Thursday, February 14, 2013

Mustache Rye'd IPA #2, Tasting Session

I hate taking inside pictures.....


Aroma: Grapefruit, caramel and a firm hop presence.  Consisting of mostly piney flavors.  I also get a small amount of sweetness.  Maltyness comes on to strong for the style. 

Appearance:  Hazy, burnt amber in color.  Foamy, thick off white colored head.  Long lasting foam rings down the glass during drinking.  This has cleared up very slowly compared to my normal IPA's

Flavor: I can tell the beer did not attenuate well, finishing to high, almost cloying.  The rye malt might be contributing to that perception.  Other than the perceived creaminess, the beer is remarkably drinkable.  Typical Nelson flavors including a red wine like tickle.  Including a grapefruit resin like flavor.  The hops are sharper, not as floral as I intended. 

Mouthfeel: Overly dextrinous feel, on the verge of slimy.  Good carbonation almost fluffy.

Overall Impression: This beer is not solid as it should be, I think the beer had some fermentation issues that cut into the proper attenuation of the beer.  Finishing at 1.017 was either to high or the overly aggressive rye malt additions (30%) are creating a faux sensation of mouth feel. 

Brewing Timeline/Notes:  This beer was a pain in the ass to brew.  I was pushing the limits on the Rye addition from the start.  Even with the massive starter I did I still had issues with the final gravity of this beer.  The cold snap here really took a toll on my fermentation ramping up schedule. Ending at 1.017 was, in my opinion way to high, creating a East Coast IPA feel.  I was really shooting for a West Coast hop bomb. 

I will continue to tweak this recipe, lowing the rye additions and messing with the hopping rate.  Until then I consider this one a "Work in Progress."


Here is the link to the original post.

3 comments:

  1. harumph! East Coast ipa...
    I only hate that because it's mostly true, but the East coast does have some great hoppy ipa brewers as well, now at least.

    I like to see these details about the brewing ingredients. It gives me a feedback loop w/out having to do the leg work, and gives me a leg up on my future attemps. Do you think the higher mash temp would lead to the residual gravity? Or do you blame it mostly on the grain?

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    Replies
    1. Aaron,

      After reading Mitch Steel's book, he states that the "Myth" of the malty east coast IPA is mostly untrue, yet the stereotype continues. I've had a lot of east coast beers from trades, etc and they (in my opinion) lack the hop presence that most west coast hop forward beers have. Some of the newer, better brewed beers from the east have been great, Clown Shoes, Lost Rhino, Cigar City etc.

      With that said, this beer had that maltyness that I really don't crave. I think its mostly associated with the rye malt. Now I love rye, almost all my beers have this addition. But normally it is 15% or less.

      As for the recipe, the link is above or go here:

      http://www.lewybrewing.com/2012/12/mustache-ryed-ipa-take-2.html

      For the next attempt, I am going to lower the Rye to 10% and raise the 2 row to make up for the lost rye malt.

      I am going to leave the hops alone for the next one

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  2. I was faking my umbrage, I know there are all too many east coast ipa that has plenty of bitterness, but don't get the with hop flavor / aroma. Anyway, I was actually going to say, that with 20% rye in my pale ale, I managed to dry it out, I think it was a happy accident, I totally blew my mash temp, and mashed at 145 for 75 minutes, I wonder if the flavor is right, but the body is wrong, a long low mash might take care of that.
    Cheers'
    AO

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Thanks for Commenting, Prost!