My first post-retirement batch
Did a Pliny the Elder double IPA clone today. Pliny is a 100-rated canonical West Coast IPA that never makes it out of California, but it’s legendary. The recipe I got was supposedly approved by the brewmaster, Vinnie Cilurzo. It’s a big, hoppy beer:
- 13 lbs Briess 2-row
- 1 lb Carapils
- 6 oz Crystal 40
- 2 oz Cascade leaf (Mash)
- 2 oz Magnum (90 min)
- 1 oz Simcoe (45 min)
- 1 oz Columbus (30 min)
- 1 lb Dextrose (30 min)
- 2 oz Centenial (Whirlpool)
- 1 oz Simcoe (Whirlpool)
- 3 oz Columbus (dry hop)
- 1 oz Centennial (dry hop)
- 1 oz Simcoe (dry hop)
- Safale American US-05 yeast
But note the Cascade leaf hops. They’re added in the mash. I’ve never seen or heard of that before – I don’t know how you’re going to get any hop extraction at 170 degrees. We shall see. And who the hell am I to second guess Vinnie Cilurzo?
Somehow, brewing on a Thursday is much less stressful. I of course used to brew Saturday or Sunday, because it takes about six hours from start to finish. So it’s the weekend, and there was always something that I should be doing on the weekend besides brewing, so I always felt a little rushed. This was… zen-like. I had absolutely nothing to do except brew. I wasn’t trying to fit in anything else around it.
I’m starting to get used to this.