Pliny the Toddler Variants

Abby and I finished off both the Saison Sombre and the Wedding Stout this week, so it was a good thing that I had planned on brewing this weekend. When I finally managed to remind myself to get ingredients, my latest edition of Zymurgy had come that day, so when I asked Abby what she wanted to drink for a standard swiller, she pointed to a variation on Pliny the Toddler from a section on going from mash tun to good beer in 6 days.   I don't think I'm going to rush it that way, but it seemed like a decent recipe for a session IPA.   This will also be my first 10 gallon batch.  Now that I have a kettle that will handle that, I figured I should take advantage of the way things scale.

Unfortunately, Rebel Brewer didn't have WLP001 or WY1056 in stock, so I decided on WLP007 Dry English Ale and WLP575 Belgian Style Ale Yeast Blend.   I'll be splitting the batch and trying some different things.   I also accidentally only got one pound of Carapils, so I made up the gravity difference with some Wheat Malt and the last of my Caramel 20L.   The wheat should add some additional protein and help out with head retention, and the Caramel Malt should just add a little sweetness.   My current plan is to ferment with the belgian yeast in my brettanomyces fermentor and add some oak cubes that spent several months in the Old Funkulator (Bretted Old Ale).


Pliny The Toddler Variants

Batch Size (Gal): 10
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.26
Adjunct Sugar (Lbs): 1.00
Anticipated OG: 1.046
Anticipated SRM: 4.1
Anticipated IBU: 56.4
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time (min): 90

Grain
42.0% -- 7.25 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
42.0% -- 7.25 lbs. Canada Malting 2-row Pale Ale Malt
5.8% -- 1.00 lbs. Carapils (Dextrine) Malt
2.7% -- 0.47 lbs. Wheat Malt
1.7% -- 0.29 lbs. Caramel 20L Malt

Sugar
5.8% -- 1.00 lbs. Turbinado Sugar

Hops
1.25 oz Warrior (Pellet, 13.7% AA) 60 min.
1.25 oz Columbus (Pellet, 13.9% AA) 10 min.
1.38 oz Centennial (Pellet, 8.8% AA) 10 min.
1.38 oz Cascade (Pellet, 5.4% AA) 0 min.

Yeast
1/2 White Labs 007
1/2 White Labs 575

Water Profile
Clearview, degassed overnight
3/8 teaspoon Calcium Sulfate

Mash Schedule
Sacch. Rest: 90 min. @ 152F

Extras:
26 drops Fermcap-S (to prevent boiling over)
2 Whirlfloc tablets

Notes

• Brewed on Saturday, October 29, 2011
• Actual efficiency: 67% (I'm starting to think my efficiency problems are ingredient related, rather than process)
• Pitched yeast into each fermentor at ~9PM.   The wort was down to 64F, and it's 62F in the cellar.
• 6:30AM Monday, both beers are fermenting happily.   the 007 has a bit more kraeusen, but the 575 is catching up to it. 
• Beers rose to about 70F, after I covered them with a blanket, and they are now holding there with the use of the heat mat.   The 007 is pretty much finished, and I'm giving it another day at the warmer temp before letting it chill back to cellar temp (61F, currently) for a few days.   I added the brettanomyces infected oak cubes from the wedding stout keg to the 575 fermentor on Tuesday (11/1), and it still has a nice layer of foam on top, so it will sit around in the fermentor at least until I have another empty keg. 
• The 007 beer is carbonated and is getting swilled down this weekend.  It's quite hoppy, but the malt flavor is still there, and there's a nice sweet fruitiness with the yeast, even though it finished out quite dry

Chevre and Jalapeno Jelly sandwich

Abby made some sourdough last night, so we wound up having bread, cheese, and just random pickings of fruit and such today.   

For a wedding gift, one of the band members gave us a jar of home made jalapeno jelly, which is absolutely delicious.  

We decided to participate in the "cheese lovers" share at Doe Run Farm CSA, so we got a big log of Belle Chevre, that we've been slowly working on this week. 

Abby came up with the idea of the sandwich, but I thought it sounded like a great idea.   Comfort food, but weird.   Weird in a really tasty way, though.

2 slices sourdough (home made is best, of course)
spread Chevre over 1 side of one slice
spread jalapeno over 1 side of the other slice

Slap the slices together and eat it.   Sweet, sour, smoky, spicy, creamy...   this hits an awesome chord in your mouth.