HBC American Double IPA review

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Covrich

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So this will be a rolling review and I will update it over the

course of Its development.

So I am brewing my American double IPA

The kit comes with about 6.2KG (approx) of grain which is a mixture
of Maris otter and Crystal so all familiar there.

I cannot do a full volume yet asI am planning on getting the BIAB
kit in a month or two. so I am doing a 50/50

I am going to make sure I get a good mash so going for at least 60 mins and maybe a tad more.

The kit comes with leaf hops, for whatever reason I have never used
leaf before.. so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

we have a 60 minute hop , a 10 minute one a flame out and some for
a dry hop, so this kit is really geared up for that late hop and
dry hop burst. They are unnamed on what's what but they website says
Nugget Zeus and Centennial (which is labelled as the dry hop) I am
guessing Nugget is the 60 minute and Zeus the flavour /aroma hops

The kit instructions say the OG should be 1060 based on 72%
efficiency which I have yet to achieve so lets see how it goes.

..
Anyway grains halved and I have milled the half again

I mashed for just over 1 hour in 9 liters of water and sparged in 5
more with and additional 1 lt pour over sparge which I will add
during the boil.

...


So Boil done and now wort cooling, I should also add that the kit

comes with a whirfloc tablet which I halved and added with the

final 10 minute hop addition..

....

Wort added to FV but a bit short in volume just a liter out
something I commonly have where I boil off too much or
miscalculate.. on my second half batch I can try and adjust for
this with a little more sparge. You could say I did a Maxi BIAB this time around.

Wort at 23ºc gravity 1060 so thats bang on without any adjustment for temp
(whether or not it would make much difference) really pleased with that I
think the crush and the sparge have helped a lot.

Pitched with half a packet of safale us 05 which came with the kit
at 23ºc

Had a cheeky sip of the wort, obviously sweet really spiky on the hops the aroma is very powerful and you get that bitterness coming through.

THe dry hop looks like it says boil in some water and add, I am not sure but I wonder whether it is pellets in the foil bag.

Anyway will keep this updated as I go along but so far looks promising!

Cheers again to mods for organising these raffels and of course HBC!:drunk:
 
Sounds like a really successful brew day with the crush and the sparge. Look forward to hearing how it works out.
 
Right or wrong I have never bothered to get a trial jar, always dunked in at the start and at the end (sanitised of course) but I checked yesterday and in a Vessel with only 11.5 litres or so in it the stick sunk straight to the bottom.. I tilted it and tried again and I think its about 1012 or 1010 roughly.. so yep looks pretty much done.

The kit never specified what FG but did say it would be about 6.2%.. I think mines more like 6.5.

I did taste the drippings off the hydrometer too which often don't give a great deal but it certainly has a strong taste, a real whack with the IBUs and a floral finish..

I have Centennial to drop hop this with, the kit suggests putting the hops in a cup of boiling water for 5 mins and adding straight in.. I think for this half ill do that and see how it turns out and possibly just dry hop the other half..

Ill put the dry hop in at the end of this week and bottle possibly during the week after.

Then on to round 2
 
Was thinking / aiming to bottle Tuesday night and if possible get it in a fridge for well at least 12 hours overnight preferably 24 hours so decided to do the dry hop tonight giving it 5 days + 1 cold.

THe dry hop method come with pellet hops inside a tea bag.. It says to well stick in a mug with boiling water for 10 minutes.. I guess this santitises the bag makes a little steep and then shuck the lot in..

For me I actually had to be a bit fiddly since I am splitting this batch (of course this is my own fault) I had to unwind the dry tea hop bag.. halve the hops (looks about 18gr altogether) stick 9 back in teh bag wrap up and in the freezer and then wind up the original bag. chuck in some boiling water , left for 15 mins and then gently introduced it to the brew.

Had a very tiny taste this would be really without the dry hop doing its thing but is a big whack of a citrussy bitterness. I certainly do not seem to suffer what stevej has done with his Kracken the hops are there at large which for a DIPA you'd expect..

Part 2 will be hopefully brewed Saturday as I have secured my father in laws fermenter
 
Okay part 2 brewed tonight and it was very very interesting, not sure if good or bad but will look forward to finding out

Now i only have cheap digital scales but I think perhaps dividing some of the ingredients up 50% in particular the grain which was 6-7KG I may have not got quite right but it cannot have been far off the hops were out tonight on the reading by a gram or two but no major shakes.. The grain I am less confident off as my scales only go up to 5kg and once I put them in a large container I couldn't accurately read my small scales.

