Import Pale Ale

Brewing an American IPA
I call this beer Import Pale Ale because it was made from American yeast and hops which were imported from USA to Sweden then to Finland, further more my brother came from Denmark to visit and brew this beer with me.

The hardest part of deciding the recipe was how much chinook hops to add, i used a few hours reading only forums etc. and some LOVED chinook and used a lot of it, while other (quite many) told that one should be very careful not to add to much, because it might ruin the beer. well, i settled with adding a decent amount, 35 g, adding up to about 42 IBU. Tasting the beer when i racket it to secondary fermentation it definitely was not too bitter, it had a strong grape fruit/citrus like taste, just perfect.

I did not get as much sugar out of the malt as i planned for so the OG was ind the lower end of the American IPA style.

Picture from bottom right: Me adding yeast starter to the 'beer', Hanna and Bergur cleaning in the kitchen while the beer cools down, Bergur helping with the brewing and finally, the beer fermenting.

Recipe:
Malts
5000 g, Pale Ale (base malt)
400 g, Cara Pils (fuller body)
250 g, Munchener (malt taste, complexity)
350 g, Crystal (color and slight caramel taste)

Hops
(35 g, 60 min) (4 g, 1 min), Chinook (bittering)
(25 g, 20 min) (20 g, 5 min) and (12 g, dry), Cascade (flavor and aroma)

Yeast: Wyeast, 1056 American Ale (made an OG: 1.040 yeast starter)
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Brew stats:
pH: ~5.5
Mash temperature and time: 65-68C for 90 min.
Volume: 24 liter
Malt/water ratio: 2 liter/kg malt
OG: 1051 (65% efficiency)
Color: 19 EBC (amber/light copper)
IBU: 52
Fermenation Temperature: 18-20C

Secondary fermentation
pH: 4-5
"FG": 1.009

The brew day:
Brew went smoothly except for a few annoying problems:

- After about 1 hour the brew pot became 75C for about 5 min. where after i had to add 2 liters of cold water to cool it down to 68. Happened because the pots temperature regulator does not work well! (not going to use it again!)

- When put the beer in a new carboy for secondary fermentation, the siphon broke and i had to use a funnel, this caused a lot of air to mix with the beer ! + increased the risk of infection. Due to this, i expect the beer to have a very short 'shelf-life' and maybe become stalled.