After careful consideration, I have made a new recipe to celebrate the summer heat, or rather to offer me some relief from it. In the tradition of one of our family lines (a very small part, but still a part), I am made my own version of an imperial Czech pilsner, titled Feelin' It. Considering the midwest has seen record heat for more than 5 days now, I figure the name was appropriate.
I tried to stick as close to the style while still imparting some of my own personal flavor into the mix. I am going to sit on the recipe for a bit and get some feedback from some homebrewing friends, but I like the direction the recipe took me.
I am hopefully going to be brewing this one within the next 24 hours, so I will be able to provide an update to the recipe, if there is one, and also let you all know about how the brewing day goes.
As always, drink well and be merry. Slainte!
Update 1: The beer gods have spoken and I have made my slight adjustments to the recipe and purchased my ingredients. Tomorrow, we BREW!
Update 2: The beer was brewed, and I must admit, that is one hoppy damn beer! The malt and hops are going to really come together as time goes on, but the chilling was something I was stuck on, until my inner MacGyver spoke to me. I ended up using a big storage bin, filled it more or less to the top with cold water, added a garden pump to circulate the water, wrapped a towel around the carboy to use the wick effect (pull the water up as it evaporates on top), pointed a fan at it to speed up evaporation, and have begun a rotation of replacing frozen items to bring the temp down even further. Let's hope it is worth my efforts and Richard Dean Anderson approves.
Update 3: Wow, what a crazy fermentation! I am literally speechless at the length of this aggressive round, with a krausen (foamy stuff on top) that looks like a B-movie monster. It has gone on for roughly a week, so I'm going to let it sit right where it is and continue the chilling regiment.
Update 4: The beast has finally returned from whence it came! The fermentation has calmed down in a big way, but I still want to give it a chance to really mellow out before a transfer.
Update 5: Finally, the first of two racking days has arrived. I moved the beer to the secondary vessel and sampled the product. The FG on this is around 1.011, which gives me an ABV of ~7.0, which is right about where I wanted it to be. The taste is totally hopped to the heavens, which will chill out with some aging, but that means being patient, and I'm already dying to try this one.
Update 6: 1 week of lagering in the chilling station down, 2 more to go. Then 3 weeks in the bottles (we all know I will be sampling them at the end of each week anyways).
Update 7: I sampled again, and it looks like not only was I right about the ABV (it has settled and is sitting pretty at just about 7%), but I am finally seeing it calm down a bit. Sadly, I fear the lack of the proper lagering temperatures will result in this being more akin to a IIPA, but I could be wrong. The nice thing is that even if this is not hitting the style I wanted, it is still going to be a fantastic beer! Sometimes the mistakes are the ones worth keeping!
Update 8: I bottled this 8/10/2012 and I am already surprised. The slightly harsh alcohol flavor not only mellowed out, but the beer is becoming delightfully smooth. I have a feeling this will be a fun one! For those that are interested, I primed with 5 ounces, allowed the carboy to reach a moderately warmer temp to avoid any shocks from the sugar, and finished in about 20 minutes (bombers make ALL the difference).
Update 9: I tasted this 2 days after bottling, to see if the conditioning was occurring, and I am happy to report that the refreshing pssst escaped from the bottle, and the head is already starting to form, even if it has a long way to go. 1 week tasting next weekend!
Update 10: I have given this one an extra amount of time for conditioning, and I'm pleased to say the carbonation is spot on. Unfortunately, due to the inability to maintain the consistent lagering temps, I find that the pilsner aspect of this is severely lacking. Is it still a good beer and drinkable? Oh heck yeah! It just isn't quite as crisp as I would like it to be. Plus, I think the time of it sitting out for so long combined with not quite enough hops made the hoppy aroma and taste die off rather quickly. I already have formed a new plan of attack for this one the next time I brew: 3 times as much hops during the boil (some bittering, some aroma) and 2 times as much during dry hopping. Oh yeah, and the next time it will be lagered properly at 40 F the entire duration. The rig worked for what it was worth, but I would not recommend that to anyone else that wants to get those cellar temps. So, this one I will chalk up to the universe getting the best of me...for now. On to the next brew!
Update 11: After 3 weeks in bottling, this beer has not only finished its work, but damn what an easy to enjoy brew! I have to admit, there are some imperfections due to the changes in the temperature while I lagered it, but nonetheless, this is very drinkable and has a nice strong head and a hint of citrus on the head. Next time, there will be more hops in the boil and the dry hopping. I want this to be a flagship beer, so the recipe will be tweaked to represent that. To the next batch!
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