Brew Notes: Bubbling Brook (West Coast IPA)

Background:
IPA is one of those things that the Missus and I disagree on. I absolutely love IPAs (almost as much as I love sours) but she hates them. "Too bitter", "Yuck!", "Ewwww! Why did you sneak me an IPA?!?". Well you get the idea.

Nonetheless, I still manage to sneak in a few IPAs throughout the year. In fact, this year's First Brew was an Imperial IPA! This one is more moderate - "just a West Coast IPA", but it deserves special mention because of a few things:
1. I'm using a different yeast strain that I've not used before
2. there will be quinoa as an adjunct to see if it improves head retention
3. the use of Brewtan-B

Yeast - I've been keeping this strain in storage for a bit (primarily because the other kveik strains have been enough to keep me really busy!). This is the Framgarden kveik from Stordal, Norway, and it came to me as a dried yeast. There's generally very little information on this strain, but according to the sensory notes contributed by Richard Preiss from Escarpment Labs, it looks like Framgarden is capable of producing a range of fruity esters described as "red apple" and "floral". Also, there is a hint of lager characteristics too. Fun, fun, fun!

Quinoa flakes were hard to come by so I ordered them in by mail. Theoretically the saponins in quinoa could help in head retention? We'll see!

Brewtan B was a last-minute addition. I happened to chance upon it at Raymond's, and as we all didn't have much experience with it, I figured I'll just throw everything into this brew. In terms of the grain bill, it's my regular go-to IPA base - I always enjoy that biscuity, bready character that Maris Otter lends to IPAs! Don't go overboard though. We're doing an American IPA here, not a British Bitter.

Grain Bill:

60.5% US Pale Ale (2 Row)

30.5% Maris Otter Malt
5% Flaked Quinoa
4% Carapils

Hops:
13g Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus @ 60 mins
13g Simcoe @ 10 mins
47g Centennial @ Hopstand
47g Citra @ Hopstand
47g Simcoe @ Dry Hop #1 (5 days)
23g Citra @ Dry Hop #1 (5 days)
47g Simcoe @ Dry Hop #2 (2 days)
13g Citra @ Dry Hop #2 (2 days)

Mash:
64C for 60 mins
Brewtan B - 1/4 teaspoon (not the most scientific, I know ..)
Mashout 75C for 10 mins

Fermentation:

Framgarden (Kveik) yeast

Pitched and fermented at 30C

Rock-solid flocculation!!! Literally! It just formed clumps and fell to the bottom of the fermenter. 

Given how Framgarden drops out of suspension, filtering was probably overkill. 

Tasting Notes:
Coming soon