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60, 90, 120 minute IPA?
All day at work I browse these forums, think through my next brew, and ponder beer related questions... and sometimes do work, of course!
Anyway, here is a result of one of my ponderings - Dogfish Head makes these 60, 90, and 120 minute IPAs. I assume these titles reflect the boil times, yes? Is boiling my wort for an extra hour combined with adding a high gravity yeast the secret to creating a quality high gravity brew like the 120 minute?
Why is the 120 minute so damnexpensive for a 4pack? Yes, it is something like 20%, but still!
That is all.
Also - I read Cubx's post in another thread about how young the forum is and want to say that when I joind I never knew it was a month old! However, I have noticed a pretty significant increase in daily posts and new members! I love it!
Let's keep it up!
Well in the case of 120 Minute IPA, thats a huge grain bill. Just because they make it in much larger quantities than we as homebrewers do, it still costs them a lot of money to brew something like that. The grain bill for the 120 Minute is easily twice as big as 90 Minute. Then add in all the extra hops it takes...it all adds up pretty quick.
To make a quality high gravity brew...well theres a lot of tips and tricks that can be utilized for any big brew. If you are looking to get into that 18%+ area, you are going to have to use some kind of high gravity specific yeast. But if you are shooting for something in the 13% range, I've used US-56 successfully. Here's a couple of things I found really help:
1) Make a starter and step it up at least twice - get those yeast cell counts up!
2) Full boil, including what will evaporate (6 gallons for a 5 gallon batch, etc.)
3) Use sugar to help raise the alcohol without raising the FG
4) Aerate your wort
5) Give it lots of time to ferment, making sure you keep your fermentation temps steady
Oh, and you might give Fred's page a read:
http://www.beerdujour.com/Howtobrewabigbeer.htm
DT
The numbers in th Dog Fish IPA's do reflect the boil times, but also how long they continually add hops. So for the 120 min they are adding hops continually for 120 minutes. Then, as if that wasn't enough they dry hop it once a day for a month then age it for a month on the whole leaf hops. I bought one ($8.00 for a 12oz bottle, OUCH) and it was a very good IPA probably one of the best that I have had but, I don't think that I would spend that much on it again though.
Great tips and good link dmofot. For the really high gravity beers I have had some great luck with the Wyeast 1728 and th expecially the WLP099.
Cheers to BIG Hoppy goodness, long live the IPA
i was always under the impression that the minutes were designated drinking times, the 120 has the highest alcohol and the 60 minute had the lowest. I could be wrong though. I downed a few of these on two dollar draft night at the bar down the street and got toasted.
Do most IPA's generally have higher alcohol content?
Not necessarily, usually just a higher IBU.
Speaking of Dog Fish IPA's I was drinking the 60 Min during the super bowl last nite, what a great IPA.
Cheers
I haven't tried the dog fish IPA yet.
I'm fairly hooked on and IPA called hops infusion by weyerbacher
Speaking of the costs, at least where I live in Portland, we can get a good chunk of microbrews from Europe and the East Coast, but there are many factors contributing to the cost. For one, when the specialty beer stores buy Black Death Stout, they probably aren't buying 20 pallettes of it, rather, a few half racks at best. No quantity means higher price. Then the cost of shipping it.
I've seen some beers go for almost $5 a bottle, which I think is VERY high, but on the other hand, if nobody else carries it, what are you going to do?
Also, as was mentioned, the grain bill adds to the cost. Down in Salem there is a store called Capitol Market. Fairly sleazy, but a great microbrew selection. They have beers from breweries I had never heard of. Many of the sixers ran $8 or $9. While that is high, I'm sure they are paying a premium to get those distributed here.
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