All I have to say is that THB doesn't have any IPA reserves and warm months lay ahead here in WA. I love an IPA.... something about that spicy, piney, citrusy and sometimes tropical bitterness. This is what I crave for in a bier. Especially after a long day in the yard/garage/garden or hard day at the j-o-b. So, what I'm saying is that I need to brew an IPA.
If you recall Marie and I traveled to Yakima last May...while she attended a conference I played golf and then we both went to Hopunion LLC. We got a personal tour of the facility and got to take home lots of samples. They were really too generous...I think they game me about 24oz of varieties from their latest harvest. I told them about my IPA obsesion so they gave 8oz of Australian Galaxy that they import from one of their partner companies. This is what they describe it as;
Pedigree: Cross between a female tetraploid and a male derived from Perle
Brewing Usage: Dual purpose
Aroma: Clean citrus and passion fruit
Alpha Acids: 13.5-14.8%
Beta Acids: 5.8-6.0%
General Trade Perception: Often used as a late addition for intense citrus and tropical flavors
Typical Beer Styles: Pale Ale, IPA, IIPA
I did a little research on some recipes using Galaxy...some used with other hop varieties and some were Galaxy only. I personally have never tried the hop so I thought I would make a single hopped beer....I was just going to go a little heavy so I could really get a taste of what these Southern Hemisphere hops were all about. Since the hops were going to punch your face, I wanted a very simple and clean malt bill. Here is what I came up with;
Galaxy IPA (all grain) 5.5gallons
American Two-Row 12#
American Crystal 40L 1#
American Carapils 1#
Galaxy 1.5oz 60 min
Galaxy .5oz 30 min
Galaxy .5oz 5 min
Galaxy .5oz 0 min
Galaxy 1oz Dry Hop
1800ml starter Wyeast 1056
I had an infusion mash at 154F for 60 min.
OG: 1.064
Brewhouse effiency was around 75% (pretty typical for the THB setup)
To say the least...the brewday went without a hitch. Stay tuned for the final product.
