The Lazy Brewer » Blue Flame

Blue Flame Imperial IPA on Deck for Saturday

Mark Ranes — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:15:40 +0000

Blue Flame IPA Tap Handle

It’s time to brew this year’s Blue Flame Imperial IPA. My 2008 Mark’s Big Foot Barleywine keg blew tonight, so the timing is right. I have a monster starter going on the stir plate with two vials of White Labs WLP001 California Ale and one vial of White Labs WLP002 English Ale. I started it on Monday, so I have plenty of time to let it ferment out, feed it once and then chill and decant the nasty starter beer. I’m changing it up just a bit and pulling out .3 pounds of crystal 60 and .3 pounds of crystal 40 and adding a half pound of Carastan in its place. I liked what the Carastan did to the Mash Destruction IPA, so I thought I try it in one of my annual house ales.

There’s a possibility I may brew this IIPA Friday afternoon, but most likely it’ll be lending aromatics to the neighborhood on Saturday morning:)

Here’s the recipe:

Blue Flame Imperial IPA 2009
14-C Imperial IPA
Author: Mark Ranes
Date: 4/25/09

Size: 5.04 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 80.0%
Calories: 343.56 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.103 (1.075 – 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.021 (1.012 – 1.020)
Color: 10.72 (8.0 – 15.0)
Alcohol: 10.93% (7.5% – 10.0%)
Bitterness: 222.4 (60.0 – 100.0)

Ingredients:
18.0 lb American 2-row
0.5 lb Carastan
.5 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
1.0 lb Corn Sugar
1.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 90 min
.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45 min
.5 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45 min
.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30 min
1 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 30 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2 oz Summit (17.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
2.0 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added dry to secondary fermenter
500 mL starter White Labs WLP001 California Ale
500 mL starter White Labs WLP002 English Ale

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Mark Ranes — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:54 +0000

The latest kegged-up ales on gas

Today I kegged up the last two ales from my summer brewing marathon that were still in carboys. For the first time, in what seems like forever, I have nothing in glass fermenting away. I kegged ten gallons of Klassic Kolsch and five gallons of Blue Flame Imperial IPA. They both attenuated well and completely. The Kolsch had an original gravity of 1.052 and finished at 1.011, for a 5.4% ABV. The hydrometer jar sample tasted wonderful, a bit drier and less sweet than my first batch of Kolsch. This one is a keeper! The Blue Flame Imperial IPA also attenuated much better than the last batch. It started with an original gravity of 1.078 and went all the way down to 1.011, for a 8.8% ABV. For this batch of Blue Flame, I used late hops exclusively, except for the single 90 minute bittering charge. I also bumped up the dry hops with two ounces each of Summit and Nugget hops. The uncarbonated sample tasted great and the ale has a huge hop nose. This is going to be an awesome ale in six weeks!

Eight, sad empty carboys...

I now have eight dirty carboys that I need to clean. Nothing is quite as sad looking as eight empty carboys…

Imperial IPA on deck for tomorrow…

Mark Ranes — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:57:21 +0000

Tomorrow I’ll be brewing the best beer I’ve ever brewed, Blue Flame Imperial IPA. I brewed this monster last fall and it was incredibly well received by friends, family and my Modesto Mashers buddies. Five gallons only lasted ten days during the holiday season! I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to cut down the bitterness just a bit (from 223 to only 171 IBUs:) and kicked up the OG a little. Here’s the recipe:

Blue Flame Imperial IPA

Size: 5.04 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 487.58 per 16.0 fl oz (ouch!)

Original Gravity: 1.108
Terminal Gravity: 1.027
Color: 11.8
Alcohol: 10.84%
Bitterness: 171.39

Ingredients:
1 tbsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer – added during mash
19.0 lbs American 2-row
.5 lbs Cara-Pils
.3 lbs Crystal Malt 60°L
.3 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 lbs Corn Sugar
1.0 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
.5 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 15 min
.5 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min
.5 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added during boil, boiled 7.0 min
1 oz Summit (17.0%) – added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
2 oz Summit (17.0%) – added dry to the fermenter once fermentation is complete
1 oz Nugget (13.0%) – added dry to the fermenter once fermentation is complete
1 1400 ml White Labs WLP001 California Ale Starter

Mash In – Liquor: 6.28 gal; Strike: 160 °F; Target: 152.0 °F

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I’ve already re-brewed this once before, but it didn’t turn out as well as the first batch. The wonderful piny and citrusy aroma weren’t as bright as the first batch. I think that it was the hops I used the second time. I do have more of the original Summit hops I used for the first batch (they seemed fresher and more brilliant in aroma than the hops I used for the second batch), so I’ll be using those for the flavoring, aroma and dry hop additions. I plan on entering this in in the Modesto Mashers June open category competition.

We have lifelong family friends coming into town to join us for a Stockton Thunder hockey game, so I need to blow this brew session out in a timely manner. Eric was the first person I knew who was a homebrewer, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy arriving while I’m still brewing. We’ll be heading up to Stockton before the game for dinner and a couple of pints at Valley Brewing. Hopefully they have a couple hop bombs on tap for the pre-game warmup!