Re-brewing an IPA w/ what we have..

Blending it would be a much better option

make a couple gallons of beer with some specialty malts and hopped along the same lines as your original. once blended together you should give it another round of dry hops

 

Re-boiling would remove any alcohol you have in your hop water IPA (though it sounds like there might not be any), so if you go that route you would want to use a full recipe's worth of DME. At that point you might as well start from scratch since the boil would also drive off a lot of the hop aromatics you already have in there. I also have never boiled carbonated beer, but I would guess there would be significant foaming to deal with.

As for extract vs. all grain, I would recommend going with extract on this batch. There were a lot of unanswered questions in the previous thread (linked below for others), and until you can confidently address them you will likely have better results brewing with extract. It may be worth seeking out an experienced brewer in your area to shadow for a brew day to get a better foundation on the all grain process before going that route again.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ag-ipa-tastes-like-hop-water-why.364345/

And also, a lack of character grains won't account for the issues you described in the previous thread. My standard west coast IPA grain bill is 90% us two row and 10% white wheat, neither of which impart much character.

 

Since nobody really knows what you did the first time around, and since you want to know how to fix it and/or what to do next, it would really help if you would revisit the other thread and answer all the unanswered questions.

 

Dump it and brew a few extract beers with steeped specialty malts while you read up on how to properly brew all grain. Extract can make great beers.

 

Thanks. I posted another response over there. Bottom line... given the volumes, amounts, and strike water temperature you used, you should not have got a fermentable wort, let alone one that measured 1.076 OG in 5 gallons. What was your gravity reading at kegging?

 

I know it's tough to swallow the loss of 15# of grains and 15oz of hops but I think you need to chalk this up as a lesson learned. Choke down the hop water or dump it. I would not blend this with anything else.

 

For the last time: your mistakes with the 'hop water' batch are too numerous to list again here. Your choice of grain is NOT one of them. The fact that you think such a thing as 'IPA grains' exist is indicative of one of two things: either a) you're a troll or b) you have a LOT to learn. Many people have taken time trying to get more details and explain to you why what you did could never make 'good' beer and yet? Here you are still *saying* your problem was that you only used pale malt. It was not.

Throw the last batch away, and stick to brewing with extract until you've had a chance to read up and/or have someone who knows what they're doing show you first-hand how it's done.

Mashing isn't the same as steeping. There is a lot of science to mashing (thermodynamics!). To do it right, you NEED TO KNOW the total weight of your grain, the TEMPERATURE of that grain before the water is added, and the thermal mass of your mash tun. IF you're using a cooler and you pre-heat it with hot water, you can essentially ignore the thermal mass. Use between 1 and 2 qts of water per pound of grain. No more. No less. The temperature of the water that you add is ENTIRELY DEPENDENT upon the weight and temperature of your grain and the volume of water you intend to add (eg. The water needs to be hotter if you're only adding 1 qt per pound than it would be if you were adding 2 qts per pound, to arrive at the same temperature - all else being equal).

Going to end this here for now and switch over to my laptop. Will add more momentarily

 

So, let's look at some examples:

In the other thread, you mention mashing 15 lbs of grain w/ 3 gallons of water (0.8 qt/lb). If the water was 155 *before* you added it to the grain, your mash temp would have been ~ 138F *if* you started with grain at room temp (70F). If the grain is stored somewhere colder than that (as mine is, in an unheated garage)? This time of year, it's not uncommon for my grain temp to be ~ 40F. In a case like that? Your mash temp would only be 132F. At that temperature, you are effectively doing an hour-long protein rest with little to no amylase activity (meaning you aren't converting starches to fermentable sugars - the primary goal of mashing)! This is going to leave you with a largely unfermentable wort.

Even though everything you wrote in the other thread points to the contrary - let's say 155F was your *mash* temp and not your strike water temp. What about all of that dilution you were doing?

As I mentioned in the other thread - when you say 'collected as much as possible and added 2.5 gallons of water bringing volume up to 5.5 gallons'... there's *no way on earth* you got all 3 gallons back in runoff, because ~ 1.8 is absorbed by your 15 lbs of grain. This kind of leads me to think that you didn't actually measure the volume you collected before diluting it. So, the real question is: Did you measure the 2.5 gallons and not the total volume? Or did you dilute to 5.5 gal (which would have taken more like 3.7 gallons of additional water)? The answer to this question is important to know, but also not - because both are less than ideal. Why didn't you just use that water to sparge the grain and boost your efficiency?

