surly furious

[Cobrabit]

Just ordered the Surly Furious kit from northern brewer along with a2 liter yeast starter kit. Really interested in this one since it will be my first IPA and I want really a fan of them until I tried a local brewery's and they had a lot of late additions. This kit calls for 4.5 ounces of hops in the boil and another 8 ounces for dry hoping. I think that I'll like the flavor and aroma additions versus having all the hops in the boil.

And after hearing so much about it, I got the yeast starter so with the bigger beers I seem to prefer ill notice a difference with the starter.

 

[Gatorchip]

Nice. I've been curious about Surly, but never had one. I've never used that much hops either... wow.

I tend to stick to dry yeast myself, but I have use liquid yeast / starters before. For some reason, those beers have turned out poorly for me, so I can't easily justify the extra money and time. But of course I may need a strain if I brew a specific style.

Good luck!

 

[Cobrabit]

Kit is arriving via UPS today, so I'll try to brew it sometime this week if I get a few hours one evening, which is doubtful with a 5 month old at home and a wife waiting for me to get home so she can take a break. May have to wait until this weekend, but also planning on installing an over the range microwave and shortening the cabinets above it. So, I'll see if I have time after that project to brew. Regardless, I'm excited about this kit. My bourbon barrel old ale I brewed 6 months ago has matured nicely and was enjoyed by many over this Memorial Day weekend.

 

[Sleepy T]

Wow, Looks like a great IPA with some alcohol to it and a good hop schedule. That is ALOT of Dry Hops (8.5 oz of Amarillo, Simcoe, Ahatnum???)..it will probably smell superb to anything I have made. I am not sure how flavorful it will be only using .5oz of Amarillo FWH, and 2 oz. Warrior @ 60 minutes, and the rest @ 0 minutes or Dry Hops?? I thought most of the flavor (not bitter) came from 10-20 minute additions.

The last one I made was a DFH 60 recreation and it had Warrior, Simcoe, and Amarillo (along with Glacier and Palisades). I made an 8 gallon batch and added about .5 oz hops (combined) every 5 minutes. Amarillo and Simcoe are awesome hops. I love hops.

You will like this beer..if you don't, I will gladly drive to Martinsville and take it off your hands Cobra

 

[Cobrabit]

I figured if I was going to make an IPA, might as well go all out with over 12 ounces of hops. Should have a killer aroma and will probably be pretty balanced. I can assume I'll like this beer, but I'm sure we could work something out for a taste test once it's done.

I'm planning on transferring to the carboy after about a week. Then after another week, transferring it back into my 7 gallon primary bucket for the dry hopping for another week. Figured this would make it a lot easier to get the 8 oz. of dry hops (in a muslin bag) out versus trying to squeeze it through the carboy's neck as well as helping to clear it as much as possible. Then finally bottling. I know I may leave some liquid behind with the additional transfer, but still should have a good amount left.

Also, with the first time doing a yeast starter, I'm going to attach my tubing from the racking cane to the 3 piece airlock run into a sanitizer solution bucket to use as a blow off. I haven't had any problems in the past with big beers due to the 7 gallon primary, but figured with the starter, I may want to be a little safer and not risk redecorating the closet.

 

[Cobrabit]

Brewed today. Placed the fermentor in a plastic tub that you can get from Wal-Mart for storage in case of blow off. Placed my tubing from the racking cane on the air lock and into another bucket of sanitizer solution. Did end up breaking the end off the racking cane trying to get the tubing off, so I may need to pick up a new one but think I can still use it, just broke off the three inch horizontal piece.

Will transfer to secondary in a week, let sit for another week, then transfer to primary bucket for the dry hopping. This thing has a massive amount of hops!

 

[Gatorchip]

Is it in the secondary now? How was your FG?

 

[Cobrabit]

Is it in the secondary now? How was your FG?

I transferred it over to the secondary last Saturday. Plan to transfer back to the primary bucket this Saturday for the 8.5 oz of dry hops (have some marbles to weigh the muslin bag down), then bottle next weekend.

OG: 1.063
FG: 1.015

Don't know if it was the use of the starter for the first time or the fact that I ran a blow off tube into sanitizer water and noticed it more, but after a couple days, there was a good amount of activity for several days afterwards. I walked into the room and could hear the bubbles coming out of the water pretty regularly and the bucket's top was "domed" pretty good for most of the week. The smell was great, even though my wife wouldn't agree, haha.

Can't wait to see what it will be like after the dry hops. I know I'll probably need to let it condition for a little while in the bottle to let the hops mellow a little for my tastes.

