I was looking to make a spicy, refreshing IPA like Lagunitas. With help from our local brew store, we decided on this recipe.

Grains

• 1 lbs 2 Row Pale
• 7 oz Dextrine Cara Pils
• 5 oz Crystal
• 3 oz Munich
• Malt Extract
• 5 lbs 9 oz Light Dried Malt Extract

Hops

• 60 mins: 1 1/2 oz Challenger A.A. 7%
• 30 mins: 1/2 oz Cascade A.A. 7.3%, 1/4 oz Willamette A.A. 5.6%
• End of Boil: 1 1/2 oz Cascade

Yeast

• Safale 05 American Ale Yeast

OG: 1.042, FG: 1.020

Despite my past unfounded prejudice against hop pellets, malt powder, and dried yeast–I used to live in the Pacific NW and we only used freeze dried hops, extract syrup, and liquid yeast–this turned out great. I’ve since found the Safale dried yeasts to be reliable and have excellent flavor. I pitched the dry yeast directly into the wert.

Based on a “Black 47 Stout” recipe from North American Clone Brews.  Black 47 is brewed by The Old Nutfield Brewing Company of Derry, NH, but as I’ve never had any of their beers, I don’t quite know what to expect out of this brew, hence “Black Box”.

[2010-02-28] Boil Day

• 3 lb UK 2-row pale malt (1.8 L)
• 1 lb roasted barley (525 L)
• 8 oz black patent malt (500 L)
• 8 oz crystal 120 L
• 1 1/2 tsp gypsum
• 6 AAU Northern Brewer (0.8 oz of 8.1% AA) for 60 min
• 1/2 tsp Irish moss for 15 min
• 3 lb LD Carlson Briess Sparkling Amber dry malt extract for 15 min
• 4 AAU Fuggles (0.8 oz of 4.8% AA) for 5 min

steep all above grains (two giant muslin sacks worth) in 155*F water for 45 min (started with 5 3/4 gal), then bring to boil

Ended up with 1.018 @ 78*F, which corrects to 1.021; using hopville’s beer calculus, I worked out that I got about 56% efficiency from my “super steep” method.

The recipe I was following has OG at 1.047, so I needed to work out how much dry malt extract I’d need to add.  Fortuitously, the 3 lb that I calculated I needed was exactly how much I had on hand.

As I was bringing the wort to a boil, I added ~1.5 tsp of gypsum.  I’d never used the stuff before, maybe I should have added it before the steep, since I’ve read that its supposed to alter the pH, which has an effect on the mash.

Add Northern Brewer, boil 45 min

Off heat, add dry malt extract and Irish moss, return to boil for 10 min

Add Fuggles, boil 5 minutes

Chill to ~70 deg with immersion chiller (took 30-45 min)

Pitched Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale using the “immediate” method, rather than the “let swell for at least 3 hrs” method.  It was probably around 10PM when the yeast met the wort.

Gravity was 1.049 @ 68*F, which corrects to 1.050; a little high.  I have about 4.8 gals in the ale pail, so that’s 240 gravity units.  If I want 1.047, I need to add water to get to 5.1 gal, so I put about 6 cups of water on to boil and cool (dig a hole; now fill it in).  When it got to ~70*F,  I popped the lid on the ale pail and poured in the water.  I didn’t bother to take a hydrometer reading (cleaned and put away), but the math doesn’t lie, dude.  OG should be 1.047 for my now 5.1 gal of wort.

This is actually quite a delicious brew.  I was concerned that the dry hopping might make for a smack across the face of hop aroma, but I think this has really good balance.  I really like the Cascade flavor, I think they’ll become a staple of my brewing for American pale ales.  I’m very pleased.  Hopefully it gets even better after another week or two in the bottles, but I’m going to have a hard time staying away from them in the mean time.

FG: 1.014 @ 62*F

primed with 5 oz corn sugar

yield 46 x 12 oz bottles

Ingredients

• 1.8 lbs Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract
• 4 lbs Alexander’s Pale Liquid Malt Extract
• 1 lb Maris Otter (sub’d for unavailable 2-row)
• 1 lb Crystal 40L
• 0.5 oz Perle pellets 8.3% -> 4.15 AAU (60 min)
• 0.3 oz Magnum pellets 14.4% -> 4.32 AAU (60 min)
• 0.5 oz Cascade pellets 7.8% -> 5.4 AAU (15 min)
• 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)
• 0.7 oz Cascade pellets 7.8% (0 min)
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast
• 0.8 oz Cascade whole leaf (dry hop)

The Boil [2010-01-16]

• Bring 5 gals filtered water to 155*F
• Place Marris Otter and Caramel 40L in muslin bag and steep 30 min
• Remove grains, bring to boil (add 1-2 qts makeup water during rise to boil)
• When boiling, remove from heat, add dry malt extract, and stir. Place 60 min hop additions (Perle, Magnum) in nylon boil bag and add to wort, then return to boil
• After 45 min, remove from heat, add Irish Moss, 15 min Cascade addition, and stir in the liquid malt extract, return to boil
• After 15 min, remove from heat  and add 0 min Cascade addition
• Chill to 75-80*F, transfer to primary fermenter
• Aerate wort, and pitch Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Primary Fermentation [2010-01-16]

OG: 1.051
[2010-01-21] Bubbling slows to a crawl (3-4/min)

Secondary Fermentation [2010-01-23]

Racked to secondary, specific gravity is 1.014
Added 0.8 oz Cascade whole leaf hops to the secondary (smells so good)

2009-12-29: Boil Day
- Steep Carapils (placed in muslin bag) in 5 gal of filtered water at 155*F for 30 min
- Remove grains, bring to boil.
- Remove from heat, add Liquid Wheat Malt Extract.
- Return to boil, add 1 oz. Tettnanger Hops (60 min)
- Add 1 oz. Tettnanger Hops (2 min)
- Meanwhile, boil 1/2 cup water, cool to 90*F and add dry yeast.
- Chill wort to ~70* F, using the finest homemade immersion chiller you can lay your hands on
- Neglect to take a SG reading.
- Transfer to primary and aerate (shaka-shaka)
- Pitch bloomed yeast
- SG: ~1.042

2010-01-02: Ferment slows to a crawl

2010-01-04: Rack to Secondary. Specific Gravity: 1.010

2010-01-12: FG 1.010. Prime with 5 oz corn sugar, bottle (yield ~46 12 oz. bottles). Smells a little like plastic.

2010-01-14: Still flat. Still a bit plasticy (phenolic?)

2010-01-21: Its beer! The head fades kinda quickly, but the carbonation level seems OK. This brew is a bit light on both the alcohol and body. The plastic aroma has mellowed way out, and is barely noticeable.

2010-01-27: Better head retention after a while longer in the bottles. All in all a nice brew, it went over well at a roll-your-own sushi GTG this weekend. “This is pretty good, the last homebrew i had tasted a bit like skunk or something,” says one. I might make this or something similar again, definitely a nice quaffable summery brew.