Punch Bowl IPA - update

Fermentation update. The first 2 days fermentation went fast and furious like all of the standard ale fermentation I've seen so far. Then, from the airlock and krausen activity; silence.  Temperature has been held steady right around 72F.

11/13/2015 - Fermentation check (day 6)
Gravity: 1.022
Taste: General taste is great. It's overly sweet as expected at that gravity. Definite yeast bite as so much is still in suspension. As described with this yeast, strong tropical fruit tones are already very noticeable.

11/16/2015 (day 9)
Quick visual check tonight, and to what do I see, krausen reformation and an airlock bubbling away.

I don't have much of an idea as to what the explanation is here. I see anecdotal references to this yeast hitting major growth phase around day 8. Still, I'm surprised to see it take off to start, then quiet just to pick up again. Airlock is smelling super tropical and delicious.

Punch Bowl IPA - brewday

The Brew

I’ve been brewing for almost 10 months. My brother introduced me to the hobby back in January and I was immediately hooked. He and I have continued to brew together when schedules align and when they don't I'm usually solo.  I’ve only made one IPA; attempted to anyways. The one attempt was a Blind Pig IPA clone last February. That batch was tragically lost when the airlock clogged with hop debris after 24 hours in the fermentor. Was I lucky enough to have it blow the bung and spray down the room? Nope, this one pressurized and blew out the bottom of the glass carboy sending 6 gallons of sticky young hoppy beer all over the entryway and hall closet. Since that batch, I haven't really desired to brew another IPA. There are so many commercial IPAs available that when looking for a hoppy beer it was never a challenge finding something far better than I could brew.

On a recent vacation to Tampa, FL I had the opportunity to drink (quite a few) Jai Alai from Cigar City Brewing. One of the things I really liked about that beer was the tropical fruit character mixed with the caramelly malt notes. Then I ended up ordering a vial of White Labs WLP644 Saccharomyces "Bruxellensis" Trois through my LHBS for a Gose that didn’t work out. So, in looking for what to make with the vial of Brux Trios I found numerous references [1],[2],[3] to IPAs who used this formerly classified as Brett strain for primary fermentation. Most all of those noted the tropical fruit, mango, papaya, and pineapple flavors.  I was set.

The grist for this brew was inspired by a Can You Brew It? episode of The Jamil Show where the guys worked on Nebraska Brewing Company’s Cardinal Pale Ale. I followed their recipe relatively closely, only bumping up the OG a bit and upping the hops slightly to get closer to IPA range of IBUs.

Reading online many reports of the small pitch size in this variety coming from White Labs, I was careful to use a large started to get my pitch rate up. Built up to a 2L starter of 1.040 3 days prior to brew-day. The aroma of the starter was in and of itself amazing. It smelt of tropical fruit almost like Juicy Fruit gum. In my limited brewing career I’ve worked with quite a few different yeast strains but never experienced such a different and bright smell from just yeast.

The Recipe

Grain/Sugars:
10 lbs. 2-Row (US)
1 lb Crystal 10L (US)
1 lb Crystal 20L (US)
12 oz Munich Light 10L

Hops:
0.75 oz. Galena @60. (A: 13.9%, B: 9.4%)
1.00 oz. Cascade @15. (A: 7.1%, B: 6.4%)
3.00 oz. Citra @ dry hop 4 days. (A: 13.65%, B: 4.5%)

Yeast:
WLP644 Saccharomyces "Bruxellensis" Trois (2L starter)

Extras:
1.0 tsp Whirlfoc @15m
0.5 tsp Wyeast nutrient @15m

Brewday

11/7/2015 - Brewday
The plan was for a fairly normal 'solo' brew-day. Executed as such, with a visit from the neighbor sharing a bottle of New Glarus Raspberry Tart brought back from WI. Good beer, a little too sweet and not enough tart IMO.

Executed the brew plan to a tee. My current system is a BIAB setup in a 15 gallon MegaPot 1.2. Heated strike water to 157F. Mashed in. Stirred in 1 tbsp lactic acid. Covered and wrapped in blankets. Mashed for 60 minutes. Initial temp 152F, ending temp 150F. Lifted bag off bottom for 10 minute mash-out at 170F. Pulled and drained bag and brought to a boil.  Pre-boil volume of 7.7 gallons with a gravity of 1.047. Once boiling, I followed schedule above, Cooled down to 70F, pitched onto the starter and placed carboy in temp controlled water bath.

Fermentation was actively bubbling through the blow-off tube in less then 4 hours and was rolling by morning the following day. After 2 days of fermentation, it appears to be slowing a bit.

More to come on this batch!

Complete brew details here.