Off The Topper

I've only used the hopshot once. I had a really harsh astringent bitterness that I've never had before, but I feel it was more of a problem with my pH then anything else. I have really hard carbonic water and I didn't make any pH adjustments. I'm actually going to brew the beer over again this weekend, including the hopshot, but make pH adjustments. So we'll see how it goes. I think @OldSock uses hopshots for most of his IPAs.

 

Another vote in the camp of Hopshot works great. I once did a hopshot only in the boil beer (Hopshot and amarillo hopshot) followed by dry hopping, that surprisingly was quite tasty. I too find it cuts down on vegetal and hop derived astringency in the beer as opposed to large bittering additions of whole or pellet hops.

 

Google "The Yeastbay" and go to their site to purchase the yeast. You can also purchase the Vermont Ale Yeast from GigaYeast. Both work well.

Edit. I see @FATC1TY already replied.

 

Curious as to where you found strain specific extract? I've done a small amount of searching in the past and didn't come across any. Well actually, if memory serves me correctly, I believe I might have found some on a UK website that came in huge 1L bulk amounts.

 

I'd be interested in trying that, and then again using "real" hops as the 60 min addition - most likely my homegrown Newport. I do wonder what the zero minute addition of "brun leger" is, and what it does.

 

The brun leger is sugar to up the gravity. I am curious why they did not go with blanc seeing the brun is supposed to give toffee notes.

 

They used to have it available from Northern Brewer, but haven't seen it since the Amarillo shortage.

 

OK thanks I'll check again after this seasons hop crop comes out.

 

Could be the pH, or it could be that you are not really getting the full use of your AA% and getting the IBU's you calculate for your normal bittering addition. Where as I think that using a hopshot that is concentrated and pure lupulin, you aren't leaving much for assumptions.

I somewhat felt the same way the first use with it, that I was actually getting what I calculated, and had that solid and firm bittering when I shot for something north of 70 IBU's in the hopshot.

 

I couldn't open the recipe details for all grain. What's the malt bill look like?

 

MASH INGREDIENTS
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12lb Fawcett Pearl Malt
12oz Baird’s Light Carastan Malt
12oz White Wheat Malt

 

I've used HopShots quite a bit and if anything found the bitterness to be smoother/lower than they predict. I started getting dark brown HopShots from Northern Brewer that smelled oxidized. They also tended to just ball-up in the boil rather than disperse into the liquid. Ended up dumping most of them and going back to actual hops. Really the hop extract thing was mostly for test batches for Modern Times (where essentially all bittering is extract).

 

I used hop extract again this weekend and it was a different experience from the last time I used a hopshot. This time I used extract from Yakima Valley Hops and it actually gave off a fresh hop aroma when I used it. I don't remember that from the last time. It smelled like I added hops to the kettle.

 

I like my results with hopshot and hop extract extract in general. The only PITA is the sticky residue on the sides of the kettle I keep trying to scrape back into the boil.

 

I've done the Pliny kit and while it was NOT a 100% match--it was very close and very good. I saw the Off the Topper kit as well, but decided I will give it a try after some other brews I have lined up.

 

The Salesmen has arrive. RUNNN !!!

 

It's funny because if you call and place an order you can get the Vermont Ale yeast. You just can't find it on the website. I just bought a vial a few days ago no problem.

 

Just to avoid brand confusion, the only culture on the market that goes by the name "Vermont Ale" is from The Yeast Bay. There is a similar GigaYeast culture, and it's called "Vermont IPA".

 

Yup, definitely thought the same thing. Don't they use hop extract in the real thing though?

 

Ditto. Was shocked at the Yakima hop extract I used today versus the shit I bought from Northern Brewer. 45 ml of Yakima Valley Hops hop extract went into my Dark Lord clone, 50 ml of Hop shot from Northern Brewer went into the trash.