NEIPA - Round 2

Well this brew was much more of a success than the last NEIPA attempt. With this round, the goal was to build on my previous experience with water chemistry and continue the effort of attempting to recreate some of my favorite IPAs that fall in the camp of being considered "New England Style". I may as well call this recipe Hop Salad, because the hopping schedule was entirely based off of what I had lying around and not really in consideration of a particular flavor profile.

I am beginning to suspect that whirlpool/boil/steep/stand hops contribute considerably less flavor and aroma than I have previously thought. Scott Janish has a few great posts about biotransformation of hop oils, as well as a recipe using Columbus in a hop stand which resulted in little to no resulting flavor in the final product. Columbus is one of the few hops I can pick out, full stop, in a beer, so I would expect that flavor to punch through. In this particular recipe, I added a full 4 oz of Calypso (another hop I can usually detect) for a hop stand of 45 minutes right below 170 degrees F. By the time fermentation was only a few points away from finishing, there was most definitely not 4 oz of Calypso flavor (for only 4ish gallons!) left in my beer. Some food for thought there

With this brew, I continued my method of dry hopping in two stages. Once while there is still some fermentation activity, and once more after fermentation and with a bit of fermentables thrown in to scrub any O2. Enough DME was added to carbonate, the fermentor swirled, and then racked to a spunded keg for serving. I left it to sit for a week in that keg and then chilled under pressure.

NEIPA - 2

The beer pours with a dense and silky head. A little overcarbonated, but I am admittedly lax on doing that properly at the moment. Opaque but not murky. The color is sunset yellow.

Smell:
Traditional hop combined with tropical fruit and citrus. No berry or peach, perhaps a bit of that melon flavor from the Citra. I was hoping for some peach

Taste:
Needless to say, there is not much of an opportunity for my palate to detect any malt. The hops are not overpowering, but have remained bright after a month in the keg. Tastes as it smells. I don't think the Comet or Columbus were able to overcome the combination of Citra and Amarillo. Maybe a little bit of alcohol and hay on the back end.

Mouthfeel:
Fairly thick and silky. Not as much as I would like, but still better than my first NEIPA attempt.

Discussion and Thoughts:
Although I haven't quite captured the "gulpable" characteristic that Aslin gets in their beers, I am certainly coming close. This beer is redolent with hops and fruit flavors. I believe that the F1 yeast has something to contribute. I think the alcohol on the back is from perhaps under pitching.

Changes:
I think that I'll lower the oats and add more wheat next time in an effort to chase more haze. I really won't be changing too much from now on, however. I think the next steps are to dial in my dry hopping and water chemistry. I listed efficiency as crap, because the LHBS didn't adjust the mill gap and the oats were fairly uncrushed. Lesson learned. I'm going to have to get my own mill up and running.

NEIPA - 2

Recipe Specifics
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Batch Size (Gal): 4.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.56
Anticipated OG: 1.063
Anticipated SRM: 5.2
Anticipated IBU: 40.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: crappy
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain
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80.0% - Belgian Pale
20.0% - Malted Oats

Hops
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0.56 oz. Bravo (Pellet, 15.70% AA) @ 60 min.
4.00 oz. Calypso @ 60 min steep.

1.00 oz. Amarillo @ dry hop.

1.00 oz. Huell Melon @ dry hop.
2.50 oz. Citra @ dry hop.

1.00 oz. Comet @ dry hop.

1.00 oz. Columbus @ dry hop.

Extras
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0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 5 min.

Yeast
------
F1

Water Profile
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Mash pH 5.36, Water Profile ( 95.4ppm Ca, 0ppm Mg, 0ppm Na, 0ppm SO4, 168.8ppm Cl )

Mash Schedule
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Sacch Rest - 60 min @ 156F

Notes
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Brewed Lord Knows When

RO water used

Dry hopped in two stages