Monday 26 May 2014

West Coast IPA Revisited

I've been meaning to revisit my first ever all grain brew for a while, to see if what I'd learned since would result in a more accomplished end product. That first attempt did turn out quite well, but for me, lacked the aroma I was looking for. Aroma is something I've worked hard on in recent brews, trying to figure out the right process, temperatures and quantities required to impart as much hop aroma as possible. The second anniversary of that first ever brew seemed like a good excuse to finally have another go at it. The recipe was adjusted in several ways, some unintentional (still learning!):

  • Base malt used was Golden Promise rather than Maris Otter
  • 10 minute hop addition was Centennial instead of Cascade
  • OG was lower (a mistake on my part when weighing the grains)
  • Post boil hops were used, with wort recirculated at 80C through a Blichmann Hop Rocket
  • Dry hops were pellets at a higher quantity 
  • In terms of process, dry hops were added to primary towards the end of fermentation and allowed to sit at 19C for two days (ambient room temperature) before the beer was cooled (outside in the garage) 

The full recipe can be found below. The OG was 1.064. An FV sample taken yesterday was very encouraging and the beer will be packaged in the next couple of days. Time will tell if it turns out better than my first attempt!


Update: I entered this beer into the London and South East Craft Brewing Competition, the one in which the original brew took bronze in category two years ago. It did well and scooped silver in category this time around. The Crystal gave it a nice amber hue, much like Green Flash's version. The Citra and Cascade dry hop worked really well and there's lots of hop flavour too. The sweetness from the Crystal malt plays very well with the 100+ IBUs of bitterness. All in all, a good result.


Sunday 18 May 2014

Mash Hopping

Hops can be added at several stages during the brewing process - in the mash tun, in the kettle pre-boil (first wort hopping), during the boil, at flameout, steeping post flameout (or recirculating through a hop back) and during secondary fermentation (dry hopping). Of course, you can also add more at dispense via a randall or hop rocket. The first of these, mash hopping, is something I'd only heard of recently and it got me thinking about the science behind it. 

The mash usually occurs at somewhere between 63 and 70 degrees celcius, depending on the style and the amount of fermentables the brewer wishes to extract. Sparging usually occurs at a slightly higher temperature, say around 74 to 78 degrees celcius. All of these are below the temperature isomerization occurs, that being around 80 degrees celcius. So mash hopping will add little to no bitterness but could potentially add flavour and aroma - in a way a replacement for steeping or dry hopping in that the effects are similar.

A twitter thread on this subject yielded mixed reviews as to the benefits of mash hopping. Some, like me, seemed cynical whereas others thought it was beneficial. I suppose the only real way of determining the benefits would be to run a side-by-side test, perhaps brewing the same beer twice with and without mash hopping. In an article published in BYO magazine, author Chris Colby did just that, with positive results.

Are any commercial breweries out there mash hopping? Have any home brewers tried it and to what effect? I'd welcome any feedback on the subject and might just give it a try next time I'm brewing a beer where maximum hop flavour and aroma is called for.