IPA Time, and free stuff!!!

I finally broke down and got everything I need for my IPA. This one is for me, as I think I'm the only one who really wants hoppy beer. My bro likes hops, but I'm painfully addicted to the stuff.

So, we bottled the red. We used several different bottle types, but the main difference is the sanitizer we tried out. Prior to this batch, I was just using a small amount of bleach in dilution to sanitize the bottles. This time I used a no-rinse cleanser which harnesses the awesome power of oxygen to clean. Hopefully this will diminish some of the strange flavors we got in our first couple of batches.

I've also developed a better note-taking system. Thanks to my previous job, I have a stock of crappy notebooks, one of which I now actually use. Anyway, we're keeping track of the ingredients we use, how long we boil, etc. This way we can modify our recipes in the future. For example, with the IPA we used Pilgrim and First Gold hops. So, if I like the way it turns out, I might use these hops again. Tada!

We are also experimenting with oak chips in this batch. We steamed them and threw them in the fermentation bucket (carboy I guess.) The theory is that this will add a little oak-barrel kind of taste, which is good for an IPA. The original India Pale Ales would have a heavy oak taste from the barrels they were stored in for the long trek to India from Great Britain. So authenticity is a goal. Or something. Also, for those who care, its OG: 1.051

Anyway, we are pretty excited about this new batch. We have several changes with this one, and I am pretty stoked to see how it goes.

On a completely different note, I received my prize from MidWestMicroBrews in the mail. Well, I had to drive the old FireChicken down to the Post Office, but that's beside the point. The prize included an awesome hat and polo shirt from Liberty Street Brewing. There was also a fine compliment of goodies from MidWestMicroBrews. Like a magnet for the beer fridge! Sadly, the package did not contain any brews from Liberty Street, but I'll just continue to check their website and put them on the list for our midwest brewpub crawl.

So, thanks fellas for the gear. Look forward to winning more contests in the future!

Peace.