9 - Sheepgoat
Brewed 28 May 2016 | Kegged 4 Jun 2016 | Yield 17.5 L / 4.1% (11.9°P → 2.4°P)
One day, as everything about research seemed a little pointless (this happens with alarming frequency given how much I actually like my job), I was riding the 751 over the hill to Fluntern. It passes a few hillside meadows on the way from Dübendorf to Gockhausen. One of those meadows was full of grazing ungulates. I pointed out the window and said to Ariane, “Screw it, let’s go up in the mountains and raise sheep.”
“Those are goats”, she replied. And thus was born the name of this beer.
The recipe itself was an attempt at a light, sessionable IPA taking inspiration from Mikkeller’s various and Brewdog’s Punk and Dead Pony IPA recipes, modified through sheer if questionable inspiration.
Grain Bill
- 3900g Pale Ale malt (7 EBC)
- 350g Light Wheat malt (4 EBC)
- 270g Caramünch 2 (120 EBC)
- 100g Carapils (5 EBC)
- 80g Acid Malt (5 EBC)
Mash
I mashed in 20L water at 42°C, and ran a five-rest mash program. While all of the recipes I looked at to build the grain bill used a single-temperature mash, I decided to use multiple rests, honestly for no reason in particular. I took the temperatures from the previous recipe, but tweaked the timings.
- 20 min @ 63°C
- 40 min @ 67°C
- 15 min @ 73°C
- 5 min @ 78°C
An iodine test showed no starch remaining, so so far, so good. I sparged with 8L at 78°C, two liters at a time. Mashing out took about 50 minutes.
Boil
I boiled the wort for five minutes before adding the first hops, then added hops as follows:
- Bittering: 60 min 20g 13.3% Pacific Jade
- Flavor: 30 min 12g 13.3% Pacific Jade
- Flavor: 30 min 12g 11.9% Chinook
- Aroma: 2 min 25g 5.7% Cascade
- Aroma: 2 min 12g 11.9% Chinook
Pitching and Fermentation
Cooling to 23°C with an immersion cooler took 20 minutes. Initial gravity was 11.9°P. I pitched Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale; enthusiastic fermentation started after about 12 hours, and lasted four days. Final gravity was 2.4°P, for 5.1% ABV.
Kegging
I kegged a total yield of 17.5L after seven days in the fermenter, adding 100g light DME dissolved in 500mL water to the bottling bucket for priming. Carbonation from this secondary fermentation didn’t seem to happen, I presume since the seals weren’t sealing, so I pressurized to 2 bar at 19°C to make it fizzy after the fact.
How is it, then?
Yay! I made an iPA! And it’s in a keg!
It wasn’t quite as hoppy as I was hoping, and the malt character was a bit too sweet, probably from that relatively long dextrose rest, which is why there’s a revision B. This one aged nicely as well: it was completely drinkable after four weeks, and really quite good after twelve.
1: the small i is intentional.
