Brewer's Log - 8.29.2010: Dry Hopping the C'z IPA

WHAT I DID

- Dry hopped a 4-gallon batch of "C'z IPA" that had been in primary since 8/7/2010 and was transferred to a Better Bottle carboy for secondary fermentation on 8/23/2010.

WHAT I LEARNED

- After having underwhelming results from dry hopping a beer in the past, I did some homework this time. I read posts I found via a Google search, I listened to the Dec. 8, 2009 episode of the "Brew Strong" podcast about dry hopping techniques and I read an article in Brew Your Own magazine's September 2010 issue in which brewer Mitch Steele of Stone Brewing Co. offered tips for "amplifying your hops." While there are multiple valid methods for dry hopping a beer, I settled on one that varies from the IPA recipe I was given. Instead of 10 days of exposure to 1 oz. of Bravo hops (as the recipe stated), I'm splitting the additions to be roughly .5 oz. of Bravo hops for five days, then siphoning the beer off of that initial 5 oz. and into a clean, empty Better Bottle, and adding the remaining .5 oz. of Bravo to this new vessel and letting it sit for five more days. The goal here is to avoid any grassy or vegetal off-flavors that could possibly be contributed by prolonged exposure to hop material.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

- I find myself wishing I had a couple smaller vessels and another 1 oz. of Bravo hops so I could split this batch and experiment a little: compare the taste and aroma of 1 oz. of hops in the vessel for 10 days with the taste and aroma from two five-day sessions with .5 oz. of hops. Undoubtedly they will taste at least slightly different. The question is which would be better. I plan to acquire some 3-gallon Better Bottles to allow for such experimentation (with hops, yeasts, other additives) in the future.

PERSONAL BESTS ACHIEVED

- Nothing, aside from improved quality/production value for the associated video.

My Coincidental New Belgium Kick to Culminate With Nashville's Clips of Faith Beer & Film Event

I'm late for everything. I'm serious. Everything. I was even a little late to my wedding. (Don't worry, I didn't miss anything important.)

So it was pretty much par for the course on June 29, 2010, when I rolled up to a bar called Brewhouse 100 about a mile from my house only to learn that I was nearly an hour late for the New Belgium Brewing Company beer tasting I came for. Thanks to some help from New Belgium's Tennessee "Beer Ranger," John Gartner, I was able to double-time it (mostly responsibly) through a couple rounds to catch up with the group, which was tasting a total of five beers.

Brewer's Log - 8.23.2010: Beer Transfer, Belgian Wit & C'z IPA

WHAT I DID

- Transferred a 5-gallon batch of a Belgian witbier (Unibroue Blanche de Chambly clone) that had been in primary since 6/28/2010 (eek!) to a keg for carbonation.
- Transferred a 4-gallon batch of "C'z IPA" that had been in primary since 8/7/2010 to a Better Bottle carboy for secondary fermentation and dry-hopping with 1 oz. Bravo hops.

WHAT I LEARNED

- Make time to keep up with beer fermentation schedules. Pay closer attention to the calendar and the signs of fermentation and transfer the beer as soon as it is ready.
- Having said the above, I noted no off flavors indicative of autolysis (which is, in essence, decaying yeast cells altering the flavor of your beer). Certainly these flavors may surface as the beer ages but for now I would say leaving a beer in primary (especially a light beer such as this witbier) for two months will not ruin it.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

- I need more room for brewing and cleaning, but that's a given.

PERSONAL BESTS ACHIEVED

- Created the first Fledgling Brewer video (see above). Plus a great drinking game if you drink every time I say "um" in the video.

DETAILS

Here are some more technical details about these two beers in their current states.

The Belgian witbier (p. 135 of Clone Brews, 1st edition) is a 5-gallon all-grain batch. It was brewed solo on 6/28/2010 and had an estimated original gravity of 1.050. (The initial reading was 1.055 but I used my BeerSmith brewing software to calculate that I could at .5 gallon of boiled water to dilute the gravity to 1.050--the expected original gravity indicated in the recipe.) It was fermented using a 1-liter starter of Belgian Witbier yeast (Wyeast Labs #3944) and remained in the primary fermenter for a total of 56 days--roughly 12 days in my 65-degree basement and the remainder at around 75 degrees in an upstairs closet. The gravity reading on 7/21 was 1.017. When transferred to the keg, the beer had a final gravity reading of 1.012.

The IPA (recipe given to me by Ozzy Nelson of Mayday Brewery) is a 4-gallon all-grain batch that was brewed with friend Eric K. on 8/7/10. It had an original gravity of 1.073 (well short of the 1.080 expected on the recipe). It was fermented using Danstar Nottingham dry yeast and remained in the primary fermenter for 16 days before being transferred to secondary fermentation for dry-hopping with 1 oz. Bravo hops (11.3 alpha acid percentage). When transferred to secondary, the gravity reading was 1.024. The Bravo hops will be added on 8/24/10 and will remain in the fermenter for 10 days.