Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Sorry, that's the one I meant to quote!

 

Oswego please!

 

Bad move. Your'e going to have a line of 100 angry hop heads on your lawn tomorrow morning.

 

Lol, hey never too early to start the hype train!

 

They'll have it on carb this week, and will be doing growler fills of it then.

 

The ram will?

 

I believe he meant that Windmill would have their milkshake on, not Ram.

 

I think he's referring to Windmill

 

Was at Forbidden Root again yesterday. Have to say that Snooze Juice on tap is real real great. Becoming a Sunday tradition for me to go there, drink a few Snooze Juices and eat a burger. Really wish Snooze Juice was bottled or canned.

 

Had 3 of these over the weekend. It's a really good brew, but if you're looking for the milkshake style NE IPA, it probably isn't for you. Very fruity on the nose, with tropical fruit and citrus flavor throughout. I'd recommend it if you can get your hands on some

 

Today per Hubbard's Cave:

The next Fresh IIPA bottling day is set - 04.20. For this batch, because our centrifuge helps us separate liquids from hop matter, we will be increasing our Dryhop rates to give people the most aromatic and hop forward flavor experience possible. This will be a test to see the limits of what's possible and hopefully set a new standard for our ultra hoppy beers. Don't worry, we will not take out all of the haze. Bottles will be available in our taproom that Thursday and we will try to distribute to as many accounts by Friday 04.21.

***Hops shown in order of flavor additions. Citra is the highest amount***
Hops list: Columbus, Centennial, 7C's, Citra

 

Agreed. The Simcoe one wasn't bad, it was just Simcoe. Citra on the other hand...wow.

 

If you guys could buy this and let me know that would be great. He has had so many misses with this line I don't buy anymore!

 

I'm happy to tell you what to think, but if you wanted to taste it for yourself without a full bomber investment you could also grab a draft at the taproom, which I've heard is really nice and has fairly cheap prices. That's my plan anyways. If I'm blown away I'll grab bottles too, but at the very least it'll get me over to the new facility to check it out.

 

I live downtown.. really wish UA was closer.. so I'll wait for he reports!

 

Happy to answer these questions without giving too much away

1) No, it does not have grape juice in it. The grape juice addition was a happy accident on the first batch. We brewed it on Thursday and by the time we came in on Monday morning, active fermentation was wrapped up. "New Era" IPAs require dry hop additions during active fermentation to achieve biotransformation (haze is a byproduct). I needed a fermentable to kick the fermentation back up. On-hand, I had honey and Niagara grape juice. I loved what that grape juice has done in another beer of ours, so I went with it. This latest batch*, I was able to better time the first dry hop addition so that no extra fermentable were needed. I also played with the hop profile to include some that I have not previously used in these types of beers. (Ekuanot powder, Grungeist, Amarillo)
2) London Ale III. We have also tried Conan and S-04. For me, LAIII was the clear winner. Based on my readings, not all yeasts are created equal when it comes to biotransformation. LAIII gave us the best results in that dept (of the 3 we tried). BioTrans to me is not necessarily about creating haze, it's about how the yeast process the linalool, citral, myrcene, etc. in the hops. This is all pretty new science to me...and very exciting.
3) I'm fairly conservative with the hop schedule. I'm more interested in getting the most out of what I add with process. I haven't gone over 3#/bbl on the dry hop yet. Kettle additions are 90/10 (WP/BOIL). I know that a lot of people are forgoing the 60min addition all together, but I'm still holding on that it is a different type of bitterness...and one that I welcome a bit of in these beers.
4) See answer #1. Doing 2 additions. 1 during active and 1 after ferm. I'm still playing with the ratios/types of hops in each of these stages. Right now, I'm splitting the hop profile at 30% 1st, 70% 2nd.
5) I've been working at the 2/1 ratio chloride/sulfate. Haven't gone over 100ppm chloride yet. There's more work to do on my end re: this aspect. I'm happy with the direction it's going...but I'm not at my final profile yet.

Overall, my thoughts on the style are continuing to evolve a bit. At first, I thought that these beers should be a subset of the IPA/PA category. Now, I'm starting to wonder if a whole new category is warranted. Especially for examples like Trill, OH, TH, etc. I can tell you that brewing them is completely different than a traditional IPA (sometimes frustratingly so). Anyhoo, the journey is and continues to be a blast. It's fucking great to do shit in the process that goes against decades of book knowledge and convention. Even better to see Randy get on board with the "new ways". Never thought I would be sharing that moment with someone as well versed as him.

*Tasting notes on new Snu Snu (just tapped today)

First, a couple things I should point out about these beers (at least mine). They fucking change. They change from day to day. They are not their best on day one. I would say the sweet spot is anywhere between weeks 2-3. The hops mellow out a bit and the sweet roundness takes hold and helps sell the "juice" aspect that I desire.

Now, back to Snu...
Aroma is not immediately identifiable. It's on the edge of pineapple and fresh grass. Sounds weird but I'm ok with not having them all smell like straight citrus. It's probably a 6/10 on intensity. Not surprising based on my dosing quantities.

This batch has a bit more body (by design). I've been having issues with the yeast attenuating past the expected range. I desire a bit more body and residual sweetness. I would say that this batch delivers on that.

Flavor is soft, sweet (not too sweet) and pleasantly tropical. It could use a bit more brightness/juicelike acidity to help push the flavors in one direction.

Overall, I would say it's definitely better than batch 1. Changes for next time will be: re-arranging/proportioning of the hop profile. I like a beer to have a point of view...this medley is a bit too vague for me.

Until next time....

BJ

 

Appreciate the detailed write up. I like Snooze Juice, a lot. That's all.

 

Love posts like these, thanks for writing that up. Same thing happened to me homebrewing with LAIII for the style. Now I'm sitting ~36 hours before adding the fermentation hop addition. Love all the insights here.

 

I'm out when we start talking about yeast pooping in my beer.