Incidental/Anecdotal hoppy finding...

So, I have been a huge fan of brewing the good ole "NE IPA" when I do have a hankering for some hop juice on tap here at the house. I have pretty much settled on a technique for these beers. All late hopped in the kettle...sometimes no hops till FO with varying FO temperature hop stands. This along with dry hop rates in the 5-9 oz range for a 5 gallon batch has given me everything I would want in a "NEIPA", plus water profile, plus c02 forced racking to keg, plus ....(everything else ever mentioned in that other NEIPA thread).

Recently I organized a friendly home-brew contest between the 4 or 5 people I know that brew in my small town. We decided to go with BJCP style American IPA for this particular contest. Everyone brews their best example of IPA according to the style guide. The beers are up for judgement next monday, by mostly common folk beer drinkers in the area (cicerones and BJCP judges don't exist where I live).

So when I started writing my recipe for this contest I kind of went a little bit old school, a little bit new school....okay maybe mostly new school. But was going for a nice clear/slightly hazy IPA as the style guides told me too, instead of these gravy boat IPA's that are all the talk right now. I'm gonna drop my recipe here.... you guys feel free to critique my recipe and I will continue to update this, as the beer is on tap....

GRIST
85% Pale malt
7.1% oats
3.5% cane sugar
2.25% cara vienne
1.7% honey malt

12 gallon batch split between 1272 yeast and my brother Trois.
60 minute boil.
Whirlfloc tab added at 15 minutes with the IC.

HOPS
2 oz Columbus at 10 minutes
1 oz citra 10 minutes
1 oz mosaic 10 minutes
1 oz chinook 10 minutes
1 oz citra 5 minutes
1 oz mosaic 5 minutes
1 oz chinook 5 minutes
FO-(170F) 1.65oz Citra, 1.5oz Mosaic, 1.6 oz Chinook
let the FO hops sit for 32 minutes, temp dropped from 170 to 150 during that stand.

Fermented the 1272 batch at 65-67F ramping up to 70F towards the end

Dry hopped the 1272 carboy with 1oz citra, 1oz mosaic, .5oz mosaic, .5oz columbus 9 days after primary fermentation, for a duration of 4-5 days. Then cold crashed the beer for a total of 4 days to get the hops to drop out, also added gelatin once the beer was nice and cold less than 24 hours in to help drop yeast out before the upcoming keg transfer and 2nd dry hop dose. Racked the beer to a keg via CO2 racking cane with 1.5oz of citra and 1.5 oz mosaic in a muslin bag, with sterilized marbles dangling from mint-free dental floss secured outside the keg to the keychain on the PRV. I sampled the beer that day to get a FG reading, and it tasted awesome. Great bitterness, juiciness, and some nice subtle dank notes from the chinook/columbus.

I let the hops in the muslin bag dangle in the keg for 4-5 days at 65F in the keg on 10 psi(Ill go higher next time @jbakajust1 ). Went to remove the hop bag on the day I was ready to keg the beer.... and of course the dental floss broke.... so the hops splashed in and dropped to the bottom of the keg..... So I rigged up a dual ball lock transfer hose, and racked the beer from the hop bag keg to a clean sanitized keg via co2. Tasted the beer when I racked to the other keg... freaking sweet... fantastic aroma and flavor.... solid bitterness. The promise is there.....

So this beer has only been in the keg for 8 days.... but I sampled it today, and it is like a shell of its former self. The bitterness has dropped off a cliff, the aroma is muted and surprisingly hard to find considering the hop schedule. I'm in utter disbelief. Unbelievably dissapointed in this beer.... but the clarity is really starting to come around!!

This beer has really outlined why I personally really enjoy "NE" style hoppy beers. They have huge aromatics that are NOT similarly attainable in a beer that is clear. The aroma drops off very slowly also with certain yeast strains that refuse to flocc out even when stored cold for months and months. The mouthfeel of these "NE" beers is one of the big allures, and thats another thing I love about them. Full, soft, smooth, and almost velvety.

Maybe my palate was just a bit off today, but I can remember noticing this aromatic hop drop, back in the day when I used to brew all my hoppy beers with 001 as well.

This beer has really just piqued my interest more into these hazy beers, and they're magic.

Cheers

Pat

 

@ryane I had a very full keg that I dry hopped in and added marbles so the Muslin bag would be fully submersed.

In hindsight I should have added more that 10psi. I've heard people have good results with 20-25 psi.