Winter 2016 RCE Red XIPA - BigPapaG/Screwy

[BigPapaG]

These are the growlers I've been buying...

They are extremely fresh and last pretty well...

I pour a little 80 proof on top of the lme before capping and storing, just to prevent any mold or bad bacteria from getting a foothold.

I have no room to either freeze or refridgerate it so it goes into a cool, dark spot in the house.

Right now, it's in a non-heated hallway since it's winter and as such, it stays much cooler.

In summer, I tend to use it faster anyway (Saisons and other Belgians as well as light blonds and IPA's) so storage is not really an issue then either.

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[bpgreen]

These are the growlers I've been buying...

They are extremely fresh and last pretty well...

I pour a little 80 proof on top of the lme before capping and storing, just to prevent any mold or bad bacteria from getting a foothold.

I have no room to either freeze or refridgerate it so it goes into a cool, dark spot in the house.

Right now, it's in a non-heated hallway since it's winter and as such, it stays much cooler.

In summer, I tend to use it faster anyway (Saisons and other Belgians as well as light blonds and IPA's) so storage is not really an issue then either.

I asked about LME freshness at my LHBS a long time ago, and forgot most of it, since I freeze immediately, but I'll try to remember what they said.

LME doesn't really go bad (as in spoil). But it does change.

If it's exposed to air and relative humidity is high, a layer of mold can form on the surface. I live in a desert, so this isn't an issue. If mold forms, it's not really a problem, but could affect the flavor. You can avoid the mold if you pour a small layer of vodka (any high alcohol spirit will do, but vodka is unflavored and usually cheap).

Depending on how fresh the LME was when you got it, it will stay fresh for 3-6 months at room temperature, 6-12 months in the refrigerator or indefinitely at freezer temperatures.

So if you buy it fresh and cover it with a thin layer of vodka, it's fresh for 6 months at room temp.

[mashani]

The only thing I will add is that Pilsner LME is more fragile then others. It is when fresh perhaps the most fermentable LME that is sold (at least the Briess stuff is when fresh). But the Maillard reaction will darken it and change it's character faster then darker/more complex LME blends. Every 8 weeks or so at room temp and I can start to tell a difference, and my FGs will start to climb a bit. Because I make a lot of Belgians, and I'm using it to save time vs. mashing Pils at 147 or so, I want it to be as fermentable and as light as possible, so I buy it fresh and into the fridge or freezer it goes. If it sits too long it starts to make the beer seem like you added some kind of crystal malt to it. That might be ok, maybe not even noticeable for some styles where you are adding crystal anyways, but it's not something I desire in my Belgians.

[BigPapaG]

The only thing I will add is that Pilsner LME is more fragile then others. It is when fresh perhaps the most fermentable LME that is sold (at least the Briess stuff is when fresh). But the Maillard reaction will darken it and change it's character faster then darker/more complex LME blends. Every 8 weeks or so at room temp and I can start to tell a difference, and my FGs will start to climb a bit. Because I make a lot of Belgians, and I'm using it to save time vs. mashing Pils at 147 or so, I want it to be as fermentable and as light as possible, so I buy it fresh and into the fridge or freezer it goes. If it sits too long it starts to make the beer seem like you added some kind of crystal malt to it. That might be ok, maybe not even noticeable for some styles where you are adding crystal anyways, but it's not something I desire in my Belgians.

Great points, and planning helps too...

There have been a number of times where I ended up doing a dark Belgian or a stout / porter kind of thing and the last few pounds from the growler that had aged went into those...

[FedoraDave]

What a great thread! Very informational. And (not to toot my own horn, but I just want to point it out) this is what the RCE is supposed to accomplish. Two guys work together, but everyone benefits when a thread like this is started.

Thanks for keeping the door open with this thread, Vince.

[mashani]

@Screwy, you asked about packaging.

MoreBeer has somewhat unique packaging, I don't know of anyone else that does it. They open their bulk containers that they get right from Briess, and then measure it out into these thick double walled foil bags that seem impervious to oxygen and light. Sort of like "seal a meal" but in semi-metallic packaging. You can just warm the bags up in some hot water, and then to pour out you can roll them up like a tube of toothpaste and get pretty much everything out of them.