 

[Cobrabit]

Forgot that I didn't give an update. Really enjoy this one and will probably make again whenever I get through with it. Pretty much what I expected in regards to not being overly bitter with a nice aroma/flavor.

It is a little over carbonated though, so I have to let it sit for a couple minutes to let the head settle down a little before drinking.

 

[Sleepy T]

Forgot that I didn't give an update. Really enjoy this one and will probably make again whenever I get through with it. Pretty much what I expected in regards to not being overly bitter with a nice aroma/flavor.

It is a little over carbonated though, so I have to let it sit for a couple minutes to let the head settle down a little before drinking.

Sweet! How many ounces of corn sugar do you prime with Cobra? I have been going with about .8-.9oz/gallon and that is about what I like for IPA/APA style beers. I found that going up to 1+oz./g was a little much IMO.

 

[Cobrabit]

Sweet! How many ounces of corn sugar do you prime with Cobra? I have been going with about .8-.9oz/gallon and that is about what I like for IPA/APA style beers. I found that going up to 1+oz./g was a little much IMO.

It was a 5 ounce bag from northern brewer that came with the kit. Never seemed to have it foam up so much with previous brews. Don't know if using a yeast starter for the first time could have had anything to do with it.

 

[Sleepy T]

Not sure about the yeast starter and hiw that would affect carbonation? I would think it has more to do with the amount of fermentable making corn sugar over having a little more residual yeast than normal. Were all of your bottles over-carbed? Also, did you use Cara-pils or anything like that in your recipe?

 

[Cobrabit]

Not sure about the yeast starter and hiw that would affect carbonation? I would think it has more to do with the amount of fermentable making corn sugar over having a little more residual yeast than normal. Were all of your bottles over-carbed? Also, did you use Cara-pils or anything like that in your recipe?

So far the bottles I've opened have been over-carbed. Since I batch primed with 5 ounces of sugar and mixed it pretty well, I'm pretty sure they all are.

I don't think the yeast starter would really have anything to do with it, but that would have been the only difference from past batches. Doubt the small amount of DME used for the starter would have had that effect, especially since my FG came out pretty good after 3 weeks. Oh well, just means that I get to smell the aroma for a minute before drinking.

 

[wartyOne]

Starters don't lead to overcarbonation. They're absolutely necessary for beers this big. The overcarbonation is coming from your dextrose addition. Back that off next time, and you should be fine. When I was bottling (and I can't stress this enough; BUY KEGS!!!!!! They save you time, money, and heartache. Don't make another homebrewing purchase until you are kegging. Trust me, it's worth it), I would go 3/4 cup dextrose boiled in a pint of water per 5 gallons for bigger beers, but 2/3 cup for smaller gravity beers. That seldom generated overcarbs.

 

[Cobrabit]

Will adjust the dextrose amount next time instead of just using the supplied bag/instructions.

Would love to get a kegging setup, but space is extremely limited at this time. Hopefully planning on adding a storage building that is run electricity to and find an old freezer to convert. Plus I've cut back on my drinking a lot while getting back into a fitness routine. It's just easier to take a 1 liter bottle and throw it in the fridge on Friday night to enjoy on Saturday. So my batches will last me 4+ months that way.

A man cave with a nice bar setup and pool table is one of my dreams when we can afford to move in the next decade.

 

[wartyOne]

Will adjust the dextrose amount next time instead of just using the supplied bag/instructions.

Would love to get a kegging setup, but space is extremely limited at this time. Hopefully planning on adding a storage building that is run electricity to and find an old freezer to convert. Plus I've cut back on my drinking a lot while getting back into a fitness routine. It's just easier to take a 1 liter bottle and throw it in the fridge on Friday night to enjoy on Saturday. So my batches will last me 4+ months that way.

A man cave with a nice bar setup and pool table is one of my dreams when we can afford to move in the next decade.

Heard. Took me a while to get to where I am. Worth it, but I understand where you're coming from.

 

[Cobrabit]

Just spent the last hour cleaning up the closet after a bottle bomb (PET nonetheless). Definitely over carbonated haha. Have since released some pressure out of the bottles and placed them on ice inside my brew bucket.

 

[757Hokie83]

Will adjust the dextrose amount next time instead of just using the supplied bag/instructions.

Would love to get a kegging setup, but space is extremely limited at this time. Hopefully planning on adding a storage building that is run electricity to and find an old freezer to convert. Plus I've cut back on my drinking a lot while getting back into a fitness routine. It's just easier to take a 1 liter bottle and throw it in the fridge on Friday night to enjoy on Saturday. So my batches will last me 4+ months that way.

A man cave with a nice bar setup and pool table is one of my dreams when we can afford to move in the next decade.