Single Hop IPA (Centennial)

I just finished my last bottle of Double IPA last week and I'm already missing it.  I could just brew up another batch of that one but, in the interest of broadening my horizons a bit, I have decided to try out a new recipe.  I like the idea of brewing single hop beer to get a better sense of what kind of flavors each one imparts.  Based on this I have decided to brew up a "Bell's Two Hearted" clone from homebrewtalk.com.  Two Hearted is a really nice IPA brewed with only Centennial hops.

The recipe states that it is "as close as they come."  I'm not really concerned with creating a clone of Two Hearted so I will be making the following changes from the recipe:

1. Shooting for an OG of 1.055 to 1.060 which, if the beer ferments down to a target of 1.012, will get me a beer that is in the neighborhood of 6% ABV.  This is about a percentage point lower than the actual Bell's Two Hearted but I don't think I'll miss it.
2. Going with the famous Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast.  This is my first batch with this yeast (although I've used US-05 which is supposed to be the same Sierra Nevada strain).  The recipe calls for S-04
3. Changing up the hop schedule quite a bit to get some more intense hop flavor.  First, I'll be using 3 mL of hop extract to get about 30 IBU.  I'll then hold off on adding hops until the end of the boil.  I will add 2 oz of hops with 5 min left.  Then I'll add 2 oz more after the beer has chilled down to 180 F and let stand for 30 min.  Finally, I will dry hop with 2 oz.  I'm going to skip fining the beer with gelatin as I would normally do to avoid the possibility that I'll reduce the hop character.  I'll plan on bottling this beer after 3 weeks to make sure the beer is as fresh as possible when I start drinking.

I've been considering trying this one out for the last several months.  Two Hearted is actually my wife's favorite beer.  I'm hoping she approves of this one.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 10 lb 2 Row Malt
• 2 lb Vienna Malt
• 8 oz CaraPils Malt
• 8 oz Crystal 20L
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 3 mL Hop Shot at 60 120  min
• 2 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.5% AA) at 5 min
• 2 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.5% AA) added once temp is down to 180 F (stand for 30 min)
• 2 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.5% AA) Dry Hop
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 7.5 gal tap water
• 1 oz Calcium Chloride in Mash
• 1 oz Gypsum in Mash
• 1 oz Gypsum in Boil
• 1 oz Irish Moss at 20 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal (Target 6 gal)
• Mash:
• Step 1:  150 F for 60 min (Target 150 F for 60 min)
• Step 2:  Ramp up to 170 F in 45 min (Target Ramp up to 175 in 30 min)
• Boil:
• 120 min (Target 60 min)
• Fermentation Temp:
• 68 F
• Primary Duration:
• 3 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.060 (Target 1.060)
• Efficiency:
• 76% (Target 76%)
• FG:
• 1.010 (Target 1.012)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 83% (Target 79%)
• ABV:
• 6.56% (Target 6.30%)

Brewing Notes:

• 2/20/16 - Brewed up a yeast starter with 5.5 oz of DME and 1 liter of water.  Also added 1/8th tsp of yeast nutrient.  Set it up on the stir plate and pitched the yeast.
• 2/21/16 - Brewday - 11:40 AM to 6:00 PM including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of strike water and cycled through the system was at 160 F
• Milled grain while heating the water

• Ended up with 5 gal above the false bottom and 8.5 gal in the system
• Added CacL and Gypsum to the mash tun
• Added the grain and stirred well to eliminate doughballs
• Set the RIMS to cycle at 152 F
• Added 7.5 gal of tap water to the HLT, for a total of 9 gal, and heated to 185 F for the sparge
• After the 60 min of mashing I added 2 gal of sparge water to the mash tun and upped the RIMS to 185 F to heat the mash to 170 for the mash out - took 45 min
• Added extra gypsum to the kettle before the sparge
• Fly sparged - took 20 min
• Stated heating the kettle after collecting 2 gal
• Gravity at the grant was 10 brix after collecting 4 gal
• Ended up collecting 10 gal - gravity at the grant was 4 brix (1.016 by this time).  Was not a very efficient sparge for some reason
• Was up to a boil a couple minutes after ending the sparge
• Had very significant hot break - ended up boiling over a couple times
• Added the hop extract after the hot break cleared
• With about 20 min left I added the Irish Moss
• Added the first hops with 5 min left
• Killed the flame after getting down to a bit over 6 gal.  Let sit and chill down to 180 F without a lid - took 15 min
• Added the hop stand hops and let the kettle sit for half an hour with the lid on - beer was down to 165 F after 30 min
• Sprayed the wort chiller with sanitizer and put into the kettle for 5 min to be sure it was sanitized
• Chilled down to 70 F
• Transferred to fermenter with all trub and hops

• Collected 6 gal - fermenter was very full.  Measured gravity as 1.060 which is right on target.  The beer has a really nice gold color
• Moved to fermentation chamber set to 67 F.  I'm using an airlock that is extended into the fermenter as little as possible.  I expect that, as full as the fermenter is, some wort is going to be pushed up into the airlock
• Pitched the entire yeast starter which looked to be at high krausen

• 2/22/16 - The airlock filled up and overflowed with krausen.  Hasn't made that much of a mess so far fortunately.
• 3/6/16 - Added the dry hops.  I'll give the beer another 5 days or so before bottling.

• 3/12/16 - Bottled this batch today.  There was a pretty thick layer of hops at the bottom so I only ended up getting 5 gal.  Primed with 4 oz of table sugar.  This got me 51 bottles.  Measured the gravity as 1.010.  The sample has a lot of hop particulate - ended up getting a lot of hops in the bottles as well.  The beer has a really great hop forward flavor.  It is also plenty bitter for an IPA.
• 4/7/16 - Tasting Notes - Has nice flavoring hop character in the aroma and flavor but an odd flavor in the bittering hops in the finish sort of detracts from the whole package.  I wonder if some oxidation may have come into play somewhere along the line.
• 6/5/16 - Entered this beer into a local homebrew competition (22nd Annual BUZZ Off) in category 21A - American IPA.  I wanted to get some unbiased feedback on the beer to see if my palate was off the mark on the bitter character of the beer.  Ended up scoring an aggregate of 32 which is better than I thought it would do.  One of the reviewers mentions astringency and has a very similar takeaway regarding the overwhelming bitterness in the finish.  I consider this a victory for my palate.  He also mentions a smoky phenol which I hadn't picked up.  The other reviewer describes the beer as a bit malty for the style.  I assume there were quite a few IPA that were much better and much hoppier than mine (especially considering this beer's age) and that how hoppy this beer seemed was probably somewhat dependent on the level of hopping in the previous beers these judges tasted.  Really glad I decided to get in on one of these homebrew competitions - it was really exciting and fun to read these comments.  Will definitely be entering some other beers in competitions in the future.

Lesson Learned

1. This brewday was way too long.  The 45 min I spent trying to heat up the mash may have been a wasted effort.  Also, collecting 10 gal of wort was really stupid of me.  I wish I had just accepted the hit for starting gravity or purchased more grain.  The cost in terms of time and extra propane just doesn't justify chasing after an extra bit of efficiency.  I need to plan out these brewdays a bit more carefully.