Whatchagot IPA

Origins:
    I have had several bags of homegrown hops in my freezer for about a year and I needed to brew with them before they went bad.  Since this was a short notice brew I grabbed them all and decided to clean house.  What better beer to dispense a great deal of hops than an IPA and so I am calling this creation Whatchagot IPA.

Recipe Specifications:

• Batch Size: 10.00 gal
• Boil Size: 13 gal
• Predicted OG: 1.055 SG
• Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 20.0 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
• 1.00 lb Crystal-80 Malt 
• 1.50 lb Crystal-40 Malt
• 0.75 lb Munich Malt

Total Grain Weight: 23.25 lb

• 3.5 oz Nugget, US [~14%] Hops
• 2.0 oz Northern Brewer [9%] Hops
• 2.0 oz Simcoe (Dry hop)
• Fermentis Safale US-05

Starter Procedure:
I didn't have a chance to do a starter since my dad and I decided we were going to brew the day before and the brew store was closed.

Brew Procedure:
      On Sunday August 30th 2012, my dad came into town and wanted to brew some beer to experience the excitement of all-grain brewing. Our trip to the brew store started off poorly, I drove to Brew Brothers and found out they didn't open until Noon on Sunday.  After calling Mainbrew I found out they were open and headed to buy my ingredients. Once at the store and realized since I didn't make a starter and to achieve close to my desired pitching rate I would have to buy 4 vials of Whitelabs which would end up costing a small fortune.  I decided to opt for packages of dry yeast since I was not looking for any distinctive flavor from the yeast.
I started off by heating 7.73 gallons of water:
                    23.25 lbs grain x 1.33 qt/lb = 30.92 qt. x 1/4 gallon/qt = 7.73 gallons

I heated the water up to 170 °F and had my dad slowly pour the grain in as I stirred.  This is usually a one man operation and is incredibly awkward.  However, with the help of another person it went much smoother and mixing was easier causing almost no dough balls. The addition of the grain dropped the temperature down to 165°F.  I placed the jacket around the kettle and let it sit for an hour.  I quickly realized I had left the burner on a tiny bit when the jacket started melting around the pot.  By the time turned the burner off it was too late and it had been melted in the four corners of the burner.  The jacket is damaged but it will still be better than nothing.

     After the hour mash I lautered into the kettle and began the boil.  I used the following hop schedule:

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

Quantity	Ingredient	Boiled For
2.50 oz	Nugget	Entire 60 Min. boil
1.50 oz.	Nugget	Last 30 min of boil
2.00 oz.	Northern Brewer	Last 15 min of boil

     I haven't brewed in a while so I forgot to add all the kettle additions (i.e. Whirlfloc, Gypsum, Yeast Nutrient).  I was pretty pissed about this.  I cooled the wort and poured it into two 6.5 gallon carboys.  I let one carboy fill for too long before switching to the next one, so the distribution of wort was not equal. Pitching with the dry yeast was a new experience, it felt weird not having the smell of partially fermented wort and yeast fill the air.  I oxygenated the wort with an oxygen stone for 30 seconds in each carboy and then put the air lock on.
     Once the fermentation is completed and I have transferred to the secondary I will add the dry hop Simcoe.  Typically, I add the dry hops to the primary when I pitch the yeast.  I have read this is not the best idea because the yeast cover the hops making the oil extraction not as efficient.  There is also some theories that say the hop oils can retard the fermentation process.

INITIAL WORT GRAVITY: 1.058

UPDATE 10/6/12: Transferred from primary to secondary and added dry hops.  I tasted it and it definitely did not taste like there was 7 oz of hops in that boil.  I was afraid of this because I waited so long to use the hops that they must have lost a great deal of their potency.  I dry hopped with 2 oz. of Simcoe and placed back in the fermentation closet.  I was drinking a BRRR at the time which is pretty hoppy but I don't think it would have offset the hops in the beer that much.  Hopefully the Simcoe will add some pleasant aromatics to the beer.


Gravity at Transfer: 1.026
131.25*(1.058-1.026)=4.2% ABV


UPDATE 10/18/12: Kegged the brew today and it was pretty good the dry hops really did wonders to this beer.  The Simcoe aroma came out really nice in this beer.  It will be really exciting to try this beer.

Gravity at Kegging: 1.023
131.25*(1.058-1.023)=5.0% ABV