Hopatitus B

The B is for beer.

A few weeks back I mentioned preparations were under way to cook another batch of beer and asked on facebook if anyone had an idea of what I should cook next.

Noted ornithologist and man about town @ChicagoMedic suggested a hop forward pale ale, perhaps called "Hopatitus B."

 

Well, today I cooked that beer, here's the recipe.

1.5 lb Crystal 15L

8 lbs light malt extract (yes, I'm still cooking with extract)

30 mins  1 oz Chinook hops

5 mins 1oz Amarillo hops

5 mins 1oz Centennial hops

5 mins 1oz Cascade hops

14 days 1oz Cascade hops

14 days 1oz Amarillo hops

14 days 1oz Chinook hops

14 days 1oz Centennial hops

Pacific Ale Yeast WLP041 (to keep it from being too chewy)

Original Gravity 1.050 - target 1.056, estimated ABV 5.8%.

 

To say this is going to be a hoppy IPA is an understatement.  For you non beer types, my last batch had 1.5oz hops total.  This batch is 8oz.  It already smells delicious and hasn't even started fermenting yet.

 

It'll need a label...any ideas?

Comments

BGMiller said…
Wow.  Calling that hoppy is like suggesting the Pacific might be kinda damp.

As for a label....
I'm picturing quarantined rabbits.
Or some blend of the biohazard emblem and a hops cone.

And don't apologize for brewing from extract.  Makes perfectly good suds. 
I dabbled a bit a few years ago and hammered out a very nice dark wheat ale.  Wheat extract, a bit of black patent extract, and Hallertau and Tettnang hops.  The yeast has slipped my mind but the end result was dark as a coal sack but amazingly light on the tongue.  Man....might have to dig the pot and carboy out....

BGM
Thehappymedic said…
Thanks BG, I want to go all grain, but the investment on the setup compared to the extract cost doesn't break even for 50 batches. 50!  I like the rabbit idea...more to follow.
BGMiller said…
I never really looked in to all grain brewing.  At the time I was living in a little one bedroom apartment.  I had to boil my wort in a 2 gallon batch, transfer it to a carboy that I'd half filled with ice, and then make up the volume with cold water. 

Not ideal but it made for some nice beer.

My label for the dark wheat was a schnauzer profile with Rattenfanger Dunkleweizen in a Germanic script around it.
frankc130 said…
Break even on 50 batches? Rubbish!
All you need is a cheap cooler (rectangular ice chest for cans of beer sorta thing), some copper pipe and some corners and T pieces (get the kind that don't have solder included. Oh, and a small hacksaw.

Cut the pipe to suit the cooler and fittings so it fits snuggly in the bottom of the cooler. Definitely do not solder this together. Now take it apart, hacksaw some cuts about one third through the individual pipes. You'll also need a T piece in one of the end pipes pointing upwards for another pipe for a syphon. Put it all back together with the slots facing downwards.

Buy your crushed, malted grain (about 3 kg will make a 3.5% beer). Dump it in the cooler, add sufficient hot water at about 65C and stir it in. No need to "fly" sparge, just wait a while and syphon out the liquor into your boiler. Dump in more water and repeat until you have about 6,5 to 7 gallons. Boil up, add your hops as and when and beer will happen.
Malted grain is MUCH cheaper than extract.

The only downside is needing more plastic buckets (I use electric heating) than you had before.
Last thinks, you do treat your water, don't you? One Campden tablet will knock out all the chlorine and chloramine from municipal water. Gets rid of any phenol taste from the finished beer.
Thehappymedic said…
The trick is the old coolers.  I wouldn't even use my own old coolers, let alone some stranger's.  The trick is going to be the spring filter inside I think.  As with every step of this process I need to just do it, but I'm taking baby steps.  I'm now on my own grain recipes and will be planting my own hops as well.  The cooler set up should be easy and straight forward (as you mention and as youtube makes clear) but I'm goos for a few more batches.  Thanks for the tips!
Studentparamed said…
Note to self, don't read this recipe when tired 'cos the first ingredient I read was "1.5lb Crystal Meth".....
Sounds good ... here's to beer!