Transatlantic IPA 1.1 Kegged

After three weeks in the primary fermenter, I kegged my Transatlantic IPA 1.1 tonight (12 March 2016). The beer was down to 1.015 from 1.060, for 5.9% abv. I added 2 oz. of Falconer's Flight 7C's and 1 oz. of Australian Galaxy hops pellets in a mesh bag, and simultaneously began carbonating at ambient temperature (~64°). All indicators seem positive so far!

Transatlantic IPA 1.1

My Transatlantic IPA recipe turned out really well--in fact, I probably count it as the best full-strength (non-session) I've ever brewed. I wanted to give it another go, both to keep my yeast culture active and also to use up some of the hops I have on-hand. Although I really liked the

This batch is slightly modified from the last version, with the modifications nearly entirely in the hops. I also added a bit of gypsum to the boil.

Transatlantic IPA 1.1

• 9 lbs. Maris Otter malt (Thomas Fawcett)
• 3 lbs. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
• 1 lb. Caravienne malt
• 0.15 lb. pale chocolate malt
• 1 oz. Bravo hops pellets (13.2% alpha, 3.5% beta), 60 minute boil
• 1 oz. U.S. Fuggle hops pellets (4.5% alpha, 3.1% beta), 20 minute boil
• 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (est. 5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
• 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (est. 5.5% alpha), steep/whirlpool
• 2 oz. Falconer's Flight 7C's hops pellets (13% alpha), 2 week dry-hop in keg
• 1 oz. Galaxy hops pellets (13.7% alpha), 2 week dry-hop in keg
• 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
• 1 tsp. yeast nutrient (5 minute boil)
• 1 tsp. gypsum (added at beginning of boil)
• 1 pkg. Vermont Ale Yeast (The Yeast Bay), prepared in 1 L starter

Procedure

• I made a two-step yeast starter, with the first step initiated on 14 February, 2016. This used 0.5L of water with 55 g of extra light DME and a bit of yeast nutrient. On 16 February, I cold-crashed the starter. On 17 February, I decanted most of the spent wort and then added another 1.5L of starter (165 g DME dissolved in the appropriate amount of water). On 20 February, I decanted 0.6L of the starter to a jar for storage (assuming this reached a little over 100 billion cells), and the remainder was set aside for the beer.
• Because my software calculated such a small addition for the first round of batch sparging (0.43 gallons), I figured I would just skip the first sparge round. I did notice that my wort had a little more grain material coming in from the mash tun than normal; I will have to check my crush. I also noticed on the past few batches that I've been drawing off a bit more water than anticipated (approximately an extra half-gallon); I'll have to adjust my dead-space downward on the software, too.
• I mashed in with 5.3 gallons of water at 165°, to hit a mash temperature of 152.5°. The mash was down to 149° after 40 minutes.
• After 60 minutes, I vorlaufed collected the first runnings.
• Next, I added 3.75 gallons of water at 185°, which raised the overall mash temperature to 165°. I let it rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the wort.
• All together, I collected 7.1 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.050, for a mash efficiency of 73%.
• I added all of the hops and other goodies per the schedule above, and turned off the heat after 60 minutes.
• I chilled the wort down to 76°, transferred it to the fermenter, and pitched the yeast starter. Approximately 6 gallons of wort went into the primary.
• The starting gravity for this beer is 1.060, a bit lower than calculated. I had the boil set a bit less vigorous than typical, so that along with the larger-than-anticipated wort volume likely contributed. I'm starting fermentation at ambient (65°), and will move it to my fermentation chamber once that frees up. I brewed this on 20 February. When I checked on the beer the next morning, about 8 hours after pitching the yeast, fermentation had already started.

Beer Tasting: Transatlantic IPA

My Transatlantic IPA seems to be at its peak--no better time to give it a close look!

• The Basics
• Original gravity = 1.064; final gravity = 1.015; abv = 6.5%; estimated IBU = 64
• Aroma
• The aroma is very hop-forward and pleasant, but not overwhelming. I pick up citrus (orange) and floral aromas, with a hint of fresh apricot. There is a faint malty aroma that comes through as the beer warms up.
• Appearance
• Relatively clear, with a minor bit of haze. The head is quite prominent, white in color, and fine-bubbled, with excellent retention. The beer itself is a beautiful gold color.
• Flavor
• This is a pretty well-balanced IPA. There is a low degree of malty flavor, with a slight caramel note to it, but not enough to take it out of character for what I intended. The hops are of course prominent, tending towards the floral and piney side of things. The bitterness is strong but not over the top, and it definitely has a piney and slightly resinous finish. I detect a very modest ester background, perhaps some of the stone fruit (peach/apricot) that characterizes the yeast strain.
• Mouthfeel
• The beer has a medium body, with an appropriately moderate degree of carbonation. The finish is slightly dry, but not ridiculously so. 
• Would I brew this again?
• Yes! This is a really nice "winter IPA", and nails pretty much everything I was hoping for in the beer. I really like how the Conan strain plays against the hops and malt. Additionally, the hops combo stands up pretty well too. It's complex, but not muddled. The beer is probably a bit heavier than I would want outside of the cold months, but that isn't a flaw in my view. I was a little curious when formulating this recipe as to how much the Maris Otter base malt would show through--not much, in the end! It provides a good base, but doesn't get in the way of the other ingredients.
• Overall rating
• 9/10