Anyway as with part one I milled the grains as this improved my efficiency into the 70s in part one which I struggled with before..Everything went fine I sparged and continued to throttle the bag .

When I transferred it was again lower but only just shy of 11 liters instead of 11.5 I decided to just leave it, However at 23 degrees I decided to take a SG and instead of the expected 1060 which is what I got in part 1 it was 1078:shock: I took the reading 5 times. I did decide to top up the water to 12 liters and it did drop but its still 1072-1074. (I also checked my hydrometer and its calibrated okay)

Now I cannot be 100% accurate as I didn't measure my grain out but I thought it was about 3.3 altogether and it was a mix of maris otter and crystal but I make this about 85-87% efficiency?

Don't get me wrong on one hand I am delighted I have improved this process but am not sure whether its going to have some sort of diminishing effect on hops, But thats the beauty of the experiment I guess doing a brew twice back to back.. will be bottling part 1 Tuesday do in about 2-3 weeks we shall see how thats turned out.

I have pictures which ill post up tomorrow

Anyway going to crack open another one as a reward

Goodnight
 
Great info thanks Cov. Gonna be interesting to see how the two brews come out, and which you prefer. A lot of DIPAs are 7-8%+.
 
Thanks, it was my intention of doing two identical brews even if the measurements were off but this will give a new experiment altogether.

The kit says about 6.2 I think part one will be 6.5+ and this about 7.7.. when they have both been bottled for a few weeks ill try and do a back to back comparison although given their strenghts I may have to be careful if I have anything else that night
 
You're gonna need some small bottles methinks! I have a few San Miguel bottles that hold about 275ml, ideal for DIPA I reckon. I use a lot of 330 ml bottles too.
 
Right other half went out to see her friend so I decided to bottle it last night!

now I didn't get much chance to cold crash this, I often don't what I did do was leave it in the cold conservatory overnight before so it was down to 8 or so degrees overnight.. Part 2 of this monster ill try sticking it in the second fridge for a day.

All went as normal, for some reason though racking from the primary to the bottling bucket I had to keep starting as it kept sucking some bubbles in.. not loads but some. perhaps I got a bit of trub on the end.. I have a bit 5G auto siphon which is pretty powerful when racking a smaller batch so maybe that was why.. Not worried although it did end up a bit mucky looking when it went into the BB..

I decided to give it a rest ate my dinner cleaned out the FV (urgh I HATE that job) and tidy up the kitchen a bit.

I then bottled and got 19 (I could have pushed for a 20th but it would have been pushing it and instead I decided to scoop upa small sample glass)

Well the sample was very interesting (now I am no professional so this may sound dorky and perhaps I have no idea what I am on about)

The smell was citrusy and a hint of sweetness, the taste has a good malty backbone with a little sweetness which you get with that MO and Crystal blend.

Then you get a whack of the IBUs a strong bitterness which blends with a mixture of the Zeus and Centennial flavour hops which are citrusy and punchy..

It also feels like you're drinking a strong brew, this could be the ever so slight (and I mean slight) rawness about it..

Ill try one of these the last one I poured in about 2 weeks (the weekend before), to see how it is getting on. I tend to have a few brews conditioning at the same time and consume over a few months so will see how this is fresh compared to a little aged.

Ill have part too to bottle but ill try and condition that longer in the FV especially since its a big stronger one

DSC_0196.jpg


DSC_0197.jpg
 
Nice colour! I like the idea of a DIPA (though think it reads like 'diaper', not good) but the strength puts me off. I'd rather have a pint or two or 4-5% beer. Each to their own though, of course!
 
Nice colour! I like the idea of a DIPA (though think it reads like 'diaper', not good) but the strength puts me off. I'd rather have a pint or two or 4-5% beer. Each to their own though, of course!

I think you will be pleasantly surprised about how good this type of brew is. Even at 6% it is very drinkable (although that may not be a good thing :lol:).
I shall definitely be doing one again.
 
I think you will be pleasantly surprised about how good this type of brew is. Even at 6% it is very drinkable (although that may not be a good thing :lol:).
I shall definitely be doing one again.

Yeah that is certainly true, given its only 2 and a half weeks or so I was surprised how palatable it was given how big on ABV and hops. I typically brew around the 5% mark so wanted something with a bit of punch for a change. I think once it has fizzed up and cleared up (i.e not sampling the scraps from the bottling bucket :lol:) and with a bit of a chill this will be really good...... and dangerous

The colour took me by surprise don't ask me why I thought it would be darker and not as blonde.. was yours the same?
 