Anyway.... let's say you took your runoff and diluted to 5.5 gallons (since you claim you added even more water to get your final volume there post-boil anyway). Here's how that dilution plays out:

With 65% efficiency (ballpark avg for no-sparge brewing), the best you could hope to get from your mash is 1.8 gallons of wort at ~ 1.20.

When you dilute 1.8 gal of that wort to 5.5 gallons with water, your gravity would be no more than ~ 1.066 (not 1.076).

Even so... 1.066 is not a 'weak' wort by any stretch and *if* your mash temp was 155F, you should get something that tastes like beer, not water.

But then... there's your HOPS. Seriously? 5 oz of Galaxy boiled for 60 min... in a 5 gallon batch?? Taking a mid-point for the alpha acid range of 11 - 16% - if we assume yours were 13% and we factor in NONE of your other additions... your beer is ~ **250 - 270 IBU.** (depending on whether you used whole hops or pellets) Add your 30 min addition (another ounce of galaxy?) and you're at 300 IBU.

I might has well have skipped EVERYTHING about mashing and gone over the hops first, but - this can't be for real.

What would I do differently to make it better?

Take the same 15 lb of pale malt.
Mash it with 5 gallons of water at ~ 170F (+/- a few degrees depending on your actual grain temp. If your grain is 70F, go with 167) to yield mash temp of 155F for one hour.
Recirculate until clear
Start the runoff to kettle and sparge with enough water at ~ 175 to collect 6.5 gallons of wort with a pre-boil gravity of ~ 1.054
Drop your bittering charge (the 60 min addition) to ONE ounce of Galaxy.
Leave the others as they are, if you like. I'd probably tweak them further, but none are as wholly unreasonable (or wasteful) as your original 60 min addition.

Download some free tools (promash, beersmith, etc) and learn how to use them to help with your calculations and recipe design - or stick to kits in the meantime.

 

The good news here is that you can't even approach those IBU levels using standard processes. So, even though I'm beginning to doubt that this batch ever happened as described (or maybe at all), hopping levels are not anywhere near my main concern with what I've read.

I don't think promash and beersmith are free. At least not after some trial period. BrewCipher is free. And some web-based standalone calculators are free also. However, as much as I'd like the OP to download BrewCipher, I'd much rather he read "How to Brew" first.

 

Yeah, I know... practically speaking, somewhere around 100 IBU has always been the 'bitterness ceiling'. Nevertheless, that's a hell of a lot of high alpha hops in such a small batch @ 60 min. Even if the rules fall apart black hole/event horizon-style... I still can't imagine it tasting particularly good even if everything else WAS done correctly.

Promash's trial version has no time limit and all features are available. The only limitation is that you can only save 3 recipes. I think it was $15 for the full version. Totally with you on howtobrew, though.

 

I would cut my losses.

 

Don't throw good money after bad. Dump the first batch, and chalk it up to a lesson learned.

I strongly agree with others who have suggested you (1) Read the relevant chapters of How to Brew, (2) try a few extract + specialty-grain batches first, and (3) possibly get a lesson from an established brewer. There is a lot to learn in homebrewing, and you will learn a good chunk of it by doing a few extract + specialty-grain batches.

Cheers!

 

<silent tribute to the fallen>

 

So your IPA tasted like hop water and so did your Belgian? Sounds like you need to relook at your processes. I would go extract until you are comfortable and able to brew good beer then go back to all grain.

Also, I'll add one of my favorite IPAs was just two row and hops and it tasted great.

 

All you need is brewchiper. I found it to be easier, more Robust and more accurate. I like how it has everything from recipe design to water, yeast, brew day log etc all on the same file. Not to be a kiss ass but it's a great resource and it's free. I appreciate the work you did on it. I dig it. Thanks!

Cheers!

 

My opinion is him and his buddies wanted to brew trillium ipa's with no experience. Taint as easy as just throwing a ton of hops in water.

 

Your assumption is likely very astute. I see his posts on the Trillium threads in the New England forum all the time. I wish him the best but may need to lower expectations and strap in for some serious research and trial & error experience.