Making the best IPA I can

Okay, time to stop bouncing around with styles. I LOVE IPA's,  bitterness, yum, floral hops yum, massive  biscuity malt base yum. Thats my idea of the perfect beer.

So while I am still a lowly extract brewer I have decided I will do my utmost to brew what I like and to make it awesome. No more bouncing around different style just cause I can. time to brew with purpose!

I professed my inexperience to the kindly gentleman at brewers coop and he said that the mangroves jacks british series produced a very nice IPA. Plus instead of brewers sugar (blah) I got directed to some light malt extract.

I recommend everyone to try malt extract at least once in their lives, its god damn delicious! whoops I spilt some on my hand?! oh noes, I better eat it! nom nom nom.

I used my lovely spring water and a little bastard mashing of carapils malt. It never ceases to amaze me how sweet the liquid gets. First time I mashed in a bag and I got a dry spot in the middle. I sampled. wow can still taste the sugar. Tonight however with my slightly modified bastard method I had no dry spots and now more sweet grain, got all those lovely sugars out. And for the first time eye witnessed the hot break. The magical moment when the boiling wort foam suddenly breaks down. I almost  feel like a real brewer!

I stirred for HOURS (minutes really) to nicely aerate so to give my yeasties a good head start in life. Sniff, those poor bastards will be giving their lives, and THEIR childrens lives in honour of making my beer. (yeah I don't recycle yeast yet.)

So while I lust after 30L stock pots, copper wort chillers, chilly bins with a bung for mashing, unlimited litres of gas and three ring burners from bunnings, extract brewing will be my main stay.

my wort a chillin

25/10/12
OG 1.05

29/10/12
My brew is downstairs where the temperature is constant and cool. Read out says 18 degrees all the time. Nice. Keep bubbling little yeasties.

30/10/12
SG 1.02 woo its fermenting fast, just a few bubbles now, few more days ought to finish it off. Taste test, hmmm we will see. Not quite the hop bomb I'm aiming for, but Its a good base to work from.

1/11/12
SG 1.015 nice, sitting at 4.58% alcohol. Tasting good, been kept nice and cool.

3/11/12
SG 1.015 excellent, fermentation is pretty much done. Might leave till next weekend to bottle. Another week for yeasties to work their magic.

6/11/12
Good god, I've split the batch. I am dry hopping one to extremes. 30g zythos. 30g, cascade, 30g hallertau wakatu and 15g amarillo. Jeebus.

11/11/12
Bottled. 17 days in the fermentor. Not enough? Bulk primed with DME. Messy scary stuff.