Little chief

Haven't met Chad either, but it seems that he's keeping to the standards set by Tony and Chris. I need to get ahold of some Berryessa beers now that I think of it.

 

I'd be happy to post when I know who gets the sour kegs this time around if anyone is interested

 

I get that. I don't want a second Little Chief in a session either, but I have a condition against drinking the same beer back to back.

Little Chief is a recipe I scaled down from Chris' Big Chief one-off, and when I made it the first time in 2011 it clocked in at around 80 BUs and though people told me it was perfect, it had a prickly bitterness for a while that prevented me from wanting a second. I don't know the finishing gravity on this batch, as I was too freaked out by running a brewery to keep my notes apparently. I assume around 1 Plato.

I drug the BUs down to 60 on this second batch, upped the DextraPils and added Crystal Wheat (50-60L), because I too think all SIPAs lack body and mouthfeel, or they for some reason seem to sacrifice hoppiness for a good mouthfeel, but still nowhere near an IPA. Lots of them are in fact great Pale Ales in my opinion. This batch came out less bitter, but still not enough mouthfeel. Finished at 1.5 Plato.

So now I just brewed it again, doubled the DextraPils, added 20 pounds of C-40 and mashed at 157. I used Warrior pellets for first wort bittering, where I had used Warrior kettle extract for the first two batches. Great Western was out of their experimental Crystal Wheat, so I used Thomas Fawcett Crystal Wheat, which was a bit darker, and with the additional crystal, it looks a bit closer to the color of a proper IPA in my opinion, where I think Little Chief looks like MGD. It's dry hopping, along with the second batch of Vaquero, and I expect it to finish out at 2-2.5 Plato.

I want a low alcohol hoppy beer too, and I have yet to find one that is truly a "Yes, I'd like another one", but I'm trying to get Little Chief there. Right now I consider it more of a downshifter than truly sessionable. Just too hoppy.

Bit of a long winded reply...Thanks?

Ein Prosit!