For the second group clone-off within our Vancouver homebrewing circle, we decided to all give the Pliny clone as detailed in this link a go. I brewed this with Sean on his BIAB setup rather than my Grainfather system because I was not yet set up in the new place. With some adaptation to suit our system and what we had available, we brewed this recipe:
Grist:
14.00 lb Canadian 2-row
0.25 lb Crystal 60L
0.75 lb Dextrose
Hop Schedule:
0.5 oz Apollo @ 60m
0.33 oz Columbus @ 60m
0.25 oz Amarillo @ 45m
0.75 oz Simcoe @ 30m
Whirlpool addition: 1 oz Centennial, 1 oz Cascade, 1 oz Simcoe, 0.75 oz Amarillo
Dry hop @ day 5: 1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Cascade, 0.33 oz Columbus
Dry hop @ day 9: 1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz Cascade, 0.5 oz Amarillo, 0.33 oz Columbus
Fermentation: US-05, fermented in basement (approx 66F ambient) for 12 days
Bottle conditioned with 4oz dextrose for 5.5 gallons after 2 day cold crash
Specs: OG 1.069, FG 1.012, IBU 72
Brewed: Sep 8, 2016
Bottled: Sept 20, 2016
Brewday Notes: Mash and boil went smoothly, but we started the chill with immersion chiller and spaced out on adding the whirlpool addition, so the wort had cooled to about 135F before we realized it was missing. We added the hops and reduced flow on the chiller so it could get about 10-15 minutes in there while it dropped to around 120F. Then continued full-speed chill and collected around 5.5 gallons of wort in the carboy.
Tasting Notes:
Sep 29, 2016 – Hop character is pretty muted, surely due to our mess-up on whirlpool. Odd character to the malt, can’t figure it out. Tastes like a bad extract beer that’s been partly covered up by decent hop character.
Oct 10, 2016 – Odd flavour is still there though has declined a little. I expect it’s a fermentation by-product from perhaps lack of oxygenation or yeast health, since we didn’t do a great job of oxygenating to be honest and we pitched a single packet without rehydration. In retrospect, that was pretty dumb.
Oct 24 2016 – Yeah the off-flavour is here to stay it looks like, and hop aroma and flavour are lacking. Not a recipe I would re-brew but I do feel that brew-day errors are generally to blame rather than the recipe.
Dec 15, 2016 – I prefer this with some age on it, the odd character has diminished greatly and the hop flavours have melded nicely though of course have also lost some of their power. Quite floral, with melon and fruit flavours that I don’t typically expect in an IPA.