Brew Day Question

Here is what I do for beers that require dry hopping. Ferment in primary for 2 weeks, you could do samples and see when its done fermenting and then give it a few more days rest for clean up but I find that two weeks is a pretty safe time in the primary. I then transfer to keg and dry hop for 1 week in keg at 30 PSi. After 1 week I remove hop bag from keg, purge with CO2, and then tap it, it usually takes less than a week to be properly carbonated.

I'm actually tapping my Pale Ale I brewed three weeks ago tonight! Looking forward to this one.

 

1. A 1 liter starter should be good with an OG of 1.052
2. The only difference in adding DME early vs late will be the final color of the beer...if you want a lighter color beer/SRM, add it closer to flameout
3. Go with around day 3 for your biotransformation dry hopping
4. No need to secondary this beer...dry hop in the primary for biotransformation and keg hop for you other dry hop addition and you'll be fine

Hopefully your steeping grains include some flaked oats and maybe some wheat to get the juicy suspension that you're looking for.

 

A 1L starter is probably enough, but to be sure plug it into a pitch rate calculator. I like this one:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

I've done a NEIPA that was double dry hopped. For the 1st round I added at day 4, wait until fermentation slows down. I would dry hop 2nd round in the keg. You don't want to secondary a NEIPA.

Are you able to do full 5.5 gal boil? If so, I see no reason not to add all your extract. For a partial boil, might be best to not add all at the beginning.

 

Use some wheat extract if you can't do a mini mash using wheat and/or oats.

 

“My target OG is 1.052 using wyeast 1318 London ale III.” Just an editorial comment that an OG of 1,052 is more appropriate for a Pale Ale vs. an IPA. I am not specifically suggesting that you increase your OG; just pointing this out.

“Will a 1 liter starter be big enough for this batch?” The yeast vendor (Wyeast) would instruct you that there is a sufficient amount of yeast cells in an Activator Smack-pack to properly ferment a moderate gravity ale (e.g., 1.052 in this instance). I personally agree with Wyeast here but others do not. It is entirely your decision here whether to make a starter. If you do decide to make a starter, a 1 liter starter is pretty small unless you are using a stir-plate. You will obtain more yeast propagation via 2 liter yeast starter.

“What temps did this best ferment at to accent the NEIPA flavors?” I have seen folks opine that 1318 produces good flavors (esters) if the temperature of the liquid is in the low 70’s (e.g., 72-73 degrees F).

Using 6lbs of extra light dme, should I put it all in for the 60 minute boil or partial? (please explain)” It depends on whether your goal is to achieve a very light colored beer or not. By adding some of the DME later in the boil (e.g., the last 15 minutes of boil) your resulting beer will be lighter in color. It is your choice here since this is an aesthetics issue.

“adding first round of dry hopping during fermentation (after 70% done?) what day would be best for this?” There really is no way anybody could accurately answer this question. If you assume that you will reach the final gravity after 6 days then maybe at day 4 you will be around this stage?

“I will be kegging this beer. So should I rack to secondary and let it sit there for 10-14 days and do the dry hop there in the last 4 days? or should I go straight from primary to keg and dry hop in keg?” I would suggest that you have two options here: dry hop in the primary once fermentation is complete (e.g., no more bubbling through the air-lock) or dry hop in the keg. Either way will ‘work’. Do not conduct a secondary here.

“I really want that "Juice bomb" beer so I want to preform the proper steps to achieve this.” Well, I hate to be a Debbie Downer here but I am uncertain whether you will optimize the “Juice bomb” aspect via an all extract brew. Most of the commercially brewed ‘NE’ IPAs have something ‘extra’ beyond barley malt. Some use wheat malt, others use oat malt, while others will use flaked grains like flaked wheat, flaked oats,…

I am pretty sure that you can brew a tasty, hoppy (hop flavor/aroma) beer solely using extract but I am not 100% certain that you can fully replicate the aspect of “Juice bomb” without using some grains other than barley malt.

Maybe just give this a shot and report back your thoughts?

Edit: @SFACRKnight made a good suggestion: use some wheat DME along with your extra light DME. Maybe 3 lbs. Extra Light DME and 3 lbs. Wheat DME would be the trick?

Best of luck.

Cheers!

 

Don't guess, use this calculator (and be aware how the age of your "new" yeast effects everything:http://yeastcalculator.com/

This should occur about 3-4 days after fermentation starts. Take a gravity reading and if it's anything close, then go ahead and add dry hops. Keep good notes and you'll develop a feel for this for each strain of yeast you use.

Your keg is ideal for secondary/dry-hopping. Use something like a nylon paint strainer bag. Expect some hop debris to find it's way to the bottom of keg, so give it time to clear and be prepared to pour off some astringency-tasting beer initially.

 

Since those grains really should be mashed are you concerned about just steeping them? Maybe there will be residual starch in the beer (food for unwanted microorganisms)?

Cheers!

 

Yeah...you could just steep them as usual and you'd get some of the oat/wheat effect in the beer, but doing a mini-mash would be best. @TooHopTooHandle ...you can do a mini-mash by simply steeping for 60 minutes at around 150-153 instead of for 20-30 minutes as usual with an extract batch. I would suggest doing it BIAB style since its really nothing more than buying a $6-$7 BIAB bag and following your extract recipe for everything else. http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewmaster-filter-bag-214-214 http://homebrewacademy.com/biab-bag-review/

 

Ideally, primary hops should have 5-7 days of contact. So if added on day 3-5, total primary should be between 8-12 days.

 

Effectively the same thing. You can reuse the biab bag while the muslin bag is a one use bag.

Cheers!

 

The Wheat DME is produced from a combination of Wheat Malt and Barley Malt. The Wheat Malt is high(er) in proteins. You want these increased proteins for your 'NE' stlyle IPA to encourage the qualities of a soft mouthfeel and "juice bomb".

This is entirely your choice. The Flaked Oats will also increase the softness of the mouthfeel. It could be argued that if you are using the Wheat DME the Flaked Oats is 'superfluous'. But you could also argue that 'more' of this soft mouthfeel is 'better'. No real right or wrong decision here.

Brewing just with DME (Wheat DME and Extra Light DME) would be a simpler brew since you wouldn't need to conduct a mini-mash.

One thing to keep in mind is that Flaked Oats do not have the ability to self convert (insufficient diastatic power) so you will need to add an equal amount of malt (e.g., pale malt or wheat malt) for the mini-mash to 'work'.

Cheers!