English IPA - Yeast query

[Halfacrem]

A cancelled appointment leaves me with a free day tomorrow and with Christmas coming, I thought I'd squeeze another brew in.

I've decided to do an 11.5 litre batch of Greg Hughes English IPA, but use Progress in place of Challenger and EKG in place of Goldings.

Now, I have a half packet of US05 in the fridge, however Beersmith suggests this is an insufficient amount for this size of batch.

The question is, do I go with the US05 and risk under pitching, or alternatively pitch a full vial of White Labs English Ale yeast without doing a starter?(no DME to knock up a quick starter

I'd appreciate any thoughts

 

[McMullan]

I'd go with the WL vial. For an 11.5L batch that should be fine. An all EKG IPA is surprisingly nice :wink:

 

[clibit]

Half a packet of US05 should do a half batch, given that a full packet does a full batch?

EKG are Goldings, grown in East Kent.

 

[Halfacrem]

Thanks, gents

I pitched half a pack when I did a 1 gallon batch, so wasn't sure if it would stretch to 11.5 litres. I'll assume that Beersmith is being cautious and go with that as it needs using up.

 

[TheRedDarren]

Yup half a pack should be fine as you'd pitch a full pack for a 23l brew length.

 

[Halfacrem]

I'd go with the WL vial. For an 11.5L batch that should be fine. An all EKG IPA is surprisingly nice :wink:

My freezer is filling up so quickly with packets of hops, I'm looking for an excuse to use as many as possible :smile:

Where in Hampshire were you before going to Norway?

 

[Halfacrem]

Half a packet of US05 should do a half batch, given that a full packet does a full batch?

EKG are Goldings, grown in East Kent.

Do I take it there's not much difference between the two then? I assumed that as they were individually named in different recipes, they might have different characteristics.

 

[clibit]

They're all goldings. They are grown in different areas. Not much if any discernible difference. East Kent are meant to be the best.

 

[McMullan]

My freezer is filling up so quickly with packets of hops, I'm looking for an excuse to use as many as possible :smile:

Where in Hampshire were you before going to Norway?

Southampton originally. Then Brighton, Leicester and back to Southampton.

Don't worry about filling the freezer with hops. They last ages in there. IPAs soon use them up...

 

[Covrich]

You could use either but if it was me I would use the Liquid english yeast

 

[Halfacrem]

Southampton originally. Then Brighton, Leicester and back to Southampton.

Don't worry about filling the freezer with hops. They last ages in there. IPAs soon use them up...

Just down the road from me - Chandlers Ford.

I'm quite comfortable with the amount of Hops in the freezer, however, it still doesn't mean I won't get into trouble for it :p

 

[clibit]

Personal choice. The English yeast will attenuate less and create more ester flavours. So it will be sweeter and fruitier, and a little lower ABV. The US-05 will leave a cleaner, drier flavour, and a slightly higher ABV. Both can provide good results, but the main thing is to have a good fermentation with healthy and sufficient yeast, I think.

 

[Halfacrem]

Personal choice. The English yeast will attenuate less and create more ester flavours. So it will be sweeter and fruitier, and a little lower ABV. The US-05 will leave a cleaner, drier flavour, and a slightly higher ABV. Both can provide good results, but the main thing is to have a good fermentation with healthy and sufficient yeast, I think.

I've gone with the 05. Mainly because I wanted to use it up and I've got some DME coming and I would rather practice using a starter with my liquid yeast.

 

[Halfacrem]

I am starting to get some semblance of organisation going now!

English IPA safely in the FV. I nailed the SG figures (1.042 pre boil, 1.054 post boil - a little higher than estimated by Beersmith) but which should give me an estimated ABV of around 5.7%, which is exactly as predicted by Greg Hughes.

I decided to mash with the full mash and sparge water added together and I extended the mash to 90 mins. This went far smoother than my last attempt where I attempted to batch sparge after the initial mash. I think I disturbed the grain bed, which resulted in a really slow lauter.

I hydrated my S05 in a little water and it was blooming quite nicely when pitched, so hoping it will all go to plan!

 

[Covrich]

I am starting to get some semblance of organisation going now!

English IPA safely in the FV. I nailed the SG figures (1.042 pre boil, 1.054 post boil - a little higher than estimated by Beersmith) but which should give me an estimated ABV of around 5.7%, which is exactly as predicted by Greg Hughes.

I decided to mash with the full mash and sparge water added together and I extended the mash to 90 mins. This went far smoother than my last attempt where I attempted to batch sparge after the initial mash. I think I disturbed the grain bed, which resulted in a really slow lauter.

I hydrated my S05 in a little water and it was blooming quite nicely when pitched, so hoping it will all go to plan!

The original recipe was 1060 I think.. or at least thats what I got and my FG was 1017 pretty much exactly what he said .. But with 05 I think you will go down as far as 1012, it will be drier cleaner and a little less sweet but could well be really nice.. I made an extract brew with EKG and 05 at the beggining of the year and it was nice.

I am weighing up whether to dry hop with a little challenger and EKG or not..

 

[Halfacrem]

The original recipe was 1060 I think.. or at least thats what I got and my FG was 1017 pretty much exactly what he said .. But with 05 I think you will go down as far as 1012, it will be drier cleaner and a little less sweet but could well be really nice.. I made an extract brew with EKG and 05 at the beggining of the year and it was nice.

I am weighing up whether to dry hop with a little challenger and EKG or not..

Yes, you're correct. The book shows 1.060, however Beersmith estimated 1.051, so I was going by that. I'm hoping the end result will be pretty much bang on the recipe ABV. Beersmith is estimating 1.011, so it will be interesting to see if it gets to that.

I'm beginning to enjoy the whole staged measurement process. I might even start to understand it one day :p

 

[Halfacrem]

Bottled this little beauty today after 17 days in the Fermenter. Gravity down to 1.011, so really happy with that. 5.6% abv. Sample tasted lovely!

 

[Halfacrem]

I had a sample of this last night after about 17 days in the bottle. Compared to my Patersbier, which was brewed around the same time, this is much clearer and the carbonation is spot on.

As for the taste. All I can say is it went really well with the Curry I was eating. I'd added a little too much Hot Curry powder for my usual preference, so I needed it to calm me down a bit :whistle:

All I can say is that the IPA handled the job very well and I have serious doubts this will last very long!

 

[clibit]

Well played Crem, sounds a good'un. :thumb: