Hop Hammer!

Finally back to brewing tonight! I brewed Jamil's Hop Hammer from Brewing Classic Styles. His recipe is essentially a clone recipe for Russian River's Pliny the Elder. After a couple months of searching I got my hands on a pint of Pliny and it was amazing. That basically made the decision of my next brew for me.

Steeping the grains

The brew was pretty uneventful. I am very happy that I am not having issues with process anymore. The only real issues for this brew occurred while picking up my ingredients. I couldn't get the amber malt extract that I needed. After talking it over with the folks at the LHBS I picked up some pilsner malt extract and added some crystal 40 to make up the difference. I also couldn't get simcoe hops. I substituted chinook for these.

Boiling away

I also had a couple of firsts for this beer. I finally was able to use my wort chiller. I got the correct adapter for my kitchen faucet today. I also sliced up my hands pretty badly on the threads. Somehow I had no blood though. It did speed up my cooling! I went from boiling to pitching temps in about 20 minutes. I think next time I am going to use the water to create an ice bath with the frozen 20 oz pop bottles I made. That should speed it up even more, and I won't feel like I am wasting as much water. I also did a 90 minute boil for the first time. I managed to get my water levels correct to make up for the extra evaporation. I did overshoot my gravity slightly, but I think this is due in part to just making up the crystal 40 fix for the malt extract.

patience.... patience....

I am really looking forward to this beer. I need to dry hop this beer in a few days. I tasted the wort after the boil for the first time. It was interesting. My mouth was filled with incredible sweetness followed by an intense bitterness. I am very curious to see the changes in the taste. Hopefully I can remember what it was like at this stage.