Triple Microburst DIPA

I loved this beer the first time I brewed it as Galaxy Microburst. I'm re-brewing this beer with some slight modifications.

I'm planning on entering this beer in competition, so the first modification is I'm adding a dash of Carafa III to adjust the color to be more inline with the 2015 guidelines. Without adjusting color, this beer is a little too light for both the American and Double IPA styles. Also, there is a little overlap between American and Double IPA styles. I'm calling this beer a DIPA, but I'm considering entering it as an American IPA (even though it's pushing the limits ABV-wise). The Carafa III that I'm using is such a small amount that it won't really impact flavor at all; it'll just add a couple SRM points. Additionally, it'll be added to the mash at the beginning of the sparge.

The next modification, I'm using hop extract for the bittering addition. The purpose for this is I want to minimize hop debris before adding my late additions. This means less total debris so when I'm doing my whirlpool, there's less debris in the kettle and I'm hoping this means better extraction of hoppy goodness during the whirlpool. More info on the whirlpool, I'm taking the temps down to 160F - 170F as quickly as possible. These are sub-isomerization temps, so I won't be adding bitterness while I'm trying to extract hop flavor and aroma.

The last modification is I'm adding multiple hops in this version. It's not that I didn't like the version I did with Galaxy, but I'm thinking a multiple hop beer has a better chance of being positively accepted by the judges. Also, I haven't brewed as many hoppy beers this year as I was planning...so I have quite a few really nice hop varieties in my freezer.

Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today:

Expected OG 1.076

~51 IBUs

Est ABV 8.9%

5# 11oz Rahr 2-row

3.5# Avangard Pilsner Malt

1.5# Simpsons Golden Promise Malt

21 grams Carafa III (added before sparge to adjust color)

1.0 # 3oz Corn Sugar (boil)y

6ml Hop extract (60 min) ~ 49 IBUs

Wyeast Nutrient

112g Hop blend (1 min) ~ 2 IBUs (28g Amarillo, 28g Mosaic, 28g Simcoe, 28g Citra)

US-05

168g Hop blend (dry hop) (28g Amarillo, 46.6g Mosaic, 46.6g Simcoe, 46.6g Citra)

Mash at 149F, 90 minute boil, 60 minute hop stand at 160F, ferment at 64F, dry hop after primary fermentation slows down.

For water profile I'm going with Tasty's water again. To 10 gallons of RO water I added:

16g Gypsum (CASO4)

7g Epsom salt (MgSO4)

2g Canning salt (NaCl)

1g  Calcium Chloride (CaCl2)

Brewing Notes
No issues with brewday other than my garage is a mess right now. I'm in the process of replacing some particle board cabinets with some very sturdy custom shelves. Unfortunately this means all the stuff from the cabinets plus a whole bunch of materials were spread out all over the place.  I managed to carve out enough room to brew.

I collected a bit more volume than I planned, and didn't have quite as much boil-off to account for the additional volume, so OG came in a few points low at 1.070

Update 7/26/2016
This beer smells amazing. There is still quite a bit of krausen floating on top. I'm going to pull this out of the ferm chamber today and let it finish at room temps in my basement before dry hopping.

Update 8/4/2016
This beer was racked to secondary today on top of the dry hops.

Update 8/8/2016

This beer was kegged tonight with gelatin and placed on 20PSI OF CO2.