Sunday, June 5, 2016

Pints: Falcon PUNCH IPA

Goals:
I got this recipe from a Reddit thread.  Someone said they made an IPA that was way too fruity for their tastes (said it tasted like fruit punch), and I was intrigued.  After asking for the recipe, this person said that I could only brew it if I called it "Falcon Punch".  The recipe below follows that one very closely.  I'm hoping for a very fruity IPA with fairly mild but noticeable bitterness.  This will also be my first IPA using Wyeast 1318.  I've read that it is a good option for making the juicy "Northeastern style" IPA.
Ingredients for 2.5 gallon batch, 70% efficiency
5 Lbs 2 row
.5 Lbs Caramel 40L
.25 Lbs Carapils
.25 Lbs Victory malt
1 oz Falconers Flight (10.8% AA)
1 oz Cascade (6.5% AA)
1 oz Amarillo (8.5% AA)
Wyeast 1318 yeast (using some slurry from Jarrylo Ale)
Mash:
Treat 3.5 gallons water with campden
Single Infusion, 148F for 60 minutes
Mash out at 170F and squeeze the bag.
Add .25 oz falconers flight and bring to a boil (FWH?)
Boil:
60 minute boil
.25 oz falconers flight and cascade @ 30 minutes remaining
.25 oz of falconers flight, cascade, and Amarillo @ 5 minutes remaining
Save all remaining hops for the dry hop (assuming the hops can in 1oz bags)
Cool ASAP
Finishing and Fermentation:
Once cooled pitch 2 TBSP of yeast slurry that has been mixed with 1 TBSP of wort from the boil and warm water.  Aerate with immersion blender.  Set fermentation chamber
Log:
4/17/2016:  brew day.  Brewing was uneventful. This was the largest all grain brew I've done to date.  Had a hard time keeping the mash temperature at the target.  It probably mashed closer to 145F, which is probably okay. For the yeast I took 2 TBSP wort from the boil and added water to cool it.  Then I took 2 TBSP of yeast slurry from the jarrylo ale that I saved and shook it several times in a jar.  It started to wake up and produce CO2 I think.  Then I aerated with the immersion blender.  Gravity was 1.06.

4/19/2016:  harvested some yeast from the cap.

4/21/2016:  Knocked the yeast cap down a bit.  Can't get an accurate read on the gravity.  It is in the range of 1.018-1.024 or so at this point.  Had a small blowout.  Lid is unscrewed to help with this.

4/23/2016:  gravity is about 1.012.  Added dry hop of:
.75 oz amarillo
.5 oz cascade
.25 oz falconers flight
in a moslin bag with a shot glass to weigh it down.  Should have used a heavier shot glass...bag keeps floating to the top, much to my dismay.

4/26/2016:  final gravity going into the keg was about 1.013.  Purged the keg, put it in a warm spot to encourage the yeast to finish any remaining work.

4/27/2016:  put on gas for 12 hours at about 40psi.  Seems to have worked pretty well.  In retrospect it makes sense...if you force carb a 5 gallon keg for 24 hours @ 30+ psi, then force carbing a keg with half the volume for half the time should work...

4/29/2016:  first tasting.  Carbonation is just about perfect.  Serving at about 10 psi.  It's good, but I think another well in the keg will help it.  Good aroma, decent flavor.  A little more bitter than I would have liked.
A pour in the garden

5/10/2016:  had it at room temperature for about a week while on vacation.

5/27/2016:  beer has dropped quite clear, though there is still a bit of haze.  Still a slightly toasty, bready flavor, but it is not as obvious anymore.  Soft mouthfeel, slight carbonic bite.  Head sticks around for a while.  Hops flavor has fallen away a bit, but it is still big.  The early bitterness has softened slightly.  Still has a good, fruity citrus flavor with maybe a touch of resin and pine.  Light enough to be a freshing summer drink.  I would change up the hops a bit in the future, but I am pleased with the results.
Really has a nice color

5/31/2016: I think the "toasty" flavor is gone...given that the beer has dropped quite clear, maybe it is a yeasty flavor I taste.  In any case, in typical fashion, the last few glasses taste the best.  Very "juicy" at this point.  

Got very clear towards the end
6/5/2016: keg kicked, roughly 240oz served.  Once that yeasty flavor went away this might have turned into the beer I've enjoyed the most...that I've made anyways. 

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