Chuck Norris IPA

[TomFogarty]

Chuck Norris IPA
-   8 kg marris otter
-   2 kg 2 row
-   600 g crystal 30
-   250 g crystal 60
-   400 g honey malt
-   5 oz magnum (90 minutes)
-   2 oz cascade (60 minutes)
-   1 oz simcoe (30 minutes)
-   1.5 oz cascade (flameout)
-   1 oz simcoe (flameout)
Dry hop (14 days):
-   2 oz cascade
-   1 oz simcoe
(5 days)
-      1.5 oz simcoe

Trappist 3737 yeast      Batch volume: 5 gallons
Target SG: 1.121      Target FG: 1.025
Target ABV: 12.4%

I decided to finally jump on the IPA bandwagon since I've never brewed one before and summer's creeping up. Not sure when I'll get around to doing it, but I figured I'd throw it up here and get some constructive criticism. A full pound of hops might be a fun place to start

Just a few words about this beer recipe... you will not drink the Chuck Norris IPA. It will drink you.  

[Richard]

[TomFogarty]

I'm so glad there is now a meme for that  

So, Richard, you're the hop guy... any suggestions? Other than to get a flipping move on and start brewing it, that is...

[Richard]

It was on the internet for more than five minutes, so now there's a meme.

I'd get the Willamette out in favour of Cascade/Centennial/Amarillo/something similar, dump the Magnum from the dry-hop/30-min, and split the dry-hop into two at 14 and 5 days.

[TomFogarty]

There, made a few changes. How would you recommend doing that big of a dry hop? I don't want to get a siphon full of leaves, but I'd be concerned that throwing it all in a bag would limit the flavour extracted

[Richard]

If you use pellet hops for the dry-hop then they drop out of suspension onto the cake after a week or so, then racking isn't an issue. I'd avoid the bag - seems to limit hop utilisation wherever you use them.

3oz is fine for this kinda recipe, looks good to me

Two other things I'd suggest is be aware that to get non-shit efficiency with that much grain you're gonna need a serious sparge and boil, and that yeast is probably better off being S-05 and 1118 to finish.

[TomFogarty]

My efficiency is always shit so I'm not going to get in a knot over that. Why would you recommend that yeast? I'd think the 3737 would be more than up to the job, perhaps even the 1728 come to think of it... might add a favourable taste and it's pretty tolerant in high alcohol beers.
I'd prefer to stay away from champagne yeast in an all grain beer; I've heard it's no good fermenting complex sugars from malt. That's why in the barley wine I've got on the go I pitched liquid glucose to bump up to the final gravity.

[Richard]

Alcohol tolerance and attenuation aren't relative... 3787 is a bit Belgian for the job and the 1728 is quite a few points lower attenuation than California Ale yeast / S-05

[TomFogarty]

Maybe I could just knock a touch off the grain bill, or just make sure the final gravity is low enough for the beer to finish just below 12. Should be fine if I make a hell of a starter, then I can still avoid that wine yeast.

As far as the 3737 goes, it seems to ferment pretty clean without too much of that "Belgiany" taste. I imagine the S-05 would probably be better though

Where can I get S-05 yeast?

[Kyle]

With that much grain, I'd reccomend sparging twice and boiling down.

[Chris Craig]

With that much grain, I'd reccomend sparging twice and boiling down.

Or mashing in the bath tub  :mrgreen:

[pliny]

Tom, on the fermenting side - a suggestion to get the most out of this big beer is to maybe use the slurry from a previous beer. Otherwise you're going to need like a 4 litre starter (or 400 billion healthy yeast cells) to bring it down anywhere near 1.020.

[TomFogarty]

Perhaps I'll use the S-05 yeast on my next batch Thursday and try to pump one more out before the end of the semester so I can just use the yeast cake.

[pliny]

Yeah, just dump chilled wort on top of that yeast cake. It'll take off in like 10 minutes.

[Richard]

Gonna chime in again here; if you're gonna brew a batch with the intention of using the yeast cake then don't go above 1.060 (preferably 1.050) on the first batch, or the yeast isn't going to behave itself.