Frontal Hopotomy - Again

[BlackDuck]

I brewed up the revised version of the Frontal Hopotomy today. Everything is done and sealed up. OG was 1.075. Missed it by just a hair. Which is awesome, because I increased my efficiency in BeerSmith from 65% to 70%. The last few batches I have been overshooting my OG's. I noticed that a really good mixing of the grains right before the sparge has helped tremendously here. That one simple step has increased my efficiency almost 5 points.

Here's the recipe:
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Frontal Hopotomy (The Other Eye)
Brewer: Antler Brewing
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.84 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.29 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.077 SG
Estimated Color: 5.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 101.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 77.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.5 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.1 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.1 %
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 37.7 IBUs
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) [Boil for 60 min]( Sugar 5 6.3 %
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 3.7 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 4.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 5.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 7.0 min Hop 9 3.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 7.0 min Hop 10 3.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 7.0 min Hop 11 5.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30 min Hop 12 9.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [11.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30 min Hop 13 13.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30 min Hop 14 14.5 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [ Yeast 15 -
1.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Day Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 18 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 16 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 18.75 qt of water at 163.4 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.95 gal water at 170.0 F

Two minor issues.
First, I fired up the chiller to bring down the wort temp to 170 before adding the steep hops. And before I knew it, the temp was down to 150. It took all of about 2 or 3 minutes to bring it down that quick. So I quickly turned it off and dropped the hops in. And I steeped 40 minutes instead of 30. Not sure why, just decided to do it. After the steep, the wort temp was 137. Hopefully the difference in the 150 instead of the 170 won't do too much.
Second, I had a hell of a time getting the temp down to pitch temp. Seemed I could not get it lower than 78. So I put the lid on and added the airlock and put the fermenter in the fridge for a couple of hours to bring the temp down. Shouldn't really matter much.

When it comes to dry hops, I will have a little extra, so I think instead of dry hopping with 1.5 ounces of each listed, I think I'll just drop in what's left. That will take it to 2.25 ounces of each instead. I KNOW that won't hurt it any.

I am also planning on going to a secondary on this one. I'm going to do a 36 hour crash before transferring and adding the dry hops. I sure do have a lot going on for this one. Hopefully it all treats me well in the end. I'll take good care of it, so it should return the favor!!

[Beer-lord]

Looks nice.....definitely add the extra dry hops. You can't hurt anything, even your nose!
As I type this, I am drinking your first version. Extremely nice malt to hop ratio. Not as much nose but I think you mentioned that a while back. Very beautiful burnt orange color too!
It actually tastes like it's more than 7ish % ABV but no heat or burning.
As it warmed up, it did give off a slight, extracty type flavor at the back of the tongue. Not sure why, it's very mild and not bad, just wasn't expected as it warmed.
You could have not changed anything and done this again and I'd drink em all. Well, who doesn't want more aroma to hit you when you pop the top but we all have worked hard on that it seems.

Thanks for sharing this one.

[Kealia]

That's a quick chill down, but now that I think about it those first 100 degrees go by in about 5 minutes for me, too. You have to act quick to stop it all the right temp for sure!

I'm sure you'll turn out another winner with this, Chris.

In terms of new process, it's almost time for me to try one of the 15-minute Maris Otter beers I made a while ago. It's been 3 weeks in the bottle so I need to try a tester soon. When I did that last batch using Centennial it was 'good' at about a month but was 'really good' at 2 months.

Ok, drifting off topic, sorry - - - I think the lower temps may just bring out less from the hops (or take longer to do so). Who knows, maybe the extra 10 minutes will be wash.

[BlackDuck]

Aahhh...the weather is so nice here. We turned off the air conditioner yesterday and opened the windows. I love sleeping to the sound of crickets!!!!

So this morning I was running late to get to work (who doesn't on a Monday morning?), but I had to check out the action on the fermentor, which is just sitting on a short little stool in the basement. Just enough to keep it off the floor. The airlock was going nuts...a constant bubbling. I look down at the temp strip......and........NOOOOOO. Holy Shit is it warm in there. It was at 77, which is right at the top of the published feremtation temp for S-05. My basement has been at around 70 degrees all summer, but that's with the air conditioner running. I never thought it would get up to 74 in my basement in less than 24 hours after turning the AC off. Usually the basement stays cool for few days after I turn it off. When it's at 70, my fermentation temps usully hit right around 73 or 74 and I have had no issues with that. So who knows how long it's been rocking at 77, probably all night. And like I said, I was running late, so I had no time to do anything about it. Damn It....I hope I just didn't screw this up with a bunch of fusel.

