Frankenmash IPA

American IPA is one of my most-brewed styles. I really love the taste of a super-fresh IPA, although ironically enough, I find that homebrewed IPAs definitely tend to lose their hop aromas and flavors much quicker than commercial examples. That said, it doesn't stop me from brewing it: it just means I had better drink it up!

My usual recipe, however, was at a loss because I didn't have the amount of 2-row I thought I did, or Munich, or C-20...at least I still had the hops. Time for improvisation! I ended up supplementing with some wheat and victory malt to match the usual amount of grain and also hit the gravity numbers so it matched up with the IBUs. Oh and some black barley that got mixed in with my 2-row at the homebrew store when I went to crush the grain. Always make sure to give the little flap a good knock before starting up your own grind!

Of course, I prefer to have additional things to stress me out during a brewday; it helps me to achieve what Mrs. Brother Abelard likes to call my "Brewday face". The yeast was at its best-by date, so luckily I was able to worry about yeast health for awhile, at least until I got home from work to brew, and found out it started up just fine after all:

Finally, of course, there was the little moment of panic when I opened up my kettle filled with filtered water to find white stuff floating around. My initial thought was mold, but it smelled fine and tasted okay too. As it turns out, the white stuff was simply calcium that had fallen out of solution over time. Once I had heated the water and dumped it into the mash, the remaining stuff in the kettle dried into a fine, chalky powder. Disaster averted.

After all that, I ended up pitching the yeast at 11:59 PM, and it has been fermenting quite happily ever since. So happily, in fact, that I had to replace the airlock when I got home from work this evening because the first one became clogged with beer. In conclusion, the usual mantra follows: "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew". 

Frankenmash IPA
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Projected Pre-boil: 1.056
Projected OG: 1.065
Projected SRM:9
Projected IBU:71
Mash: 149F for 90 minutes
Boil: 60 minutes
Efficiency: 72.6%

Grains
82.2%- American 2-row Pale, 12 lbs
4.8%- Wheat, .70 lbs
4.7%- Munich, .68 lbs
4.5%- Victory, .65 lbs
2.1%- C-20, .31 lbs
1.7%- C-40, .25 lbs
.3%- Bits of Black Barley that got mixed in with my 2-row at the store, .05 lbs (estimate)

Hops
1.18 oz. Falconer's Flight (11%), 60 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 10 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 5 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), 0 minutes
1.0 oz. Falconer's Flight (10.2%), Dry Hop

Yeast
2 liter starter of WLP001
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient in starter; 5 tsp in boil

Notes:
Pitched yeast at 59F ambient; beer was 68F.
Temperature control set to 67F.
Fermentation large and in charge: had to replace airlock on 5/14 with new airlock.

~Br. Abelard