Transatlantic IPA Kegged

After 13 days in the primary fermenter, I kegged my Transatlantic IPA tonight. During the primary fermentation, I roused the yeast once or twice, to help attenuation along. In the end, I had a final gravity of 1.015, down from 1.064, for 6.5% abv and 75% attenuation. At the time of kegging, I added 3 oz. of hops pellets (2 oz. Simco, 1 oz. Galaxy), for dry-hopping. In my initial tasting, I'm pleased with what the Vermont Ale yeast has done so far (although I'm at the very low end of its attenuation range--will have to see how it tastes in the final product to decide if I want to do anything about it). The keg is now carbonating, in wait for the time when I can finally tap it!

Transatlantic IPA

"Conan! What is best in life?"
"Crush your malted grains.
See them mashed before you.
Hear the fermentation of their wort."

It has been a long time since I've done a straight-up, full-strength American IPA (January, in fact). I've also been itching to try out some new yeast strains, particularly after hearing good things about "Conan." I found the Vermont ale yeast via Yeast Bay, which is supposed to be just that. Most local shops don't carry it, so I mail-ordered and planned out my brew.
The name for this batch honors its ingredients' roots spanning North America and Europe. This batch is aiming to be an "East Coast" style IPA, with a little more malt character as well as an interesting yeast. So, I designed a recipe that had Maris Otter and Vienna as its backbone, with a bit of Belgian Caravienne to round things out and some pale chocolate malt for color. I've been doing a lot of ultra citrusy-type hops lately (especially Citra), and I worry that they would clash with the malts and yeast, so I've switched things up a touch. The bittering hops are all Columbus, with an aroma/flavor addition of Cascade. I plan to dry hop with Simco and Galaxy.

Transatlantic IPA

• 9 lbs. Maris Otter malt (Thomas Fawcett)
• 3 lbs. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
• 1 lb. Caravienne malt
• 0.15 lb. pale chocolate malt
• 1 oz. Columbus hops pellets (13.4% alpha, 4.4% beta), 60 minute boil
• 1.3 oz. Columbus hops pellets (13.4% alpha, 4.4% beta), 5 minute boil
• 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (est. 5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
• 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (est. 5.5% alpha), steep/whirlpool
• 2 oz. Simcoe hops pellets (13% alpha), 2 week dry-hop in keg
• 1 oz. Galaxy hops pellets (13.7% alpha), 2 week dry-hop in keg
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet (10 minute boil)
• 1 pkg. Vermont Ale Yeast (The Yeast Bay), prepared in 1.25 L starter

Procedure

• I mashed in with 5 gallons of water at 165°, to hit a mash temperature of 151°. The mash was down to 150° after 30 minutes, and 147° after 60 minutes.
• After 60 minutes, I added 0.5 gallons of water at 180°, let rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and drained the mash tun to collect 3.25 gallons of wort.
• Next, I added 3.75 gallons of water at 185°, which raised the overall mash temperature to 165°. I let it rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the wort.
• All together, I collected 6.8 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.053. This translates to a mash efficiency of 73%, nearly exactly on the nose for my calculations.
• I brought the wort to a boil, and added the bittering charge. After 50 minutes, I added the Whirlfloc tablet. After 55 minutes of boiling total, I added the additional Columbus and an ounce of Cascade hops. At flame-out, I removed the Columbus hops and added the remainder of the Cascade hops, to steep while I chilled the wort.
• I chilled the wort down to 80°, transferred it to the fermenter, and pitched the yeast starter. Approximately 5.5 gallons of wort went into the primary.
• The starting gravity for this beer is 1.064, exactly where calculated by my software. I'll ferment this at 68° for two weeks (perhaps with a slight temperature increase at the end to maximize attenuation, as suggested by Yeast Bay).
• I brewed this beer on November 23, 2015.