Northern also turns over their stuff fast, but they put it in regular plastic jugs. They might get it directly from Briess to though. Buying in smaller quantities, MoreBeer ends up cheaper most of the time because they ship for free if you order $59 worth of stuff. Northern can be cheaper if you get a free shipping coupon or a discount and order 36# of it at once using that discount.

f your LHBS has bulk extract and they turn it over fast it's probably the same stuff actually. It's all just a matter of how it is sourced, and how long it spent in between. Your LHBS might get it through a distributor (that would be LD Carlson where I'm from). LD Carlson sells in bulk, up to 640# barrels of extract. If you want some, I can point you at a web site where they sell it. (http://labelpeelers.com/). That is a LHBS that is just down the road from LD Carlsons warehouse - they don't have those barrels in the store - but they will ship one to you right off of LD Carlson's dock. I would assume that's fresh and they sell it to someone or repackage it somehow, but I don't know what I'd do with a 640# barrel except for crush myself to death.

Unfortunately, although LD Carlson sells that stuff in bulk, none of my LHBS's buy that, they just buy the small canisters, and they tend to sit around. So I end up going to MoreBeer, as everything they have in PA gets to me in 1 or 2 days.

[BigPapaG]

So, I found enough time yesterday to get this one brewed!

2016 Winter RCE Red XIPA w/ScrewyBrewer & BigPapaG

- Partial Mash with Extract

FIRST and foremost, Thanks go to Screwy for the great collaboration and brainstorming on this...

It was like we were of one mind... The process was fast, easy and enjoyable!

Now for the update:

Good news is, I hit all the right temps and the OG came in at 1.048 as planned.

If it ferments out as predicted, it should end up being under 5% ABV thus qualifying it as a session ale.

Bad news, too dark on the SRM scale... The 2 ounces of Midnight Wheat pushed this one past red I'm afraid and into the brown...

Screwy, if you are reading this, and I hope you are, you might want to rethink the Carafa in yours...

Actually, and you can't tell from the pic of the wort in the carboy, but it is really a very dark reddish almost brown substance... That was not predicted by BeerSmith Mobile... I'm going to have to look back and see where I erred... My guess is I had too low of a Lovibond value for the Midnight Wheat or not a high enough value for the color of the Red X...

Also, I think I underestimated the Red X, thinking that since I was only using 50% Red X that it would be too amber colored due to the Pils LME... Not so.

Oh well, maybe it will still be a dark red after it ferments out and then flocs... We'll see.

That's why we do these things though folks...

None the less, the brew day went well and the result will be good beer!

Let me go further to say IT SMELLS DELICIOUS!

The process was as follows...

- Getting ready to begin the brew process...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Mobile%20Uploads/image_6.jpeg[/image]

- Heating the mash water and sparge water...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Mobile%20Uploads/image_3.jpeg[/image]

- Milling the grains...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_1.jpeg[/image]

- Nice crush on the Red X and specialty grains...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_7.jpeg[/image]

- Mash bag ready to go...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_4.jpeg[/image]

- All mashed in and set at 148°F

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_2.jpeg[/image]

- Hop additions prepared and ready... I use knots to indicate which addition goes in which order... First addition, one knot, second is two etc... The one in the back is for the Whirlpool / Steep addition.

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_8.jpeg[/image]

- Cool thing about my range is the Hold Feature... Really helps in maintaining my mash temps... It also has an 18,000 BTU burner on the front right of the stovetop which is great for brewing!

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_5.jpeg[/image]

- Here is the view in the oven about half way through the 75 minute mash... Still holding a solid 148°F (stirred the grains a few times throughout the mash)

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/A881B4C5-B11F-420F-834B-D859E6DDFE83.jpg[/image]

- Brought the sparge water back up to 168°F near the end of the mash and sparged by pouring it into the open bag of grains and stiring... Then the lifting and draining... i used enough sparge water in two steps / additions to bring the total volume up to a little over 3 gallons in that 4 gallon pot...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/BF1FC70D-A252-4A68-8FAB-242F936CEAF1.jpg[/image]

- And we're boiling... First batch of hops in...

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_11.jpeg[/image]

- And don't forget, there's Pils LME in there as well... Broken into an initial and a late addition... (2 lbs. at the start of the boil and 1 lb. 4 ounces at T-10 minutes)

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpeg[/image]

- Last 10 minutes, add Yeast Nutrient, more hops, more LME and the chiller to sanitize it in boil.

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/A35B817C-1B6F-4C3E-821F-AA38C4660028.jpg[/image]

- After adding the third hop addition at T-5 minutes, we move to the cooling station and cool to 180°F, add the last hop addition, cover and steep for 20-30 minutes. Then, resume cooling to pitch temp... ( I transferred to the carboy from here, topped off with water that was previously boiled and then cooled while the mash was happening... And the resulting pitch temp was 66°F using US-05)

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_10.jpeg[/image]

- And here it is, swamp cooler and all... Bad camera and low light so it's really hard to see the color... Yet still, darker than where I wanted to be. What will be, will be!

