Falling Worm DIPA

I was recently gifted a bottle of Trillium's, Congress St IPA. (Congress, the opposite of Progress, (ha ha ha). I am not going to lie, for me, this beer is one of the best IPA’s Ive ever had.  The amount of bitter hop character was perfect, and the aroma drew you in for days.  I am not a huge fan of the tropical fruit IPA, and the West Coast IPAs, while amazing, are getting a little bit mainstream.  These cats took a slightly different look at it with an explosion of Galaxy hops and a balanced add of Columbus for that hop bite I love. I am pumped to get my hands dirty walking down this dirt road.

Let’s Begin

I have some Challenger hops left over from a previous venture, and being this beer highlights what I like to call, the “juicy,” character of the hop world, Im going to use them as they fall nicely in this category.  Regarding other vital stats, Im going to stay true to the DIPA format, but cheat for my recent lack in time (love you little Macy!).  

Extra Light DME for the base malt - simplicity and color

Steep some mid-crystals - color and a dash of unfermentables

Wheat Malt - head retention

Sugar - boost ABV and dry her out slightly. This is a hop-centric beer, let’s let them pop!

As a side note, I personally love the look of a DIPA with an opaque, orange hue as opposed to that crystal clear beer, with no head whatsoever.  I think it’s just plain old prettier.  

Recipe

Extra Light LME - 9.9 lbs

White Wheat Malt - 1 lbs

Crystal 40(ish) - .5 lbs

White Sugar - .5 lbs

OG - 1.077

FG - 1.016

ABV - 7.5%

IBU (bittering) - 78

Hops (perceived) - Ludicrous

Color - 10

On the fermentation front, I have a huge slurry of 001 off my Chinook SMaSH two months ago.  A few weeks ago I decanted the jar and added some sterile wort and kept her in the fridge.  I’ll decant again and pitch 150ml to a 1.5L starter the day prior.  With the ABV at this level I’ll be sure to get the wort nice and cool, targeting a pitch temp of around 62 then let it free rise to its optimum of 68-73 and let it finish at this temperature range.

Da Brew

Day prior - 1.5L 1040 starter with nutrient. Slightly rushed and pitched the slurry before it was completely warmed up. 7.25G of RO water to tun.

Day of todos:

1. Crush grain

Brew day!  5/21/15

1lbs. White wheat malt

.35lbs crystal 80 (no 40 left)

Added.at start of heating and pulled at 180, 30 minutes

Added 1 oz Columbus at 160.

OG - 1081

5/25 - 3/5 on airlock. 68 degrees. Moved upstairs to room temp to finish.

6/15/15 - 10.4, 1.021... added 4oz galaxy, 1 oz Columbus, 2 oz challenger (If I was a smart fella I could have added Brett C and gotten a more full attenuation.  Plus, adding all the hops at once was a lazy move.  Double dry hop means you dry hop twice, it has gotten the name for a reason, because it works.  If DHing, do it in steps and pull hops on their respective schedule)

6/22/15 - to keg with 1oz challenger and .5oz citra...why not :-)  This was actually an excellent move.  Keg hopping allows for the hops to hang out for months, no problem.

7/7/15 - have been playing with the carb due to an off mouthfeel, the aroma is wonderful, and the keg hopping is now coming through, although the flavor is slightly metallic, oddly bitter, and muddled.   I expected the result to be more complete by now.  The malt backbone is "heavy," and that may be the DME, can't say. Finally decided on targeting 2.8 (slightly overcharged for style) to attempt to tame the malt/mouthfeel   issue.  Nonetheless, this beer's only chance is time.  Much darker as well.  Should have done a late extract addition.  

In the end the beer never really hit many targets and was no where near the glory of Congress St.  All-grain would have made a big difference Im sure, a full pound of sugar, a proper starter.  Some classic mistakes.  If time isn't on your side, hit your local Packy!