Palilalia India Pale Ale - Parts 1-3

As noted in my previous post, my time has been spread among a number of projects recently and I've failed to keep up with posting as much as I should. It is for that reason this post is an amalgam of what would normally be three posts on this blog: brewing, transferring to a secondary fermenter, and bottling. My apologies for failing to keep up with the blog and for what is sure to be a longer than normal post. 

Enjoying a White Rascal soon after graduation

I've mentioned a couple of times now that I graduated from my graduate program in May of this year. It is increasingly looking like I will end up moving away from Colorado and the beer Mecca that I've been so lucky to grow up in (yes, I'm a Colorado Native). Thus, I think it is quite fitting that what may be one of my last beers brewed in Colorado is an IPA. For those who don't follow the craft brewing scene or are unfamiliar with the booming one in Colorado, nearly every brewery here has a signature IPA (a notable exception is the Dillon Dam Brewery). One of my favorite things about these strongly hopped pale ales is their variability in style. While some variations are rather dry and make a point of highlighting the malt flavors and bittering hops that go into their creation, others add less common ingredients such as citrus, pine, and vanilla to their IPAs to give them a unique character all of their own. Ultimately, there's something for everybody here and I'm happy that I can share my take on one of Charlie's IPAs.


So, without further ado, here is everything I've done with the Palilalia IPA thus far:


A variation of an India Pale Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
O.G.: Unknown - whoops!
F.G.: Unknown - whoops!

Ingredients:

• 5.5 pounds Munton's Amber Dry Malt
• 1.0 pound Medium Crystal Malt
• 0.5 pound  Roasted Malt Barley
• 2.0 oz Northern Brewer Hops (boiling, fresh)
• 1.0 oz Cascade Hops (finishing, fresh)
• 0.25 oz Sweet Orange Peel
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 3 oz Hungarian Oak Cubes
• Yeast: WYEAST 1056 American Ale
• 0.75 cup Corn Sugar
• for bottling

Two-Stage Fermentation

I brewed the Palalia IPA with the help of my friend Elyse on July 15 partially because she offered me a kitchen in which to work and partially because she'd never brewed beer before. I did very little in the way of preparation and brewing so that she could get the best and worst of the brewing experience and, I must say, she handled everything like an old pro - I'm always impressed at the reactions people have when brewing for the first time, which seem to range from complete and utter boredom/disgust to ardent enthusiasm. 

Adding dry malt

The brewing process went smoothly with no hiccups in terms of sterilization, forgotten/mismeasured ingredients, or general calamity (although, we did forget to take the OG before adding the yeast). As with most of my previous brews, I wasn't able to get the exact ingredients called for in the recipe and had to substitute a few. Perhaps the only notable substitution is the roasted malt barley that I had to use rather than toasting my own (am expecting more of a roasty flavor than a nutty one). Unfortunately, my local homebrew store was out of every other ideal type of barley at that time. In contrast to most of my previous brews, I made additions to this recipe. Originally, Papazian's instructions called for slightly fewer hops and no orange peel. I added both simply because I had them lying around. In retrospect, I wish I'd had some bitter orange peel to accentuate that character in the brew, but alas I did not and am hopeful that this batch will exude a unique bit of citrus. The Hungarian oak cubes were added on a whim as well. I've had a fair number of beers with a pleasant hint of oak left over from fermenting in oaken barrels and I wanted to see if I could add that character to what I'm hopeful will be a deliciously unique IPA. 

The carboy was stored in my friends' basement, which kept it at a nearly constant 75 degrees Fahrenheit for the entirety of the time the brew underwent fermentation. The typically violent first stages of fermentation were expelled by means of a fermentation cap and hose during the initial 36 hours or so, after which we transferred the fermenting wort and oak cubes into a secondary fermenter. When doing this we sterilized the oak cubes by placing them in a vegetable steamer for 15+ minutes. 

It wasn't until this past weekend that I racked the beer into bottles. My buddy SteveDave and I each had a batch to bottle and decided to help each other out - while drinking a few beers, of course (Chainbreaker White IPA and Eclipse Black IPA were among them). To do this, we had to transfer his carboy across town to our mutual buddy's house where we planned to go through the bottling process. Once there it was only a matter of time before my IPA and his apricot-laden summer ale (at least I think it was an ale) were safely and securely in their bottles. 

The IPA yielded a total of 44 12-oz bottles, equating to about 4.125 gallons total. I'm rather impressed by this amount as I was more conservative than normal in terms of leaving plenty of beer at the bottom of carboys when racking between them (to prevent dead yeast cells from affecting the flavor of the final product) and because the initial bout of fermentation spewed out nearly a half gallon of liquid by my estimate. 

I plan to allow the IPA 3-4 weeks to bottle condition before cracking any open. It's been difficult recently to find the time, motivation, and inspiration to update the blog, but I'm confident that I'll want to get the tasting review up as soon as I open it - this batch should be very unique!