Frontal Hopotomy

[Beer-lord]

I do think drier beers work better with lots of hops and my Mahraja was at 150 but my Pliny recipe called for 152. Not really sure just how much of a difference that small amount will make anyway.
But, make 5 gallons at 150, 5 gallons at 151 and 5 gallons at 152 and send them all to me and I'll let you know which I prefer.

[Kealia]

Hey Chris, what temp did you decide on for the hop stand?
As always, the recipe looks yummy.

[BlackDuck]

I'm going to cool the wort down to 170 first, then drop the hops in for the hop stand.

[Kealia]

I think you're going to be happy with this.

I'm anxious to try my Maris Otter 15-minute beer so I can use up the second half of the LME. If it's good I'm going to do a version that includes a 30-minute hopstand (so I guess it will be 45-minute Pale Ale at that point).

[BlackDuck]

I'm sitting here watching football and drinking a Frontal Hopotomy. This one is turning out to be pretty good. I think it may have needed a little more time. The aroma still isn't where I thought it would be, and that will never change. But the flavor and bitterness is really coming around pretty good. It's MUCH more drinkable than it was a week or two ago. But I'm still going to brew it with the changes that I've made above. In fact, I'm going to brew it Saturday.

[BlackDuck]

Still drinking the original Frontal Hopotomy. It never did turn out to be the IIPA that I was shooting for. But now, it's a pretty darn good pale ale.

It's just a good reminder that even though the end result may not be what you originally were after, and you keep an open mind, it may just turn out to be a really good beer.