Something different, a beer recipe review : )

Sorry for the delay in updates, but life comes first.

Anywho, tonight, after a long days work, I was in the mood for a homebrew. On 10/4, I brewed an Imperial India Pale Ale (IIPA). I bottled it on the 10/25 and decided to give it a taste test today. This beer came out to ~8.3% ABV, so I should have honestly waited 3-5 weeks for this brew to carbonate in the bottles. Whoops. : )

I'd score this beer in my review, but I'd be biased, so instead, I'll just post the recipe/techniques used to make this beer, along with a short description of the end results. ^_^

Recipe type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale US-05 Dry Yeast
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (US gal): 1.2 gallons
Predicted Original Gravity: 1.080
Measured Original Gravity: 1.082
Predicted Final Gravity: 1.022
Measured Final Gravity: 1.019
Level of Carbonation: 2.5 volumes of CO2
IBUs': 86.3
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Color in SRM: 8 (gold/copper)
Fermentation: 3 weeks @ 68F

Recipe

Malt Build
2 lb Maris Otter 2 row pale malt
1 lb Vienna malt
8 oz Crystal 10L

Hop Schedule
0.35oz @ 60 min of Magnum @ 10.0% AA
0.25oz @ 20 min of Amarillo @ 8.3% AA
0.25oz @ 7min of Amarillo @ 8.3% AA
0.50oz @ 0min of Amarillo @ 8.3% AA
0.50oz @ 0min of Cascade @ 5.0% AA

Mashing Schedule, batch sparging
add 4.375qt @ 171F, sit 60 minutes (goal is mash temp of 155F after 1 hour)
add 1.4qt @ 180F before draining
add 4.375qt @ 175F, sit 10 minutes and drain

All together, this batch took me 3 1/2 hours to brew, and maybe 10 minute to prep/bottle.

After only 6 days in the bottle, this beer has enough carbonation to be very enjoyable. Hop aroma is awesome, oranges and grapefruit. Flavor leans towards a very sweet orange with a hint of malt. By the way, for those who normally use a regular two row malt, try maris otter, it adds another dimension of flavor. To be honest, this beer tasted more like candy then beer. Maybe it's because the beer itself is only 27 days old (hoppy beers taste best fresh), or maybe it's from the hops.

This small scale recipe cost me about $11 to brew. I ended up with 10 bottles of it. I'm sure a 5 gallon batch couldn't cost more than $35 to do.

Overall, I'm very happy with this recipe. In fact, I can't think of any way to improve it atm. : ) And no, you can't have a bottle of it, I only have 9 left!