Brewhouse Sessions: Wet-hop 'Hurricane Harvest' DIPA

Results from the wet-hop 'Hurricane Harvest' DIPA brew session, they are a little off the mark, believe it or not we had issues - again! This little system just doesn't like this many hops.

Problems:
- my electronic scales are out of calibration which I didn't discover until after the first two hop additions so the beer may very well be more bitter than anticipated, the quantities could be off by as much as 10%, then allow another 10 - 20% either way for the guesstimate of alpha acid content.

- getting the wort out of the kettle with that many hops in there was the real issue. I stuffed the 2" kettle outlet with a copper pot scrubber, tested water flow through it which was great and since whole hops act as a natural filter knock-out from the kettle to fermenter should have been a breeze. NOT. The scrubbie became clogged nicely with proteins and other trub matter before the hops had the opportunity to build a filter bed around the outlet. Not good at all. I ended up getting all the wort in the fermenter after four long, sweaty hrs. I backflushed, I siphoned, I cursed, I pumped, I stirred, I prayed then I cursed at least once more. I mean really, there was no need of that, not at all. I ended up with about 30L of H2O blended into the wort from backflushing several times to unclog the scrubbie, that diluted the OG down to 17P/1.070. Thankfully the kettle is insulated and sealed to keep the heat and volatiles in the wort but crap, what a long steep on the finish hops. I think it's still going to be a fantastic beer, but I never want to attempt a duplication of this process!

Next year I am looking for nylon mesh body bags. Results below:

Brewhouse Yield = 79%      
- Actual = 81%

Target Colour = 9.7 SRM
Target IBU's = 78.6
Target Mash Temp = 152F/66.666C
- Actual = 153F
Mash Time = 20 mins
Boil Time = 75 mins
- Actual 90 mins
Brew Length = 570 L
- Actual 600 L
Target Plato/OG = 17.4P/1.072
- Actual = 17.0P/1.070
- Final Gravity = 3.4P/1.013
Potential ABV ~ 7.6%
- Actual ABV = 7.5%
H2O Added From Wet-hops = 32 L
Yeast - Ringwood Ale pitched @ 67F
Fermentation = 70F



Malts & Adjuncts:

Canadian Pale Ale - 160kg - 88.89%
Melanoidan - 5kg - 2.78%
Carapils - 5kg - 2.78%
Crystal 75 - 5kg - 2.78%
Cane Sugar - 5kg - 2.78%
Total = 180kg - 100%
Liquor/Grist Ratio = 2.9:1



Wet Hops @ assumed 5% A.A. - Wet/Dry Ratio = 5:1

Cascade @ 40 mins = 10kg = 49.4 IBU
Cascade @ 15 mins = 5kg = 8.6 IBU
Cascade @ 10 mins = 7.5kg = 9.8 IBU
Cascade @ 6 mins = 10kg = 10.8 IBU
Cascade @ 2 mins = 7.5kg = 0.0 IBU
Total = 40kg fresh wet hops = 8kg dried or ~ 3.65lbs/bbl hop rate
 - 3.5lbs/bbl hop rate

Primary fermentation = 4 Days
Crash Cooled Conditioning = 8 days
Tapped @ 12 days out from brew day


Knock-out time from the kettle to fermenter was 4 hrs which had me a little worried but the end result is a beautiful thing. It's tasting fantastic.