Chinook IPA

Beer: Chinook IPA (extract kit from Northern Brewer)/ B3

Brew Day: Sunday, November 27, 2011

Music: Umphrey's Mcgee - Hall of Fame Class of 2010

Our third beer (Beer #3) is a Chinook IPA. I'm a bit of a hophead and I like IPAs. I also like the idea of brewing a single hop beer to better understand the flavor and aroma of a hop. This extract kit practically leaped into my digital shopping cart.

Chinook hops are a high alpha bittering hop. They were developed in Yakima, Washington in the 1980s from a mix of the Petham Golding hop and a USDA-63012 male. Their use has gone beyond bittering and have grown in popularity due to their spicy, grapefruit/citrus flavor and aroma. (source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4) 

Chinook Hops

This recipe included specialty grains that we steeped as the water heated toward a boil. The mixture was dark and rich. I dumped the grain in our compost pile after we were done. I imagine deer grazing in the moonlight.

Kim helped me pour and stir in the malt syrup and dry malt extract. Warming the malt syrup in hot water helped speed up the pour. I'm happy to report that we did not end up with a round, burned area in the bottom of our brew kettle this time.

The boiling wort and the hop additions had a strong aroma. I loved it. Kim noted that my daughter said it smelled like peas and tea. That strikes me as a fairly creative and valid description, and that's coming from an eight year old that is also a super picky eater. Maybe there is a reason why she is so picky and we have an up-and-coming cicerone in the family. Though the fact that she could live on processed chicken nuggets/fingers/tenders causes me to have my doubts.

Chinook Wort

Chinook IPA recipe:

• 0.75 lbs Belgian Caramil Pils (specialty grain)
• 0.25 lbs Briess Caramel 120 (specialty grain)
• 6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
• 1 lb Pilsen dry malt extract
• 1 oz Chinook hops (60 min)
• .05 oz Chinook hops (10 min)
• .05 oz Chinook hops (1 min)
• 1 oz Chinook hops (dry hop)
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale

The OG was 1.052. The kit states an OG of 1.050.

I made a yeast starter for this beer. I wanted to make sure the yeast was viable and I also wanted to have the experience of making a yeast starter. I'll provide details in a different post.

The stopper on the fermenter was bubbling like mad the next morning.

Rather than use a secondary fermenter, I plan to have the beer in a single, primary fermenter for a total of four weeks at 65 degrees. I'll dry hop at the beginning of the third week (my first dry hop!).