Here we go. I'm pretty pumped up to make a Pliny clone. Named after Gaius Plinius Secundus (or Pliny the Elder) who created the botanical name for hops, "Lupus salictarius", meaning wolf among scrubs. It's big, hoppy, and smooth; Pliny is quickly becoming my favorite beer...too bad I don't live in Santa Rosa :)
Here's catch: I'm changing the hop bill to fit the hops I have. There actually a pretty close match, except the Simcoe. Those freaking hops are just so dang expensive!
Here's how I'm doing it:
Grains:
14 lbs two row
.6 lbs Crystal 50
.6 lbs Carapils
Hops:
3.5 oz Millennium @ 90 min
.5 oz Millennium @ 45 min
1 oz Nugget @ 30 min
2 oz Nugget @ 0 min
1 oz Chinook @ 0 min
1 oz Millennium dry hop after 6 days
1 oz Chinook dry hop after 6 days
1 oz Nugget dry hop after 6 days
Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 - 1.5 liter starter made a day prior
Misc:
1 lbs dextrose (calls for .75 lbs)
Water:
5 gallons strike water at 168. Mashed in at 151.
Don Osborn said he used a 10 quart boiling mash out, but I think it's a type-o. I did a 1 gallon mash out. Collected 3.5 gallons.
Double batch sparged with 4 gallons, collected another 3 gallons.
Water:
5 gallons strike water at 168. Mashed in at 151.
Don Osborn said he used a 10 quart boiling mash out, but I think it's a type-o. I did a 1 gallon mash out. Collected 3.5 gallons.
Double batch sparged with 4 gallons, collected another 3 gallons.
Notes:
1-3-2011--Seriously, brewing with a tier system is like cheating--it's so simple. Only problem was my new banjo burner. I had it on for around 15 minutes and was only at 176*.
I switched back to my old faithful burner and was boiling in no time :) Other issues I encountered today were: my CFC leaked again and I got an obscene amount of hop trub. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet (ferment it?)
As far as the Pliny, came out murky (hop trub?) but had a good color. Tasted unbelievable bitter. After the dry hop this is going to be a hop monster.
Came out with just under 5 gallons in the fermenter. Pre-boil gravity 1.035. Post boil 1.072. I'm a tad concerned with the amount of trub and how that's going to effect the yeast. To be honest, I've never seen that much. I'm gonna need to figure out a new straining technique. It's supposed to get down to 1.010ish. I'd be happy with 1.015
1-9-2011--Racked to secondary and added and ounce of each hop; gravity down to 1.010 oops. Tasted hoppy and smooth. No aroma as of now, so I'm expecting a lot out of the dry hops. I'm going to leave it in secondary for a couple days, then tertiary, then keg. Due to the hop trub, I was only able to get 4 gallons.
1-12-2011--Cold crash and racked to tertiary; no change in the gravity, but the taste is getting better and better. Big, vibrantly floral hop taste, it's the kind of hoppiness that stays with you. I lost another pint in the yeast trub that fell, but the clarity is much better.
1-13-2011--Kegged
1-15-2011--Wow. This is really bitter.
1-19-2011--Still really murky, but not as bad.
1-21-2011--A ton clearer. Time for the side-by-side.
Mines the one on the right.
Here's my taste breakdown:
Mine--A bit darker and less carbonated. Big bitterness hits you right away, that dissipates in the middle and comes back at the end.
Pliny--A clear and brilliant golden yellow. Big bitterness but a smoother bitter than mine. Finishes sort of oily.
I think the really big bitterness of mine will go away with time. I really like it. I would give the nod to the real Pliny in a taste test. I think if I would have used the Simcoe instead of the Nugget mine would have been smoother. I'm happy with it for sure though. I'm stoked to have 4 gallons of a beer I normally can only get once a year.
1-3-2011--Seriously, brewing with a tier system is like cheating--it's so simple. Only problem was my new banjo burner. I had it on for around 15 minutes and was only at 176*.
As far as the Pliny, came out murky (hop trub?) but had a good color. Tasted unbelievable bitter. After the dry hop this is going to be a hop monster.
Came out with just under 5 gallons in the fermenter. Pre-boil gravity 1.035. Post boil 1.072. I'm a tad concerned with the amount of trub and how that's going to effect the yeast. To be honest, I've never seen that much. I'm gonna need to figure out a new straining technique. It's supposed to get down to 1.010ish. I'd be happy with 1.015
1-12-2011--Cold crash and racked to tertiary; no change in the gravity, but the taste is getting better and better. Big, vibrantly floral hop taste, it's the kind of hoppiness that stays with you. I lost another pint in the yeast trub that fell, but the clarity is much better.
1-13-2011--Kegged
1-15-2011--Wow. This is really bitter.
1-19-2011--Still really murky, but not as bad.
1-21-2011--A ton clearer. Time for the side-by-side.
Here's my taste breakdown:
Mine--A bit darker and less carbonated. Big bitterness hits you right away, that dissipates in the middle and comes back at the end.
Pliny--A clear and brilliant golden yellow. Big bitterness but a smoother bitter than mine. Finishes sort of oily.
I think the really big bitterness of mine will go away with time. I really like it. I would give the nod to the real Pliny in a taste test. I think if I would have used the Simcoe instead of the Nugget mine would have been smoother. I'm happy with it for sure though. I'm stoked to have 4 gallons of a beer I normally can only get once a year.
I bet your Pliny would have looked better if it was in a Bears glass instead of the SeaChickens glass.
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