I’m finally getting around to writing up last week’s brew! It’s been a busy one for me…
After taking inventory last week, I’ve been spending all my down time trying to get through my collection; I need bottles for the batch that I made last week!
Anyway, as mentioned by Mikey, the Beagle Double IPA turned out to be a big beer. It was great, but big. Like most beer drinkers, I’m a big IPA fan, so although I like something like the Beagle, having a lighter and easier IPA on hand (especially for the upcoming summer) seemed appealing. Since I hadn’t been brewing for awhile, I also wanted to get back into it with a really simple kit.
So Mikey and I went down to Brewcraft in Richmond to see what was available. We picked up a bag of Mangrove Jack’s IPA wort and a kit converter. Of course you put Mikey and me in a home brew store and we also both end up walking out with a bunch of other stuff that we “need just in case.” This is why I have so much sanitiser. But hey, we all know the Rules of Home Brew.
Anyway, it was a pretty simple brew containing:
- Mangrove Jacks India Pale Ale
- Blend of light and dark DME
- Cascade hops
- American West Coast Ale Yeast – BRY 97
Pretty simple stuff here. Note that the Mangrove Jacks wort came with yeast included, but I generally prefer to buy yeast separately because you never know the quality of the included yeast. The wort was also on sale because it was near its use by date, so once again, you just don’t know…
All we had to do was boil two litres of water, add the malt, and let that dissolve. After that, we threw in the hops and let that steep for about 15 minutes.
This was then strained into a 30 litre fermenter with the Mangrove Jacks wort added as the fermenter was topped up to 23 litres.
Done and dusted!
The Cascade hops is a pretty middle of the road all rounder. Plenty of spice in the smell with a bit of grass (at least for me). I can sometimes find a little bit of chilly in there as well. Of course there are also the typical florals found in a lot of hops as well.
I considered dry hopping, but then couldn’t really decide what to dry hop with. Plus I want this to remain pretty light…
In the end, the wort smelled and tasted great. It should turn out to be exactly what I want through the summer.
We’ll bottle next weekend and then see how it turns out a couple weeks after that!
-Chas
We make home brew 