Houblon Bourreau v3

The unintentionally DIPA version…

Grain Bill / Fermentables

  • 10 lbs 2 Row Pale Malt
  • 2.75 lbs Munich Malt
  • 1 lb Crystal 20
  • 1 lb Victory Malt
  • 0.5 lbs Special Roast
  • 0.5 lbs Honey Malt

Hops

  • 1 oz Magnum (12.8 AA)
  • 0.8 oz Chinook (10.5  AAU)
  • 2 oz Centennial (8.7 AA)
  • 0.75 oz Simcoe (11.9 AAU)
  • 2 oz Amarillo Gold (9.5 AAU)
  • 2 oz Cascade (Dry Hop)

Yeast

  • Wyeast 1028 London Ale
  • Nottingham (2 packets, rehydrated)

Target Stats

  • 6 Gallons
  • OG 1.072
  • FG 1.018
  • ABV 7.05%
  • IBU 103.42
  • SRM 12.37

Final Stats

  • 6 Gallons
  • OG 1.082
  • FG 1.022
  • ABV 7.88%
  • IBU 97.83 (estimated)
  • Efficiency 86%

Prior to Brew Day

Prepare yeast starter.  This is a big beer, it’ll need all the cells it can get. Sadly, my Wyeast 1028 didn’t start, so I’ll be using two packets of Nottingham.

Brew Day (2018-06-23)

Heat 10 gallons of water to 162°.

Gently dough in grains until all grain is covered by water.

Mash grains at 156° overnight. (The temperature had dropped to 139° by morning, about 8 hours later.)

Remove “grain bag” and allow grains to drain.

Bring wort to a boil. (I boiled for an extra 20~30 minutes due to the large volume of wort after mashing and only having a small 6 gallon bucket. My 7 gallon Fermonsters are currently full of a fermenting stout.)

Once wort is boiling, add 1 oz Magnum hops and continue for 30 minutes.

Add 0.8 oz Chinook hops and continue boil for another 15 minutes.

Add 1.25 oz Centennial, 0.5 oz Simcoe hops and continue boil for 10 minutes.

Add 1 oz Amarillo Gold hops and continue boil for 5 minutes. (This is a good time to drop in the wort chiller.)

Turn off heat, add 1 oz Amarillo Gold hops and reduce wort temperature to 68° and take OG reading.

Sufficiently aerate and transfer to primary fermenter.

Pitch yeast starter into fermenter.

Allow beer 1 week in the primary to adequately ferment and cleanup any diacetyl produced during fermentation.

Transfer to secondary for 1 week adding 2oz Cascade and 0.75 oz Centennial for dry hop.

Bottle and wait another 2 weeks or keg and carb.

Enjoy!

Notes:

  • June 23rd, 2018 Brew Day
    • This recipe is adapted from Houblon Bourreau v2 with the only intended variables being an overnight mash and local water, but what is a brew day without a few surprises. 🙂
    • Added ~1/2 tsp gypsum and 1/4 tsp epsom salts
    • Added 3/4 tsp citric acid and mash pH stabilized at 5.15
    • Starting mash temperature was 156° and finished at 139°, 8 hours later.
    • Pitched yeast at 76°. I didn’t account for the local groundwater temperature being 85° and was only able to get down to 76° with the immersion pre-chiller. If I hadn’t rehydrated the yeast, I would have waited while the wort dropped to an acceptable temperature.
    • Fermentation chamber is 52° due to the high original gravity and small headspace in the fermentation bucket.
  • 3 hours, Yeast is going strong, producing a bubble every ~5 seconds in the airlock even as the temperature continues dropping.
  • 24 hours, Fermentation chamber dropped to 51.5° and airlock activity has drastically slowed. Raising the temperature to 54°.
  • 48 hours, Dropped the fermentation chamber back down to 52° due to the extremely vigorous airlock activity, which resulted in a dry airlock at one point. Switched from Star San to vodka to avoid airlock foaming and subsequent drying out.
  • 6 days, Airlock activity has slowed to 1 bubble every 30 seconds. Moved to fermentation chamber set at 65° to fully attenuate and cleanup any diacetyl produced. Fermenter is still in a 52° water bath, to allow for a gradual increase in temperature.
  • 11 days, took final gravity reading at 1.022 and dry hopped. The drops from the hydrometer taste amazing.
  • 15 days, transferred to keg and set to 30 PSI for the next 24 hours. The samples, cold and flat, taste excellent and have a wonderful aroma.