Yeah that is certainly true, given its only 2 and a half weeks or so I was surprised how palatable it was given how big on ABV and hops. I typically brew around the 5% mark so wanted something with a bit of punch for a change. I think once it has fizzed up and cleared up (i.e not sampling the scraps from the bottling bucket :lol:) and with a bit of a chill this will be really good...... and dangerous

The colour took me by surprise don't ask me why I thought it would be darker and not as blonde.. was yours the same?

Yes mine is pretty pale. Unfortunately all the pint bottles are brown so will have to wait until I pour one to see how it looks in the glass.
 
Decided to try and attempt to take a hydrometer test of part two just to make sure it hadn't got stuck or anything.. had to tilt the FV and its somewhere between 1010-1020.. couldn't get an accurate readingas it just kept plonking on the bottom

According to brewmate it should be around 1017, So yeah this is going to be an 8%er!! :shock: drew a tiny bits its really clear like the first part a big IBU whack.. will probably dry hop at the weekend, I decided to keep this in the FV a bit longer to just bulk age a bit.

Popped part 1 test bottle in the fridge to chill , I will remove and let sit for a bit before poring tomorrow night
 
Did have my last slightly more sediment bottle Friday have been away all weekend at legoland with the kids so even now I am shattered.

I will do a better test Friday with a hopefully clearer bottle and possibly a picture but I can say its a great drink. despite being strong which you can taste but not too much, it has some malty and sweetness which you can smell and taste a very solid bitterness at the back and a citrusy hop flavour coming to the front..

Similar but the not the same to something like proper job which I know uses different hops but it is certainly in that style.

For a strong beer thats young it is very very drinkable, not sure it would be for everyone though.
 
A whole weekend in Legoland? Jesus.

:lol:

Tell me about it, my other half had tickets to the good food show friday so spent all day there , then two days back to back at lego land with a backpack of clothes and food water bottles and often a child on my shoulders.. then a 2 hour drive home last night... today is going to be a struggle.

If I remember ill dry hop part 2 tonight, I cannot even set my mind into when I am going to bottle it today..
 
Part 2 bottled I ideally wanted to leave it a few days longs do the dry hop was 5 days but 3 should be enough..

part 2 is nearly 8% i think (7.5-8) I had a sip and while you can get some of the malt flavours and the cirtusy hop as such I cannot deny this does taste strong a lot stronger which kind of is a little overpowering at the moment.. I am judging soley on a scoop of the dregs so you cannot be accurate but think it has perhaps became a little unbalanced at the minute anyway..

Funny part 1 despite being 6.5% seems drinkable off the bat but this one I think will take a little while longer to mellow out a bit which given it was dry hopped I probably have a shorter window to drink it at its best..

I will crack one open in a couple of weeks and see anyway .

Could the fact that because I was so efficient with part 2 could that have effected the utilisation from the hops?

I am looking forward to comparing the 2 when they are both at their best. I do not think I will be doing a split batch again anyway anytime soon, hopefully moving on to fuller volumes.
 
I did have another try on the sample as I stuck it in the fridge to chill.. It didn't taste as strong I think the chill helped and it was more strong and bitter/citrusy..I think its actually okay but needs to carb up and a few weeks to blend and condition.

Will probably prefer the original just because it feels a bit better balanced with the hops. I have some chilling tonight so will try one later and report and will continue to report about this
_______

Overall I have really enjoyed this kit, probably not what HBC wanted with a split batch but its given me (someone who is still relativley new to the AG world) an opportunity.

Also this was quite a big and bold kit like you'd expect from a DIPA, high on the flavours, hops and ABV. the Ingredients were great fresh and I have never used leaf hops before. Something about them felt really authentic.

The final product at least I can comment on my first part as its now right in the drinking zone is a really well balanced beer, sweet maltiness which really comes through despite a whack of the IBUS and hop profile. ( I almost sound like I know what I am talking about).

Would I do another one their kits again?? certainly infact I am planning on getting a boiler soon and from them it comes with a kit so ill be doing another one and I also plan on doing one with them possibly a saison as it will be mid summer..

I also want to try clibits sugestion of doing a stout, I plan that end of summer autumn so this will come in early winter. MyQuls one sound cracking and as I have never done one having a recipe to work to which seems proven to be great appeals.

So thanks to the mods for getting us involved in these and HBC have almost certainly gained a new customer out of me.
 

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