Hoping for a Hoppy Ending

For this "brew through" adventure we'll be skipping ahead to BJCP Category 14-Indian Pale Ale, mainly because we floated our keg of IPA during the US game and this hop goddess can't be long without a fresh pour of lupulin delight. This category has a range of substyles from the English IPA, which, while hoppy does not have quite as bold hop character as an American IPA. On the high end, the imperial IPA style is so hoppy that in some cases is like drinking hop squeezings. Since we already have a Belgian-style imperial IPA on tap, I'm going to brew Jamil's Hoppiness is an IPA from Brewing Classic Styles. Yes, I did say I, Dave has to work so this will be my first independent brew day.

An American IPA is a decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale. It should always have high hop bitterness with a lot of American hop character up front and low malt character. American hop character is usually described as being citrusy, piney, fruity, and resiny.

Ingredients

Malt
American 2-Row Malt
Munich Malt
Crystal (15L)
Crystal (40L)

Hops
Horizon
Centinnel
Simcoe
Amarillo

Yeast
Wyeast 1056-American Ale

Crushing the Grains
Insert female power tool joke here. Let me start by saying I am not skilled with power tools, I once removed a row of cabinets with a screwdriver to avoid using the drill, so I should've had Dave go through a dry run before attempting on my own. After fiddling with the drill for about 20 minutes, I finally figured out how to adjust to fit over the mill end. Next step, poured grain into mill and hit power button. The mill revolted and almost flipped off the bucket, so I slide the button in the opposite direction and it started to grind, but not smoothly. After 14.75 pounds of grain had gone through the mill, I'm now ready to mash.

Strike
I'm suspicious of my crushed grains due to the lack of "crush" but hoping that it will all work out. Heated 4.6 gallons of tap water to 166 degrees. Added 2 t. of calcium carbonate, 1 t. of gypsum, and 1 t. of calcium chloride to the mash. Target mash temperature was 149 degrees and stayed consistent for the duration. Mashed for 90 minutes.

Sparge
3.8 gallons of tap water was heated to 170 degrees and 2 t. calcium carbonate was added to the boil. Batched sparged for 15 minutes.

Boil
Pulled 7 gallons of wort @1.020 (What!!!). Brewpal said 1.055 @ 7 gallons, so something is majorly wrong, tell myself the the hydrometer is broken but the sample was very watery. Boiled for 60 minutes. Starting gravity was 1.022 and it was calculated at 1.065 @ 5 gallons. I was ready to cry.

Fermentation
Recommended fermenting temperature is 67 degrees. Pulled 5 gallons into a 6.5 gallon carboy and added yeast (1.75 liter starter with 1 pack).

Ah Ha Moment!
Our new refractometer arrived the day after brew day, so we remeasured the unfermented wort and still 1.022. After an assessment of the brew area, Dave inquired if I had the drill in reverse mode while grinding. D'oh!  Glad the problem was solved but hate feeling like a dumbass.

Salvage Solution
Next up, a low hop, malty brew to blend with my hop water. Stay tuned!