Round 3: Zero Pointe India Pale Ale: I've Arrived, Finally!

After two brews that came out good but had glaring mistakes, I was more determined than ever to make a beer that had all the elements of taste, volume, and style that I wanted. I was hopeful that the third time around would be the charm.

India Pale Ales are almost viewed as a cliche for brewers to do, especially at home. It's easy enough, just requiring a decent pale malt bill and a generous helping of hops. I wanted something a little different. But not out of style.

I wanted an amber-red IPA with a mixed grain bill and a heavy citrus hop/honey character. Most brewers dry hop their IPA's to bring more aroma to the nose before that first sip. I nixed that step. I went with a heavy hop bill but I rounded out the heavy-hitter hops with lower alpha acid hops to take out the bite. I wanted my brew to be crystal clear and I felt that Fermentis' Saf-Ale US-04 English Ale strain would give me everything I wanted. A fast, attenuative, firm floculating yeast. I could not have been more impressed. What I got out of this was an amazing amber-colored ale that, no joke, looked like it should have a 65 million year old insect in it. It didnt have a bug in it, but if it had, I would have taken a picture.

Zero Pointe India Pale Ale
Brewed: January 16, 2011
12lbs Pale Malt
1lb Crystal 15L Malt
1/2lb Honey Malt
1/2lb Amber Malt

1oz Amarillo Hops- First Wort Hop 60+ mins 9.1%AA
1oz Willamette Hops- 30 mins 5.3% AA
1oz Cascade Hops- 20 mins 6.8% AA
1.5oz East Kent Goldings Hops- 15 mins 6.0%AA
2oz Amarillo Hops- Flame-out 9.1%AA

2tsp Irish Moss Flakes- 15mins

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.006
ABV: 6.38%

Tasting Notes @ Kegging: 2/7/11
Very light on malt feel. Amarillo Hops come out strong at the front and then fade quickly. The rounding of the hop bitterness was well placed. Cascade hops peak through while others stay subdued. Beer in Pre-carb stage.

Tasting Notes @ 8 Weeks: 4/12/11
Hops fade to background as beer warms. Best served in a chilled but not frosted glass. Malt comes to the front and hops kick in later in the tasting process. Very good beer. Amarillo comes through strong, the rest take a back seat but are still noticeable. Love the honey notes coming from the honey malt. Very present all through the taste. Will brew again very soon.

Bottom line: I got well over 5 gallons of amazing beer out of this one and felt like I finally made it to the right place recipe-wise and in my brewing process. It really does take both. I've used a similar grain bill to this one in a more recent brew, but that will have to wait till a future posting. I find the grains to work very well together and they seem to give the right flavor balance for me in my IPA/APA endeavors. You can use a lot of hops or a smaller hop combination and it seems to keep everything in check, rounding off harsher bitterness sensations. This beer was what I imagined when I first started brewing. Was it luck or process or skill? Only time and repetition will tell.

Round 2: Dark Chocolate Stout

I love to brew beer, but after the first brew I did, there was a four month long whirl wind hiatus wherein my wife and I got married, our best friends got married, there were trips and various things that took me away from what I loved to do, but I wouldn't have changed them for anything.

The first time I ever tried Old Rasputin, my first real stout, I wanted to brew something close to it even if I could not brew the real thing. I found an interesting recipe on the homebrew forum I frequent. It was for a Double Chocolate Stout. It sounded all shades of delicious.

Double Chocolate Stout Recipe (Courtesy of Homebrew Talk Recipes Section) (Modified for my setup)

7.5lbs Pale Malt
1lb Crystal 77L Malt
1lb Chocolate Malt
1/2lb Roasted Barley

2oz Liberty Hops
0.5oz Saaz Hops

1pkg Saf-ale US-04 Yeast

1/2lb Chocolate Cocoa Powder (end of boil)
0.6oz Chocolate Extract (@ kegging)
12 oz milk sugar (lactose)(during fermentation)

After going through the mash I thought I was in good shape. I would forgo the search for iodine and go on time and my gut. For the most part it went well. After taking first runnings and following through with the sparge, I was pretty confident. That is, until I cooled the boiling wort and put it in the carboy. No F-ing way. There's even less beer than last time! The recipe called for 5 gallons and I got all of a little more than 3 gallons. I was heartbroken. I could go lower on the gravity I thought and after doing a little research, I found I could add boiled and cooled water to the fermenting beer without losing much. So I added 2.5 gallons. Bad move. The gravity plummeted from 1.067 to 1.042. Now, spare me, I was still a VERY new brewer and my confidence in my technique betrayed me a bit.

 I looked online to see what my final gravity might come out to and most said it would turn out either dry, or it wouldnt have much alcohol at all. After a week (the called-for fermenting time) it got down to 1.020...another big fail. That's almost 3% alcohol. This was gonna be a session or breakfast stout by the definition of it.

I tasted it and it was watered down, pretty much as anyone with any brewing experience would expect. It was still good, dont get me wrong, but it was a light, breakfast/session stout. I tried through the winter to kick this keg as fast as possible and move on. I will not make the mistake of adding water willy nilly again, that's for sure. Watch the gravity and if there's less beer than you thought, you may as well drink it an enjoy it AS IS rather than mess with a good thing on behalf of getting more volume out of it. That being said, I will also be more cognizant of my pre-boil volumes. For 5 gallons, assume 7.5 gallon pre-boil. If more, obviously add more and modify the recipes. Lessons learned. Again.