Ideas for an IPA experiment?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by parris, Jul 23, 2012.

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  1. parris

    parris Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2010 Massachusetts
    Trader

    Just had an almost great brew day. Was planning on brewing a single hop (bursted) citra IIPA, the LHBS didn't have citra, so I got warrior. Whatever, I just wanted to see what it would taste like, a single citra iipa wouldn't probably be as good a warrior.

    I was ahead of schedule, was looking like I was going to have a 4 hour brew day, then my propane ran out. No biggie, I can refill down the street, my mash will have to mash a bit longer.

    Finally, done, flameout, down to 75 degrees, sit down to eat while the wort chiller coil works on its last 5 degrees. When I'm done eating I notice the wort chill had sprung a leak, my 5.25 gallons of wort has now filled to about 7. Aaw man.

    Nothing I can do I guess, unless I want to reboil and chill, but it's too late in the evening. So I check the OG, it's 1.055, I guess I have a plain ole' IPA instead of an imperial.

    Pour as much into my fermenter bucket that I think is safe to not have a blow out, and still have a gallon to 1.5 gallon left. I put it in a separate 2 gallon bucket.

    Does anybody have any ideas of something "experimental" I can do with the 1.5 gallons of warrior hopped IPA? I have some oak cubes, and will add those if I can't think of something else.

    tl;dr: I have 1.5 gallons of fermenting IPA that I'd like to do something interesting with, the riskier, the better.
     
    #1 parris, Jul 23, 2012
  2. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Soak the oak cubes in whiskey and strawberry extract...kind of like a poor mans Brewdog Zephyr! Or consider adding some real fruit for better flavor and an ABV boost or any of the various types of sugars available for that same ABV boost.
     
    #2 koopa, Jul 23, 2012
    parris likes this.
  3. parris

    parris Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2010 Massachusetts
    Trader

    Hm... this could actually be really fun, especially if I can get the ABV really high with something like molasses.
     
    #3 parris, Jul 23, 2012
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  4. parris

    parris Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2010 Massachusetts
    Trader

    FWIW: I used Safale US-05
     
    #4 parris, Jul 23, 2012
  5. chiefydawg

    chiefydawg Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2007 Ohio

    Citrus zest is something that has seemed to emerge a bit lately; might be worth a try. Fruit, as mentioned previously, is safe and fun (DFH Aprihop is both fruity and hoppy). Berries are in season in Ohio at least. At any rate have fun - its free beer now!
     
    #5 chiefydawg, Jul 23, 2012
  6. quirkzoo

    quirkzoo Initiate (0) Jul 7, 2011 Colorado

    Add Mt. Dew (or some other extremely sugary beverage)

    http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/review-of-mt-brew-mountain-dew-beer.5309/

    edit: of course there is always the standard "hit it with Brett" answer. Though in this case, you might get something unique. Certain strains of brett can metabolize some of the compounds in hops so if you have the patience to age it you will get some very unique compounds. That is one of the main thoughts behind this beer:

    http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25191/76959
     
    #6 quirkzoo, Jul 23, 2012
  7. parris

    parris Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2010 Massachusetts
    Trader

    I added 3oz of 13% Warrior at 20 mins, do you think the hops would jive with the wild yeast?

    Mt. Dew sounds interesting. Maybe more so than oak + strawberry + whiskey. F - it, what do I have to lose. I wonder if there's a better soda to go with the citrusy hoppy goodness of the Det
     
    #7 parris, Jul 23, 2012
  8. quirkzoo

    quirkzoo Initiate (0) Jul 7, 2011 Colorado

    I am no expert on wild yeast but my understanding is that hops inhibit proper function of bacteria like lacto which is why traditional lambics use aged hops with low AA%. I have heard anywhere from 8-20 IBUs is where lacto can no longer work but I think it depends on the strain of lacto. If the culture you add has lacto in it, it is unlikely that you will get a sour IPA (which is probably a good thing). Brettanomyces has no problem with hops and will happily munch all over the compounds left behind by the hops.
     
    #8 quirkzoo, Jul 23, 2012
  9. MaxSpang

    MaxSpang Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2011 Ohio
    Trader

    Add fruit. That's usually what I do what I have extra. I just threw in some lemon zest to an extra 3 gallons of Hefeweizen I made.
     
    #9 MaxSpang, Jul 24, 2012
  10. APreacher

    APreacher Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2012 California

    Fruit, herbs, sky's the limit! If you are using fresh... Soak in booze or freeze to kill bacteria.
    If adding secondary yeast/bacteria hold off on adding any acidic properties until the yeast has fermented out.
     
    #10 APreacher, Jul 24, 2012
  11. BigCheese

    BigCheese Initiate (0) Jul 4, 2009 Massachusetts

    Mountain dew sounds cool, I'd consider doing something really funky like bacon, curry powder, candy, coconut.
     
    #11 BigCheese, Jul 25, 2012
  12. cmmcdonn

    cmmcdonn Initiate (0) Jun 21, 2009 Virginia

    I was at the flying dog brewery tour and I saw that they had bottles of a Chocolate IPA (which will not be distributed in the US unfortunately). Chocolate cherry or chocolate mango ipa sounds interesting.
     
    #12 cmmcdonn, Jul 25, 2012
  13. lucas1801

    lucas1801 Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2012 Massachusetts

    So you are saying you added straight tap water(not boiled) to your IPA and all the answers are to add fruits and spices? I say just ferment it out and after primary if it is tasting fine, dry hop with your hop/hops of choice and move on. Fruit flavors in an IPA should come from hop selection/use, chocolate is a mistery to me must be a cincinatti chilli reference or something.
     
    #13 lucas1801, Jul 25, 2012
  14. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    The water part is not the most relevant part, although its the reason why the resulting wort was diluted, and the reason he has an extra 1.5 gallons. What he is really asking for is advice on what type of experimental treatment he can do with the 1.5 gallons. That's why people are recommending adding spices, fruits, oak, sugars, etc. If he simply wanted to hop it, he wouldn't have asked for creative ways to experiment with it.
     
    #14 koopa, Jul 25, 2012
  15. parris

    parris Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2010 Massachusetts
    Trader

    I split the extra into two growlers, one with 1/8 oz indian coriander, one with 1/8 oz med toast oak cubes that had been soaked in honey flavored whiskey. I would have done the mountain dew, but I didn't have a can handy while racking.

    I'll post back, regardless if people care.
     
    #15 parris, Jul 29, 2012
  16. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    Pour some Simply Lemonade in there. It'll blend well, and will dry the beer out too, that US05 will eat that stuff alive.

    I bet it would be tasty.. I'd dry hop it with some other hop down the road, and maybe some zest if you think the hydro sample needs some amp'd up flavors.
     
    #16 FATC1TY, Jul 29, 2012
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