Advent #20 Hyborian DIPA (Conan)

[GuingesRock]

Late to post, Had this last night and wow!

Nice and dry, great hop flavour, great aroma. You can tell it's a big beer but the bitterness is smooth and alcohol hidden well.

Well put.

Where does one get Conan yeast around these parts?

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/The_Yeas ... nt-ale.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They call it "Vermont"

[jmacdonald]

Sweet! Thanks. I think this is going on my list.

[RubberToe]

Mine came from a can of Heady Topper. The yeast I used for this brew was split from the first starter I made from it earlier in the year that I gave to Greg.

[CartoonCod]

Just getting around to this one today. Very nice. Lots of fruity hop character, definitely some conan character with a dry finish. There is a bit of an astringent bite in the finish common in lots of hoppy beers, but it is minor compared to all the other deliciousness. Good job!

[RubberToe]

Thanks, Adam. Something that I've battled with this year is astringency in my hoppy beers. This year I've learned two things with regard to that.

1) Dry hopping method. If you just throw the hops in there's a higher chance of said astringency. The hop tea method helps smooth it out.

2) Carbonic acid. I find my hoppy beers have suffered from this more than the others. It's funny because most people have a problem with getting adequate carbonation. I went through that and beyond until over carbonation and have had carbonic acid bite and astringency as a result.

There may be another factor that's adding astringency. Perhaps it's my BIAB method with a fine grain crush and lots of husk surface area and full volume mash. I think my pH is in check.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Rob

[CartoonCod]

No worries Rob. This astringent (almost metallic) character that I was talking about wasn't too bad though, don't get me wrong. I've had other great beers that were worse off in this respect.

1) One thing I would check is the hop oil, Myrcene, content of the hops. Another brewnoser and I were going back and forth trying to figure this out, and he thought it might be related to this type of hop oil. It seemed that hops with higher Myrcene content had this astringent metallic bite when dryhopped. I don't know too much about hop tea, but if it involves steeping them in a liquid with a high temp I'm sure that would help this because Myrcene boils off at 64 degC (http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/01/21/la ... r-brewing/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

2) I've had some pretty carbonated belgian beers without an astringency due to carbonic acid. Maybe it amplifies the hop bitterness or astringencies already present? I'm not sure.