So just in case I didn't learn my lesson last time, I stumbled into another load of free hops that have to be brewed with immediately. Man, it's a rough life. My friend Pat (one of the gang who helped with the oatmeal pale) works at Oxbow Farms where Cascade hops adorn the premises. Along with friends Dana and McKayla, we picked more than two pounds of hops. Again, I already have a beer planned for this weekend--yeast starter is going and everything--but I can't let these beautiful hops go to waste.
I'm taking advantage of some of the lessons I learned from that last wet hop IPA though. The caramel 120L malt came through as a nice burnt caramel kind of flavor that I really liked, not the smooth dark fruit flavor I anticipated. This time I want to better harness that malt by pairing it with crackery Victory malt--which was also out of place in my earlier session IPA--to form a more brash malt character. The wet hop IPA was pretty thick, so besides removing the light crystal, I plan on adding some corn sugar to lighten it up.
Another lesson I learned from that IPA was that I need more hops! I know that's a common refrain among hop heads, but specifically I think the ratio of 5:1 when converting to wet hops was insufficient to get the flavor and aroma I expected. I recently read (can't remember where) that Sierra Nevada uses a ratio of 7:1 wet weight to dry weight, so I feel confident I can bump up the hops without exposing myself as a victim of Lupulin Threshold Shift.
Cascade Wet Hop IPA #2 - "Oxbrew" -------------------------- Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal Estimated ABV: 7.4 % Estimated OG: 1.067 SG Estimated FG: 1.010 SG Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM Estimated IBU: 76.5 IBUs Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 % Boil Time: 60 Minutes Ingredients: ------------ Amt Name %/IBU 12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 85.7 % 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 3.6 % 8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 3.6 % 1.00 oz Columbus [16.10 %] - First Wort Hop 46.7 IBUs 1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) 7.1 % 2.00 oz Cascade [7.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min 24.6 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) - 3.00 oz Cascade [7.70 %] - Boil 2.0 min 5.2 IBUs 1.0 pkg Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) - 1.00 oz Cascade [7.70 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days 0.0 IBUs 1.00 oz Centennial [10.30 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days 0.0 IBUs 1.00 oz Columbus [16.10 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days 0.0 IBUs Mash Schedule: Single Infusion @150F, No Mash Out, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs Estimated Cost: $30.38
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