BeerBorg

Just a short boil all extract recipe to fill up a LBC on a busy day. Sort of a California Common/IPL hybrid. Anyone with an LBC can make this easily as an alternative to a canned kit. Assuming it comes out good. Which I think it will.

For 2.5 gallons.

3.15# Northern Brewer Amber extract (2 row, a little bit of Munich, and 60L crystal)
1/3# dextrose (corn sugar) - to keep it a bit lighter and let the hops stand out more - plenty malty from the extract.
2oz powdered maltodextrin (head retention, without spending more time steeping)

20 minute boil:

0.5 oz Northern Brewer (9.6AA) @20, commando.
1.0 oz Nelson Sauvin (11.5AA), commando @Flameout, lid thrown immediately on the pot to keep the aroma from blowing off.

30 minute hop stand, all hops still in, figure an extra 10 minutes of AA utilization for both additions before it cooled enough to stop it.

Lid on lets me start hop stand @flameout temps, but keeps essential oils from blowing off - they recondense back into the wort as it cools, like perfume distillation - it works, I've done it lots of times now. Had NO DMS from doing this ever. Have had excellent flavor/aroma contribution. Keeps my house brett at bay.

Cooled, dumped into LBC, hops remain in, pitched full very fresh (1 month old) vial of WLP810 California Lager, which is plenty since I'm fermenting at around 62-63 degrees.

OG 1.050

IBUs... something 40ish because of extended AA utilization during the hop stand.

SRM: 12ish.

Might dry hop some Northern Brewer or Nelson, we will see.

That sounds really good. Please do keep this thread updated. I love a a good amber and I'm a freak for Nelson hops.

Nice technique with the lid on for the hopstand. Going to have to give that a try on my next pale ale and/or IPA.

BlackDuck wrote:Nice technique with the lid on for the hopstand. Going to have to give that a try on my next pale ale and/or IPA.

I tried it for the same reason the aussies tried "nochill". Desperation. In the aussies case it was to save hundreds of gallons of precious water. In my case simply wanting to make some guaranteed brett free beers in a bretty house where cooling time is dangerous time. Even though I don't mind my local strain of Brett, I just sometimes really don't want it. I'll get my fill of it in the summer. This method has had a 100% success rate so far at that goes. Based on the fact that nochill folks don't get DMS issues putting near boiling wort in a sealed container, I figured it would be safe to try this, and it was.

I'll verify that, too. When I do my hopstands I do them at 170 with the pot covered. Wh3n I take the lid off I let the condensation from the lid drip back in and have never had adverse effects.

I don't like the idea of my cooled down beer sitting uncovered for 30 minutes.

Interesting with the lid on. I may give that a try on my next hoppy beer. Does it increase the cool down time significantly?

I only do that when I want to keep the temp for a hopstand. When I want to cool, I take it off and use my immersion chiller.

Hmm. My hop stand usually consists of the time from flame-out to pitch temp. I usually throw in any flame-out hop additions right after the boil and leave them while I cool down to pitch temp, usually 20 to 30 minutes ( in other words, I combine the hop-stand with the cool down time). Have I been doing this wrong?

Wrong? No.
I'd call it a difference in techniques. I'd call what you are doing flame-out or whirpool additions - adding in hops at the end of the boil and leaving them in while you actively chill.
What we're talking about is a hopstand which is typically adding hops and holding the wort at a set temp (ranging anywhere from 120 - 180 depending on what you read, what you want to try, etc.) for a set period of time (anywhere from 10 - 60 minutes or more).

Which is "better" - hard to say. It comes down to a lot of testing and trial and error. I found that with flame-out additions I got decent aroma but I got more from a good dry hop.
With hopstanding I seem to get more flavor and aroma that is stronger/lasts longer than either flame-out additions or dry hopping. It also adds a bit of bittering, but it's more 'layered' then just adding more 60-minute additions.

For a lot of my beers, I've totally removed any additions under 20-minutes in favor of a hop-stand to add the nice hop punch I'm looking for.

Does that help?

Yes! I think I will give it a go on my next hoppy beer. Thanks

I have the same experience as Kealia with the hop stands, be they starting at 150-140 with the lid off, or my hybrid start hot throw lid on/let cool to 150-140 or so with the lid on before I start to actively cool. (which is sort of a mix of a whirlpool and hop stand, but the lid being on turns it into the same results as a hop stand - keeps the essential oils from blowing off into my air as incense instead of staying in the beer). Flavor and aroma contribution is stronger and seems much more stable over time. I get a good bit of AAs too because of starting at higher temps.

The thing with lid off for an extended period of time, is I will get a mild Brett C infection in about 5-10% of my beers in the winter and up to 20-25% of my beers in the summer. Because that stuff lives in my house, floats in the air, and falls into the pot and/or fermenter if I leave it open too long (which is why I literally DUMP the wort into the fermenter, no siphoning - needs aerating anyways) - and I'd have to tear out all my ductwork to eliminate it, if not burn down my house and re-build it. So I won't do that anymore unless I think a little bit of brett c might be fun. IE a Saison or Belgian.

That's why I started trying it at hot temps with the lid on. Stays hot enough for long enough to pasteurize any Brett that got in there, and once it's down to those lower temps I can rapidly chill it to pitching temp.

I've had 100% brett free success fall/winter/and so far this spring doing this. I don't know about summer, I bet in summer I will still get them, but perhaps at a lower %age. But since in the summer I'm mostly brewing Saisons and Belgians it's not the end of the world. I really like the Brett in some of those beers.

Bottled at 1.010.

Tasted very nelsoney.

I will like it.

Cracked trub bottle. It's the beer on the left. It's good. It's a bit mellower then Humming. Next time I will use 1.5 or 2oz of Nelson, and then I think it will be just what I need if I can't get that beer again. Not a clone or intended to be one, but it's got the right nelson vibe just needs MOAR.