[image]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg627/BigPapaG/Beer/image_9.jpeg[/image]

Good luck on yours too Screwy!

Cheers!

[ScrewyBrewer]

@BigPapaG thank you so much for sharing your brewday with us, those pictures are a great reference too. It looks like you have a nice tasty batch of beer going for yourself right there, even if it looks a bit darker than anticipated. I'll be leaving the Carafa I addition out of the grain bill, now I'm more interested in seeing how dark red the RedX malt color comes out when mixed only with the Pilsner LME. I'll be heading out into the brewroom soon to get started on a nice leisurely brewday. I'll be posting updates from time to time as the day progresses too.

[Beer-lord]

Awesome showing of your brew day BigPapaG! Thanks for taking the time to share it all with us.
You might be surprised when it all clears up that it still shows some red. At least here's to hoping it will. Should be a good discussion if and when you and Screwy share your beer with each other as to how much of a difference in taste and color it does have.

[BigPapaG]

@ ScrewyBrewer

Great! Can't wait to see your updates and color you especially achieve!

A fun RCE for me for sure, and now we are comparing and contrasting color as well as water.

Since my darker color was from Midnight Wheat and it was only 2 ounces in the whole grain bill, I do not expect a taste difference from that... There really is no roasty toasty with even large quantities of it so it is not going to influence taste at all!

Which means, we should still be looking to find variance from the different waters used.

This is like science lab all over again!


@ Beer-lord

Agreed... I usually see brews lighten up a bit by the time they are ready to keg or bottle so we shall see.

Happy to share the pics... Not enough hands to get pics of the LME going in or the transfer process...

And it looks like I forgot to get the hydro sample... Oh well, I'll try to get the FG and resulting color.

I had a really great time brewing yesterday! I hadn't brewed in a month and everything came together at the spur of the moment to allow for brewing time. It felt great!

[ScrewyBrewer]

xipa-og1a_sml.jpg (65.4 KiB) Viewed 659 times

Partial mash brewing turned out to be a lot of fun today. It was a welcome change in an all grain brewing schedule. Using Red X malt for the first time was exciting too, mashed in a water profile based on my Hiphopapocalpse IPA.

The wort was 1.043 OG when it went into the fermentor and it was mashed at 148F for 90 minutes. Using Safale S-05 Dry Ale Yeast, if I can get 80% attenuation, this beer will finish up at 5% alcohol and just perfect for a sessionable IPA.

xipa_2a_sml.jpg (59.27 KiB) Viewed 659 times

There's plenty of hops, 7 ounces at last count, in the recipe too.

[BigPapaG]

xipa-og1a_sml.jpg

Partial mash brewing turned out to be a lot of fun today. It was a welcome change in an all grain brewing schedule. Using Red X malt for the first time was exciting too, mashed in a water profile based on my Hiphopapocalpse IPA.

The wort was 1.043 OG when it went into the fermentor and it was mashed at 148F for 90 minutes. Using Safale S-05 Dry Ale Yeast, if I can get 80% attenuation, this beer will finish up at 5% alcohol and just perfect for a sessionable IPA.

xipa_2a_sml.jpg

There's plenty of hops, 7 ounces at last count, in the recipe too.

Gosh, that's pretty!

[Kealia]

Yes it is. Nice clarity, too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[ScrewyBrewer]

The 1300 watt induction cooktop did a fairly good job in getting the wort to a full boil, although it did take some time to get there. This was the first time that the Nuwave2 was used to boil wort, typically it's used to heat up a few gallons of sparge water when doing BIAB.

xipa_3a_sml.jpg (68.98 KiB) Viewed 635 times

Depending on the size container that the wort was in when photographed, and differences in lighting, the color of the Red XIPA ranged from a brown color or a fiery red color. Without a doubt I was very happy with the color of the wort in the hydrometer sample and with the beer poured into a pint glass it will look a bit darker too.

xipa_4a_sml.jpg (38.19 KiB) Viewed 635 times

Once the kettle was cleaned up a large dark circle of stubborn burnt wort was stuck tight to the kettle's bottom. After an overnight soak in PBW, a lot of the burnt wort has already been dissolved, and getting it to look like new again shouldn't be much of a problem.

xipa_5a_sml.jpg (56.9 KiB) Viewed 635 times

[BigPapaG]

Very interesting...

I have never used an induction cooker and have often wondered how well they might work...

Seems to be fine short of the scorching and I wonder if a different style / grade of induction capable pan might help?

Very cool overall though... Yet another twist to this thread! Love it!

Also, I am now really curious to see the color of our final products...

And that of others brewing with Red X on this board...