Daniel Bryg’s American IPA

This beer won the first place in the American IPA category of the NHC’s 2016 first round in the New York judging center.

OG: 1.065
FG: 1.012

Mash at 149°F for 1 hour:

lbs malt
13 2 row
0.6 caramel 60
0.6 Carapils

Boil for 90 minutes with the following hopping schedule:

mins oz hops
75 2.75 Columbus
45 0.5 Columbus
30 1 Simcoe
5 1 Centennial
2 2 Simcoe

Pitch one liquid serving (200bil cells) of RVA 104 – Hoptopper Ale. Start fermentation at 65°F and increase to 70°F over 1 week. Add 4oz of sucrose after 12 days (1.017 SG). Finish at 1.012.

Dry hop at 70°F for 3 days with 1oz of each Columbus, Polaris, Simcoe, Mosaic.

Then more dryhopping for another 3 days with 1oz of each Amarillo, Simcoe, Mosaic, Centennial.

For those interested in mash water ion levels (ppm):

Ca+2 Mg+2 SO4-2 Na+ Cl HCO3
72 0.4 127 4 25 30

Matt Chan’s NHC 3rd place Berliner

Congratulations (again) to Brewser Matt Chan for taking third in the National Homebrew Competition sours category!  Matt shared his prize-winning recipe.

OG: 1.031
IBUs: 1 pellet’s worth

20% acidulated malt (or enough to drop wort pH to 4.5)
40% Weyermann Pilsner
40% Briess White Wheat Malt

1 hop pellet of your choice

1L of nancy’s yogurt starter (1.020 wort + 1tbs of nancy’s yogurt held at 120 F for 1 week)

WY2124/ SafLager 34/70

[mash step 1]
1.25 qt/lbs @ 143 for 133 degrees. rest for 1 hour.

[mash step 2]
infuse to 1.7 qt/lbs to get to 150 degrees. rest for 15 minutes.
pull a decoction and bring to boil (10-15 minutes)
decoct for 20 minutes. add single pellet of hops to this stage.

[main mash]
return decoction until main mash hits 166. rest for 30 minutes.
add in acidulated malt to cap the mash and begin sparging.

[fermentation]
hold wort for 2-3 days ( or until completely soured) @ 120 in a container purged with CO2. I did it in a purged corny keg.

ferment out with yeast around 58.

Sour Stout

Jeff’s sour stout won the June 2015 in-club sours competition.  He shares his recipe and some thoughts here.

A few years ago, I had The Bruery’s Tart of Darkness a few times within a short period of time.  I remember thinking how smooth and clean it was and how well the acidity paired with such a dark beer.

Last year, I finally got around to trying to create a beer in a similar vein.  This was also the first time it had occurred to me to utilize a kettle sour, followed by a 100% Brett fermentation.  This would allow for a more complex beer, yet still keeping it as a quick turnaround sour.

I’m calling this a sour stout, mostly for lack of a better descriptor.  However, there isn’t as much roast character as I would normally expect for a stout.  While gathering the grains, I became worried about the level of roast and cut my dark malts in half.  I am happy with the result and would brew it again as is.  But if you would like the deeper roast character of a proper stout, this beer would definitely hold up to it.

Sour Stout recipe

Brewed 9/30/14
Kegged 10/29/14

5.9% ABV
14 IBU
37 SRM

13.0P – 2.9P
1.056 – 1.012

6 lbs 2 Row – Rahr
2 lbs Flaked Oats
1 lb C60 – Briess
1 lb Golden Naked Oats – Simpsons
8 oz Chocolate Wheat – Weyermann
8 oz Carafa II

Mash @ 148 for 60 mins
5g CaSo4 + 5g CaCl2 added to beginning of mash.

Kettle sour for 24 hours.  Chill to 120F, pitch a handful of uncrushed grain and hold between 100-120F.  (I wrote a more detailed kettle sour primer on Brooklyn Homebrew’s blog ‘The Boilover’.)

Boil 60 mins.
1 oz Styrian Goldings – 60 mins

100% Brett Trois pitched at ale pitching rates.

Ferment at 65F for 2 days, then ambient (70-73F) for remainder of fermentation.

*You could lower the pitching rate and/or raise fermentation temperature if you prefer more funk than fruit from your Brett.