Oh well....now it's wait and see!!! Nothing else I can do.

[Kealia]

My $0.02: 77 is the published top-range for US-05 (as you noted) so I think as long as it doesn't get much higher you'll be OK.
You'll likely get some esters from the yeast that you didn't have on previous batches but that's where a crappy palette (like mine, not yours) becomes valuable. Honestly, I wouldn't expect bad flavors or fusels unless you started getting into the low 80's with that strain.

[Beer-lord]

If you get fusels, you prolly caught it from me.
05 is pretty good with the higher range of temps. Did you get it chilled after it went up that high?

[BlackDuck]

Thanks for reassurement guys. I hope it didn't get in the low 80's. I was late for work so I had no time to do anything with it, so it didn't get chilled. We'll see what it looks like when I get home tonight.

[BlackDuck]

Just got home and checked the temp. It's dropped a couple degrees and is down to 75. The bubbling is still going, but it's slowed a little from this morning. I guess any damage has already been done. I'll just leave it as is and see what happens.

[Beer-lord]

Most of the off flavors from yeast come in the first 72 hours of fermentation. As a former fusel maker, my reading mentioned leaving the beer on the yeast for as long as possible to let them clean up. Don't know if you secondary but it might be a good idea not to secondary with this beer and leave it in the primary for 21-24 days at about 68 degrees.
I hope the best for you. Believe me, I know the feeling.

[BlackDuck]

I usually don't secondary, but I was going to on this one. That short list of tips for making great IPA's from Russian River mentioned removing as much yeast as possible before dry hopping. So I was planning on doing a short cold crash then transferring to a secondary. I guess I'll have to think about this a little and end coming to some sort of decision. The one thing I do have going for me is that I pitched 2 packets of S-05. That's a normal practice for me when the OG's start high like this one did. So I'm hoping that there was enough yeast to begin with and they didn't get to stressed from the high temp.

I guess I could take a little taster before the scheduled crash and transfer to secondary. If I get any fusels at that point, I could always let it sit on the yeast cake for a little longer as you suggest.

EDIT...maybe I'll get the lager fridge hooked up tonight and set the Johnson Controller to 65 and put the fermenter in it.

[Kealia]

You could still secondary and cold crash - just give it a bit longer in primary before you do so. Best of both worlds - a little extra time in primary to clean up + the secondary/cold crash for dry hopping. Then you could still dry hop and drink young by giving it more time on the front end instead of extended conditioning time on the back end.

Just a thought.

[BlackDuck]

And good thoughts too Ron....Thanks. I (with some prodding from someone else ) have decided to move it to the lager fridge with the JC set at 65. I'll let it sit there for a little longer than planned then go through the crash/secondary as you suggested and I had planned.

You guys are a beer saver!!

[BlackDuck]

All right fellas. Here's the update. I cracked this open today to take a gravity and taste test. As you can imagine, I was a bit worried at what the outcome would be. The color was a nice pale, cloudy yellow. The aroma didn't give any fusels off, in fact I got a nice slight citrus, leaning more towards grapefruit. And this still needs to be dry hopped. So far so good. Gravity was at 1.011 which gives it a final ABV of 8.5%. Now for the taste test....guess what, no detectible fusels in the flavor. Whew, thank the good Lord above!!! Flavor was very good, citrus, like the aroma. And it seemed to have a balanced bitterness at this point. Things are looking good.

So here's the rest of the schedule. It will go in the fridge to cold crash on Thursday evening. Then Saturday morning, I will transfer to a secondary and dry hop. The following Wednesday it will go into the fridge again for the final cold crash then bottled the Sunday after that.

Like I said earlier, you guys are a beer saver!!

[Kealia]

I see our work here is done.

Glad to hear about the results!

[Beer-lord]

Glad to hear it. It's odd that some of my brews barely got to 72 and gave me fusels while others that go above it don't. From what I've read, over or under pitching makes little difference in fusel making and it's only the high temps. Though I'm still stumped.
However, I'm very glad to hear yours has turned out well. Can't wait to hear about the final product. Version 1 was very good.