Experimental New England IPA

I've been itching to release this post for some time now. As I am writing and editing this post I am working on gathering some statistics to put in here so you will have some info to chew on. This brew was probably my most documented brew day I have ever done and I must say it is pretty nice to look back and read what all I did for it. I took lots of photos of the entire process. The reason I did this experiment is for the Experimental Brewing Podcast, it made me brew a beer I've been wanting to brew for some time, but really just didn't know where to start. Where I sorta failed at this experiment is that I actually used a Conan Yeast strain, rather than Wyeast 1318 London Ale III that the recipe suggested. I hope it doesn't throw them off with their data.

Brew Day: June 4, 2016

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 13 gal
Post Boil Volume: 12.00 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal (each carboy)
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal (each keg/bottle)
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 6.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.00 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.2 %

Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain
19 lbs Rahr 2-row
2 lbs Munich Malt
2 lbs Flaked Oats

Hops
14 g. Warrior (15.9% AA) @ 60 minutes
28 g. Centennial (10% AA) @ 5 minutes
28 g. Citra (12.5% AA) @ 5 minutes
28 g. Amarillo (7.2% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes
28 g. Centennial (10% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes
28 g. Citra (12.5% AA) @ whirlpool/hop stand 20 minutes

Other
17.3 g. Calcium Chloride
17.3 g. Gypsum

Water
17.25 gal. Distilled Water

Yeast
Wyeast 1056 American Ale
Omega OLY-52 DIPA Ale
* A 2 L starter for each yeast was made week prior - no stir plate, just intermittent shaking

Fementation chamber set to 64  degrees. Taped the probe to the furthers carboy and installed a small fan in the the chamber to recirculate the air.

Wort is chilled in the the carboy ready for pitch

6/5/2016 Evening after pitching. Wyeast 1056 took off first.

6/6/2016 - 7 AM - Still no sign of activity from the Omega Yeast

6/6/2016 - 6 PM - Omega Yeast has taken off!

6/7/2016 - 7AM - Both beers happily fermenting away

6/7/2016 - 7 PM - This is smelling super good

The lapse of time in between these two pictures was Homebrew Con. Ok guys, it was my first one to attend, I apologize for not documenting them daily while I was off drinking a copious amount of beer.

6/12/2016 - Activity is slowing down quite a bit

6/17/2016 - Looks like it's done with the super active fermentation now

6/25/2016
Dry hopped each primary fermenter with:
56 g. Amarillo (7.2% AA)
56 g. Centennial (10.0% AA)
56 g. Citra (12.5% AA)

7/3/2016 - These samples are from the carboy. Can you tell which one is which?

7/3/2016
Keg conditioned each keg with 3.6 ounces of table sugar and 3/4 cups of water. Simmered for 5 minutes.

Wyeast 1056 FG - 1.010
Omega OLY-52 FG - 1.012

7/18/2016 
The kegs went into the kegerator to chill

7/21/2016 - First triangle test

Omega DIPA on the left, Wyeast on the Right

A little stats here for ya. Out of 25 total testers 20 of them picked the correct sample. I must know some people with really good palettes. Of the people who commented, it seemed that the Wyeast 1056 sample was the favorite among the two samples. Personally I like the Omega DIPA because it has a softer mouthfeel and doesn't come across as sharp as the 1056. Me personally I think I get a slight touch of diacetyl in the 1056 sample. No one else mentioned this, but I would have written that down on a BJCP score sheet. There was a BJCP judge that tasted the samples and he didn't mention the diacetyl either, so maybe I'm really sensitive to it.

This was a really fun experiment. I plan on doing more of these for sure. I appreciate the Experimental Brewing Podcast for pushing me over the edge and doing something scientific like this. Lets me geek out even more on beer.