Brewing Topics > Brewing Discussion
Pliny --- wow! what a brewday...
tom_hampton:
Thanks, Slurk.
Its a bit early for me to have many thoughts, the beer is still at 1.023 SG...about 3/4th fermented. I raised the ferment temp today to 20C from 18C. I started at 17C. So, I haven't even started the dry hopping.
I should be clear that this is a Double or Imperial IPA. I think calling these things IPA is a little misleading. They bear almost no resemblance to an IPA. Also, I'm following a recipe direct from Russian River. This is NOT my composition. Vinnie Cilurzo (owner/brewer) is a master. He is one of the originators of this style.
That said, Vinnie has stated on TBN, and in conference presentations that his dry hop experiments showed him that the optimum dry hop time was 12-14 days. Any longer than that and they start to impart undesirable characteristics. In Pliny the Younger (a more extreme beer than the Elder), Vinnie did multiple overlapping additions of dry hops at 12-14 days each to keep imparting more and more dry-hop character.
When hopping with this much hops in the boil you impart a ton of other flavors, and body besides just bitterness. The hop additions total 217 calculated IBUs, but only 90 or so make it into the beer. Actually, I've heard that when the original Pliny was measured they only found about 68 IBUs. He has since started using hop extracts to get the IBUs higher. With this recipe you can actually "feel" the hops on your tongue.
The hops in this recipe are Columbus, Simcoe, and Centennial. Simcoe is practically sticky it has so much resin. The only way to get an idea of what a beer with this much hops is like is to stick your head inside a bag of hops and breath DEEP. Now image a beer 10 times that concentrated in FLAVOR (and aroma...but, its the flavors that really HIT you). Simcoe is quite a bit different from any other hop I've ever used (british, german, or the big C hops).
So, that's a lot to say, I guess...without having enough experience (by experimenting) to really comment about how to decide to adjust things...and balance flavors between hop types. These IIPA beers are an expensive way to learn those things, though.
Slurk:
Hi Tom,
Thanks a lott for your additional information!
I was planning to take the hops out this weekend and just to be sure and to be prepared I decided to take a sample today. I was astonished about the mess the hoppellets had made (although no fermentation, particles everywhere) and in addition I became insecure about the fact that I saw a thin layer of oil floating on the beer (what about the foam on the beer?). I decided to filter the beer and that's what I just did now before I read you respons. I will put the beer back cold and give it some weeks rest.
Could you share your experiences further in the brewing process with us?
Have a nice weekend!
Regards,
Slurk
tom_hampton:
Absolutely. I'd be happy to.
The oil layer you saw should be hop oils. It might affect head retention some...but, ITS HOP OILS...and will taste really good. I'm happy to sacrifice some head retention for hop flavor in an IPA. I wouldn't worry about it.
I'm guessing you put the dry hops in loose without a filter bag? I'm planning on using nylon paint strainer bags for each of the additions when it comes time.
I bought enough to make three 5 gallon batches. So, we'll see how things get tweaked from batch to batch.
PetenNewburg:
Tom, How do you intend to keep your hops submerged? I've read several posts about using marbles, others say marbles don't work, not enough marbles! :o I used several Stainless Steel plumbing elbows in my hops bags, seemed to work fine. I've read other posts saying that using bags restricts the hops utilization. Any thoughts on this?
tom_hampton:
Bags certainly affect utilization in the boil. I've never heard anyone suggest that they do a similar thing in dry hopping. I haven't done any side-by-side, so I can't say. 2 weeks is plenty of time for the flavors to diffuse through the bag and into the beer, I think.
I plan to use sanitized marbles. All you have to do is use enough marbles. Marble weight = hops_weight * 4ish.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version