Citra-Nilla IPA

Back in 2015 I started to create this recipe for the Bell’s annual Homebrew Competition.  I was already thinking of doing something different by using Citra hops, since I had recently had a couple of different beers that used Citra hops and I really enjoyed them. I started thinking of a unique way that I could use these hops in a beer with the citrusy, tropical fruity flavor that Citra hops have I felt it might be interesting to add vanilla to it to give it a little different flavor then what I had seen available.

With those 2 ingredients in mind I started looking at recipes that used the Citra hops and how best to incorporate the vanilla into it and try to put together a grain bill that would complement both.

Unfortunately the original recipe didn’t make it into the final rounds of the Bell’s competition but I felt strongly that this was a good recipe to pursue and I continued to work on and refine it and brewed it for the Michigan Homebrew Festival in August 2016. The feedback I got from everyone that tasted it told me this was a solid recipe and the fact that people kept coming back to get more of confirmed this.

After some encouragement from my fellow Sons of Liberty brewers and a little more tweaking I submitted it for the 2017 Arbor Brewing Co. Rat Fest and even though it didn’t take first place for best beer it did come in second out of 28 total beers that over 250 people voted on. Additionally I had a lot of comments and requests about how it was brewed and how the vanilla was added. So in response I have added the recipe here for all to enjoy, so cheers and if you end up brewing this recipe please let us know how it turned out.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5.5 gal 60 min 75.8 IBUs 10.4 SRM 1.067 1.012 7.4 %
Actuals 1.046 1.01 4.7 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
American IPA 14 B 1.056 - 1.075 1.01 - 1.018 40 - 70 6 - 15 2.2 - 2.7 5.5 - 7.5 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 12 lbs 82.76
Caramunich Malt 1 lbs 6.9
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 8 oz 3.45
Melanoiden Malt 8 oz 3.45
Honey 8 oz 3.45

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Centennial 1 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 10
Citra 1 oz 40 min Boil Pellet 12
Citra 1 oz 20 min Boil Pellet 12
Citra 2 oz 0 min Aroma Pellet 12
Citra 2 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 12

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Irish Moss 0.28 tsp 10 min Boil Fining
Yeast Nutrient 1.00 tsp 10 min Boil Other
Vanilla Bean 4.00 Items 7 days Secondary Spice

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 150°F 75 min

Fermentation

Step Time Temperature
Primary 14 days 67°F
Aging 30 days 65°F

Download

Download this recipe's BeerXML file

Exciting Club News and Events

The Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Stout that was brewed for the SOL Guest Tap is almost ready and we will have a tapping party at our next meeting on Monday February 6th at Liberty Street Brewing Company! Sons of Liberty Club members will be the first to taste this beer before it goes on tap to the general public so this is your opportunity to be one of the first to try out this great brew. I am really excited to have been able to coordinate this for the club and hope this is the first of many brews that we will be able have on tap at Liberty Street.

Also please remember that Rat Fest 2017 is coming up on Saturday, February 4th at Arbor Brewing Co. (Corner Brewery) In Ypsi. As you know we have 4 beers that we have brewed and we are really hoping that we have a strong turnout by our members.

If you are planning on attending RatFest 2017 and have yet to purchase a ticket Arbor Brewing has announced a homebrew club ticket sale competition. If you purchase your ticket at the microbrewery where the event is held tell them you’re attending as a member of Sons of Liberty HBC. Whichever homebrew club has the most attendees wins cash money. Call 734-480-2739, or visit the Ypsilanti location and ask the bartender or host for tickets.

Lastly we are working out the final details of our first ever SOL Homebrew Bash for club members on Saturday, March 11th at the Livonia VFW Hall on Plymouth Road and we will be sending out a link to an online signup form in the near future that will give details as far as cost and what will be provided as far as food and entertainment. We will need people to bring your home brew so please have something ready to share for the party. This should be a great evening filled with great beer, great food and of course great beer! So stay tuned.

Brewing Water

At our January club meeting Dan Fick gave a brief presentation on brewing water tips and the small things that you can do to make sure you have the best water for the style of beer you are making. Here in the Metro Detroit Area we are fortunate to have some of the best water to use for brewing we really don’t have to do much to it to make great beer. Below are some links and information both from the presentation and additional resources.

Detroit Water Quality reports

Brewing Water Presentation (Google Slides) 

Brun Water 1.17b w Detroit City Values (MS Excel)

Bru’n Water Website

March Meeting with Annette May

nh_20150706_0004_copyGreetings Everyone, As I sit here typing this the snow is gently falling outside and I am anxiously awaiting Monday to come for one reason only, our monthly Sons of Liberty Home Brew Club Meeting! That’s right! This is the one Monday a month that you can actually look forward to and this one is even more special with our special guest speaker Annette May.

As some of you know Annette is deeply immersed in the craft beer and homebrewing culture and has been for over 20 years. She is both a BJCP judge and a Certified Cicerone® as well as an instructor in the Schoolcraft College Brewing & Distillation Technology Certificate Program, and works for the Cicerone Certification® program as an exam grader and exam proctor. Additionally she founded Know Beer LLC and is the events coordinator for Fermenta, Michigan Women’s Craft Collective. In short she knows her stuff.

Annette will be sharing a small bit of her knowledge with us on Monday at Liberty Street Brewing Company at 7pm and will be speaking to us about some of the changes to the BJCP guidelines and what this means to us as brewers.

If you have a copy of the 2015 BJCP Guidelines please bring it with you for a reference. If you don’t have it yet you can download it from http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf. There are also mobile apps for download on both iOS and Android for your phone or tablet.

This meeting is open to anyone interested in attending so please share. All guests will need to bring a completed guest waiver with them to the meeting which is available on our website.

Looking forward to seeing you all there,

Cheers and Happy Brewing

Leigh

Rat Fest 2016 Ticket Sales

rat_fest_2016

Click the image for more information about Rat Fest.

The Sons of Liberty recently received the following email from Arbor Brewing Co. regarding ticket sales for Rat Fest. In short there are still close to 200 tickets available and the future of Rat Fest is highly dependent on Arbor being able to sell all the ticket they have available. I think many of us would agree that this is a great event for our home brew community and we would like to see it continue to thrive and grow. So with one week left we need to do all we can to get the word out and help make this year’s Rat Fest a success.

Please contact Events Manager Nicole Bednarski at 734 ­480-2739 for tickets.

Hello Home Brew Clubs!

We have a big opportunity available to everyone. As of today, only 137 tickets have been purchased to the 2016 festival. In order for this event to continue and be scheduled for future years, our goal of 350 tickets sold must be achieved. This where you can jump in…

Attached is a copy of our press release with all the info needed for promoting Rat Fest. We are asking that all homebrew clubs participate in this effort by sharing the press release, or whatever version you prefer, of the event details so that we are able to hit our ticket sales mark and continue this festival.

There is only a week left!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Arbor Brewing PressRelease PDF

Thanks,

Nicole Bednarski

Events Manager

Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery

(Corner Brewery LLC)

720 Norris St

Ypsilanti, MI. 48198