We wanted to give the Citrillo (Citra and Amarillo) IPA another go, so we decided it was time for a re-brew. Last time we brewed this beer we felt it had potential, as the fruity tart grapefruit flavours were coming through but all the flavours just needed a bit of a push. Also we have learnt so much more about brewing since the last time we brewed this beer so we knew if we re-brewed it with a few tweaks we would end up with a much better beer.
The idea was to keep the recipe pretty much the same as before but increase the dry hopping step so we could assess the impact of this small change. Also we are slightly better homebrewers since brew #4 so I hoped what we have learnt between these brews would help pimp it up as well.
All the info on Citrillo WIP IPA v1 can be found here.
Our Citrillo WIP IPA v2 recipe:
Method: All-grain BIAB
Batch size: 11.5 litres
Estimated OG: 1.066
Estimated FG: 1.018
Estimated ABV: 6.3%
Estimated IBU (Tinseth): 81.4
Malt:
2.7 kg Maris Otter Crisp (Extra Pale)
Hops: 90 min hop boil
60 mins, 14 g Magnum whole leaf (11% AA)
30 mins, 10 g Amarillo whole leaf (8.48% AA)
30 mins, 5 g Citra whole leaf (12.86% AA)
20 mins, 10 g Amarillo whole leaf (8.48% AA)
20 mins, 5 g Citra whole leaf (12.86% AA)
10 mins, 10 g Amarillo whole leaf (8.48% AA)
10 mins, 5 g Citra whole leaf (12.86% AA)
Dry hop for 3 days, 40 g Amarillo whole leaf (8.48% AA)
Dry hop for 3 days, 20 g Citra whole leaf (12.86% AA)
Yeast:
White labs WLP041
Finings:
1/2 tsp Irish Moss at 15 mins remaining of the hop boil
Directions:
Mash at 66°C, mash out to 76°C
Fermentation 14 days - 20°C
Carbonation - 2.5 CO2-vol (70g Dextrose sugar)
Brew day - 27/06/20
Today's brew day tipple was Ghost Ship by Adnams Brewery. This lovely Citra hop forward pale ale celebrated it's 10 year birthday this year, and was the perfect beer for this brew day. This brew day was rushed as we tried to squeeze it in between virtual socials and me buying a brand new bike! Slightly stressful but we got there.
It was the usual brew day set up where we mashed the maris otter grains at 66°C with 7 litres of water, sparged with 8 litres of water and had a 90 minute hop boil.
This brew had the same hop additions as the last brew. See the previous brew here. This time we kept the hop additions the same. Bittering at 60 mins with Magnum, before using Amarillo and Citra hops at a 2:1 ratio at 30, 20 and 10 mins.
As always we generated tons of spent grain which I had plans to use to avoid too much food waste. I used some of it to make a spent grain bread loaf that did not work out! I am working on it so watch this space.
This brew had an OG of 1.68 at 9 litres, and we diluted down to 1.057 after adding 1.5 litres.
We pitched the WLP041 yeast once we had cooled the yeast down to 23°C. We have been considering whether or not we should try a different yeast soon, maybe WLP001 which is more of a standard yeast or whether to switch to dried yeast as it is much cheaper.
Overall, this brew benefitted from many cooler London days and the fermentation stayed consistently between 23 and 24°C. I am hopeful this will help because last time we brewed this beer it was a super hot 2 weeks, which probably did not help the beer.
We decided to double the dry hop compared to version 1. We ended up with pretty close to 6g of hops per litre. The beer was dry hopped for 3 days in 2 muslin bags. This 60 g dry hop addition was our biggest dry hop to date so we were hopeful it would make a big difference.
Bottling day - 11/07/20
We used the hydrometer to check the FG, and this brew achieved the lowest gravity we have ever got at 1.010 meaning 6.2%. The re-brew had a higher ABV than we got last time we brewed the Citrillo WIP IPA, which was only at 5.8%.
One thing that we did notice on bottling day was how clear this beer was. Also the flat beer tasted pretty good, so hopefully the carbonated beer will be even better.
We ended up with 19 bottles, which were a mixture of 330 ml and 500 ml bottles.
Beer day - 25/07/20
Verdict: This brew resulted in a great beer. The first thing I noticed straight away with this beer was how well carbonated it was. The head on this beer was thick which confirmed to me that upping the sugar used in carbonating this beer was a fantastic idea. The head was retained throughout drinking which was a first for us. The light orange colour was very appealing on the eye. The beer smelt fruity and had strong grapefruit notes. We got lucky with temperature control which meant no homebrew sharpness. Taste wise there was a lovely fruity flavour, with a grapefruit tang. The beer also had a very lovely creamy mouthfeel. Upping the dry hop was a solid idea because all the flavours came through a lot stronger than last time. I am still surprised how different this beer is from version 1. It was touch more alcoholic and had more of a bitter finish which was preferable because this was something that I felt the first version lacked. Overall, this is probably our best quality brew so far but my favourite flavour combination at the moment is still our Juicy Fruit Pale that we brewed a couple of weeks ago. I look forward to drinking much more of this brew.
Tasting notes:
Colour: Light Orange appearance
Clarity: Very clear, no sediment
Carbonation: Very light carbonation with thick head which was well retained.
Smell: Grapefruit and fruity
Taste: Fruity and grapefruit flavour. Great mouthfeel.
Alcohol level: 6.2%
Perceived alcohol level: Not too alcoholic
Desirable: Yes
Would I pay money for it?: Yes
Rating: 4/5
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