Pliny The Elder Part Two

By special request I am attempting the Pliny Clone once more. I have retooled the recipe to reflect my current mash efficiency and the knowledge I have around hop utilization. This one should be drier and have a touch more bitterness than my first attempt.


You can see the first recipe here.. PLINY!!


The following recipe is set at 85% efficiency, my set up is a beast at small amounts of grain. There is also 1lb 10oz of dextrous in this ale. Which is going to dry out the ale and drive up the ABV to 8%. 115 grams of Columbus at 14.2% Alpha Acid bring the bitterness, 30g + 71g of Simcoe bring the flavor & aroma. I allow for a gallon of hop debris and trub to be sure to collect 5.5 gallon of clean ale.

OG 1.070

PG 1.049

FG 1.011

EFF: 85%

ABV: 7.9%

SRM: 5.3

Mash at 151F for 60 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes. A healthy starter of Wyeast 1056 or US 55 dry yeast.

11 lb 4 oz 2 Row

8 oz Caramel 40

8 oz Carapils

1lb 10 oz Dextrous (corn sugar)

115 g Columbus 90 min

23 g Columbus 45 min

28 g Simcoe 30 min

71 g Simcoe Flame Out

28 g Centennial Flame Out

Dry Hop 1

28 G each of Columbus, Simcoe and Centennial

Dry Hop 2

7g each of Columbus, Simcoe and Centennial

Doing The Pliney Clone..

Finally! I have been wanting to do this clone for a long long time. In the recent issue of BYO Vinnie Cilurzo did an article on creating Double IPA's and shared a recent version of his famous Pliny The Elder recipe. His recipe had a simple malt bill and much different hop bill than other clone recipes. Notably omitting Chinook addition, Mash Hops and First Wort Hops. He had his mash efficiency at 80%, I average about 75% on my system. Still with the decrease in efficiency I was coming a little under both the SG of 1.070 and FG of 1.011. Increased the grain portions and really stepped up the sugar to keep this bad boy dry. Kettle hops act as a great filter for trub and break from the boil. I increased the amount of water to account for hop absorption so I am not left squeezing wort out. Also doing a Gypsum and Calcium Chloride mash salt addition to make the hops pop and get suitable brewing water for a lower SRM pale ale. Here is my modified recipe.

14C-India Pale Ale(IPA)-Imperial IPA


Recipe Overview
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.50 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.40 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.50 US gals
Water Added To Fermenter:0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.50 US gals
Volume Of Finished Beer: 5.25 US gals

Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.052 SG
Expected OG: 1.070 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Apparent Attenuation: 81.2 %
Expected ABV: 7.7 %
Expected ABW: 6.1 %
Expected IBU (using Rager): 246.4 IBU
Expected Color (using Morey): 6.0 SRM
BU:GU ratio: 3.50
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 67 degF


Fermentables

US 2-Row Malt 13lb 0oz 83.9 %

US Caramel 40L Malt 10.00 oz 4.0 %

US Carapils Malt 10.00 oz 4.0 %

Sugar - Corn Sugar/Dextrose (Dry) 1lb 4oz 8.1 %


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
US Columbus(Tomahawk) 13.9 % 3.50 oz 190.4 90 Min
US Columbus(Tomahawk) 13.9 % 0.75 oz 31.3 45 Min
US Simcoe 13.0 % 1.00 oz 24.8 30 Min
US Simcoe 13.0 % 2.50 oz 0.0 0 Min
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.00 oz 0.0 0 Min
US Columbus(Tomahawk) 15.5 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry Hop
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry Hop
US Simcoe 13.0 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry Hop
US Columbus(Tomahawk) 15.5 % 0.25 oz 0.0 2nd Dry Hop
US Centennial 8.5 % 0.25 oz 0.0 2nd Dry Hop
US Simcoe 13.0 % 0.25 oz 0.0 2nd Dry Hop

Mashing at 151F for 60 minutes.

India Pale Ale Night

Here are the suspects before the night began. The real standouts for me were Nøgne Ø "India Pale Ale" and De Rank XX Bitter. Of course Pliny and Gordon were true stand outs but I have had them a few times now. To celebrate it's return to Chicagoland We added Two Hearted to the mix. We also had a some SN Pale's for standards.

The De Ranke XX Bitter was a highly hopped Belgian ale with emphasis placed on the bittering additions. The aroma was light citrus with serious Belgian yeast phenol's in play but not in abundance. The flavor was pale malt with citrus rind and a bitter blast. Bitter almost on the sour end of the scale. It was fantastic and I kept going back to this one in my mind. It was similar in style to the Houblon Chouffe but more pale and less American hops.

Nøgne Ø "India Pale Ale" was fantastic. Last week we tried the "Pale Ale" and we also had the "Dobel India Pale Ale" this week. The Nogne IPA was a a deep brown amber with plenty of haze and sediment. I had to go on a nerd tangent and try to guess the malt bill. I was right on with crystal and Munich, I detected chocolate but that was not the case. Slight Amarillo in the nose along with Maris Otter breadiness. The flavor was a mix of cascade and Amarillo, sweet toast from the specialty malts. I will seek this one out, a really great IPA and a great change from 98% pale malt hop bombs.

Overall a great night a beer. Next week we will be focusing not on style but a single ingredient. With all the great Rye beers we have been trying, nod to Goose Islands Rye Stout, we are rounding up some Rye Selections. Maybe even some Fago "Rock And Rye".

This week we celebrate Kansas City and San Diego through two great Brew Hauls

This one almost didn't make it! We just barely missed check in at KCI, the most secure airport on earth, and were tagged with the evil yellow "late check in" tags. Needless to say my bag was flagged and opened. As I watched in horror as bottle after bottle was removed from between stinky socks and dirty t-shirts, my temper shot up. I know better than to approach a TSA agent about anything, so I had to hope this guy appreciated craft beer, or if anything the smugglers spirit. I have to apologize to my Wife for being completely intolerable for most of the flight. The bag was one of the first ones off at Midway. Felt just as heavy as when I left it and no signs of leakage. Once I got home, every bottle was repacked in the same manner as which I packed it. Big ups to the TSA for not stealing my Boulevard Barrel Aged Quads.


Thanks to BA's Tigerboo, JustinCurtis and NCTRNL for hooking me up with Boulevard BBQ's and Imperial Stouts. I hope the FFF and DFH treat you just as well as I know these will. I also picked up some Boulevard's new Single Wide IPA, which in my opinion is greater than the Double Wide, a more citrusy and floral hop that really comes through in the mouth. I also picked up some Avery New World Porter, a dry hopped porter, on suggestion from several KC peeps. For some reason we do not get this one in Chicago. On the end is Schlafly Bourbon Aged Stout. Had to grab this one and have a I-70 series of my own.







WOAH! Thanks to BA Engebrits for hooking this SERIOUS package. The AleSmith Yule Smith 2007 Summer Holiday was a welcome surprise. Speedway Stout, one of the top rated stouts by BA users. Horny Devil Belgian ale, looks like a large golden strong. Finally the Green Flash Grand Cru, one of my favorite Belgian styles.. Thanks and I look forward to doing a second Midwest Vs. San Diego trade.