium body beer.

The bitterness was great, it was a nice clean bitterness with out being too mouth puckering and the aroma was really good too. Kind of citrusy and fruity.

Now for the interesting part. It had a very distinct flavor that did not seem to come from either the bitterness or aroma. I've never had a beer with Citra in it, so I'm guessing the flavor was coming from that as it was not familiar to me. It was very good.

The great thing about this beer is that it had a bitterness, flavor and aroma that were all independent from the other.

Very well done Paul. Nice IPA!!!

[Beer-lord]

Thanks! I think I the only Citra was in the dry hop. It has mostly Simcoe and Centennial I believe. Just 8 oz of C75 to give it some color. Still, it could be better if I could get these beers to attenuate like they should. I"m working on it.
My keg version is starting to go dank and I need to drink it up.

[Kealia]

I think I've finally kicked my cold, and I've been home for more than 24 hours at a time (work travel) so I cracked this one tonight.

I agree that it poured a nice orange color. Mine had a crazy head. When I popped the cap I got an aggressive "pop" and I thought for sure it would gush out. I looked at it for a second, and then sure enough I saw it heading up the neck so I poured swiftly to avoid wasting any. What resulted was a THICK head supported by a high carb level:



The smell - heavy on the Simcoe if I'm not mistaken. Sweet, fruity, tropical melony. The kind that reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum. The taste is hop flavor forward, followed by a very mild bitterness and then a sweet finish on the tongue - not a bitter one. the mouthfeel is what you would expect - medium. Neither heavy nor light, but just right. The finish, along with being a bit sweet was a bit resin-y for me (let's just say that's a word, ok?).

This is an IPA that non-IPA drinkers would like. It introduces you to the wonderful aromas of hops, great flavor and just a hint of bitterness. either I'm growing a tolerance for hops as well, or you could almost consider this a session-IPA (which is somewhat of a contradiction, I know). What I mean by that is that this beer is not a palette-wrecker like some IPAs can be. Instead, it's a great flavorful beer that provides wonderful beer hiccups and/or burps due to the high carbonation!

As always, thanks for sharing Paul. Me likely.

Question: What was the dry-hop/late addition schedule for this? The aroma was wonderful and very prominent. I think this has been in the bottle for at least 2 months and that speaks well for how well the aroma has held up.

[Beer-lord]

Thanks for the kind words Ron. I can't remember if that was a bottled conditioned sample I sent or a 'beer gunned' one. The bottles I've had here are not overly carbed so I don't know what happened.
It was much more hoppy when it was fresh and I apologize for sending you a sample of an older beer instead of something I had fresh (I think I might has sent another beer that was fresher).
I have 3.5 oz of hops dry hopped for 5 days. Here's the full recipe:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Chupacabra Charlie's IPA
Brewer: Paul
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.65 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.45 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 9.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 90.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 82.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 84.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 71.4 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Munich (Cargill) (9.5 SRM) Grain 2 25.0 %
8.0 oz Crystal 75, 2-Row, (Great Western) (75.0 Grain 3 3.6 %
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 28.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 18.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 22.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 14.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 5.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 14 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 34.69 qt of water at 161.3 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

[Kealia]

It must be the combination of Citra and Simcoe that make that aroma. I've smelled it before and I love the combo.

No need for apologies, that was a very good beer, sir. Like I said it's strong in the aroma department so the dry hop schedule holds up well at the two month mark, that's for sure!

[Inkleg]

Had mine a few nights ago and haven't had time to post. From my notes.

Poured a nice burnt orange color with a nice off white/tan head and good carbonation level.
Very nice citrus/floral/piney nose to it. Great smooth bitterness up front with a nice malt finish to balance it out and make you wanting another sip.
Great mouth feel and lacing left down the glass.

Like Ron and Chris have said Paul. Well brewed sir, well brewed!

Chupacabra.JPG (93.56 KiB) Viewed 645 times

[Beer-lord]

Thanks guys. Glad you liked it. Can't say I have plans in the near future to brew it again but you never know.

[Kealia]

Just bumping this thread because I was looking for which dry hop caused me to mention "juicy fruit" gum and here it is. I'm looking to dry hop the 15-minute pale ale I made and if I can't get Galaxy hops, then I will go with this because I loved the way it smelled.

[Beer-lord]

I had an old bottle of this recently and it didn't age well at all. First, it was too carbed but the aroma and flavor were just about gone and I was left with nothing but bitterness.

My Premature Hopulation has Nugget in it which has a slight 'gum' flavor and aroma to it. I actually had to keg hop it for a bit to bring more aroma out and it's just now getting to be somewhat enjoyable. It's not what I really wanted nor imagined but that's what happens when you play with hops that you have no idea about. And, to make matters worse, I used 1 oz at FWH and 1/2 at 60 minutes. Looking back, I was double dumb to try that with new hops.
I think the honey malt and crystal combined may have given this beer some different flavor so I'm not really sure I ever thought of Juicy Fruit when I drank it.

[Brewbirds]

[quote][/quote]My Premature Hopulation has Nugget in it which has a slight 'gum' flavor and aroma to it. I actually had to keg hop it for a bit to bring more aroma out and it's just now getting to be somewhat enjoyable. It's not what I really wanted nor imagined but that's what happens when you play with hops that you have no idea about. And, to make matters worse, I used 1 oz at FWH and 1/2 at 60 minutes. Looking back, I was double dumb to try that with new hops.

Right there!

That is exactly the kind of experiences that I was hoping to see posted on the "What Hops-How Do You Use Them" thread I started in the Hops section.

Hearing how you made a choice and what the results were compared to your expectations plus any other observations would be great info to post there.

If anyone (read everyone) was so inclined.