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orig recipe was for 75% efficiency and 6.5 gal -- over shot efficiency to 85%+ and added 1/2 gal water toward end It is now realized that oxidation during mashing has several unwanted effects. Wort gets stale. Proteins containing free-Sulphur Hydrogen groups are oxidized and sulphur-sulphur bonds then formed between them can cause these .... The impact on the final beer is a lack of certain positive flavours – less maltiness, greater astringency and overall dull flavour. Other severe forms of staling (cardboard, aldehyde) may result. Fortunately all this is preventable with the simple technique of adding 20-30 ppm KMS to the mash. There is even now a special kind of anti-oxidant malt that is produced in Europe.

Notes

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/172366/myrcene-in-time-galaxy-citra-amarillo-1st-place-in-the-2013-1st-round-of-the-nationals http://handsonbrewing.com/brewers-reference/process/dry-hopping-the-proper-way/ Date: June 25, 2012 Author: Dennis Categories: Uncategorized I love IPA. If I had to pick the one style I always go to, pick out different commercial examples of, and drink the most of, it’s American IPA. I love the fresh hop character and how it simply makes the style so distinctive. However, getting that fresh hop character is elusive. The real key to any really good IPA is dry hopping. There are also other styles that can benefit from this practice. Dry hopping is the technique of adding hops directly to partially fermented beer (or fully fermented in some cases) and leaving them in contact for a period of time. The theory being that the hops impart fresh flavor and aroma but no bitterness. While this is true, the technique used in dry hopping plays a pivotal role in what kind of hop character you are going to get. When I first attempted to do dry hopping, I put whole hops into a keg of carbonated beer for about a week. The result was vile. It was grassy and tasted like chlorophyll – a perfectly good waste of hops and beer. I wondered how in the world the big boys got such great hop character from dry hopping and I ended up with lawn clippings on a hot August day? I found out at the 2006 National Homebrewer’s Conference in Orlando, Florida. I attended a talk given by Matt Brynildson from Firestone Brewery in California where he discussed hops in general, and their technique for dry hopping. He described a process where the hops were introduced in the primary fermenter and allowed only a specific contact time before being racked off. He stated that the action of fermentation was needed to “scrub” some of the undesirable flavors from the hops and leave the fresh hop character that was desired. This was exactly what I needed in my pursuit of the perfect IPA. I went home, brewed my IPA recipe and introduced the dry hops as he described, and the results were spectacular! Here was all that fresh hop flavor I was wanting. Technique is everything. I have read several different accounts of dry hopping by other brewers that claimed various degrees of success, everything from “awesome” to “orgasmic”. But none of them involve the technique described by Matt Brynildson. Although I cannot vouch for the other methods, I can certainly vouch for this one. So, without further delay, I present my “proper way” of dry hopping: You will get the best results from pellet hops. Pellet hops allow the best contact with the beer and tend to stay submerged better. Find the best possible hops available. The fresher the better. Your nose knows. If they smell pungent and fresh, they are good to go. After primary fermentation starts, wait for high krausen. As soon as the head of the primary fermentation starts to crash, this is the time to dry hop. We are waiting for the aggressive fermentation and blow off to subside, but still some fermentation to happen while the hops are in contact with the wort. From my personal experience, about 2 – 3 days into fermentation is the optimum window. There is not a hard and fast rule on the time, you just have to watch your beer and wait for the high krausen to crash. Get a sheet of paper from your printer from the middle of the stack. This will be your platform for weighing and adding the hops. Getting a sheet from the middle gives you a nice clean, unadulterated surface on which to work. Place the sheet on your scale and weigh out your hops on top of the sheet. You can fold up the edges of the sheet to help keep everything together. The weight will be totally up to you. For my IPA’s, I put about 6 gallons of wort into the fermenter and dry hop with about 2.5 – 3 oz of Centennial (my personal favorite). Whatever hop you choose, the aroma you smell from the hops is what you are going to end up with in your beer. Pick your variety carefully. Experiment with amounts and varieties to find out which works best for you. With the hops on the sheet, roll the sheet into a cone and use the small end of the cone to direct the hops into the primary fermenter. When all of the hops are added, install an air lock on your fermenter. When I ferment, I put a blow off tube on every beer until I am sure that blow off is done. I typically time my dry hop additions with removing the blow off tube and replacing it with an air lock. Swirl the fermenter to distribute the hops. About twice a day, swirl the fermenter to mix up the hops and help submerge them. You will find that some sink to the bottom but the bulk of them gather in a layer at the top. The swirling breaks up the layer and increases contact with the wort. You should note that the beer continues to ferment. After 3 full days, no more, no less, rack the beer into a secondary fermenter. If you added the hops at 6 PM on Tuesday, rack your beer at 6 PM on Friday. Three days of dry hopping is plenty, and more than this might give flavors that you don’t want. Don’t swirl the hops before you rack, you want to be able to leave behind the vast majority of them. Rack carefully, Once the beer is racked, give it a week or so to settle and finish any residual fermentation. At this point you can rack again to help clarify, or you can keg or bottle accordingly. I typically keg my beer after about a week to 10 days in the secondary. That’s it. The results will be dramatic if, like me, you have had unsuccessful attempts at dry hopping in past. You can also try my IPA Recipe. Try this technique and let me know what you think of the results.