Heat, Greeks, and..........IPA

So a few weeks ago it started to get REALLY fucking cold in Boston. For reals. I thought to myself, goddamit, we're going to have to start running the heat in this piece. The "piece" is our apartment. "We" is me and the Greeks. I was trying to guess which one of them would break and turn the heat on first...it was a tough call. About a week later, heat still not turned on, I mentioned to Vanessa that I wasn't going to be the one to break. Vanessa is a tough little competitor and assured me that it would not be her either. Once Gena found out about this (and that we had both placed heavy odds on her to be the first one to break) it turned into a sort of tough-guy contest, complete with psychological mind-games and much taunting. I woke up every morning this week to a 56-degree house....unreal.
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So anyway, we'll get back to that a little later.

Last night I brewed what is almost definitely the last batch of beer for 2008 (I'll be away most of the time until after Christmas) and what could possibly be the last beer I ever brew at 46 Tremont. (tear drips down face) Anyway, I figured I should go out with guns blazing. Also I figured I might want to actually USE some of that POUND of fresh 2008 hops I have in the feeezer. Do you smell Double IPA? -I do!

Here's what we did

Grains
12.5# Pale Malt (domestic)
1# Munich Malt
.5# Cara-pils
.5# Cara-malt (UK)

yeast was a slurry of wyeast 1272 from the stout I brewed a few weeks back.

Hops....deep breath, here we go:

First, here are the alpha numbers (all hops are whole flowers, 2008 harvest)
Chinook, 13%
Amarillo, 9.3%
Centennial, 9%

Bittered the beer with 1.25 ounces of Chinook for 60 minutes

3 late additions went in during the end of the boil; one at 15 minutes, at 5 minutes, and at knock-out. Each charge was the same: a sort of hop BOMB consisting of a half-ounce of each variety; Chinook, Amarillo, and Centennial. The BOMBS weighed 1.5 ounces each, so when all was said and done there was nearly 6 ounces of hop flowers in the kettle. And oh yea, I will dry-hop with another one of these same additions. (Note: each time I dropped a BOMB into the kettle, the whole house exploded with amazing aromas)

If that last paragraph did not make you want to drink beer, please stop reading this and go turn yourself into the police immediately, sicko.

The gravity ended up around 1.077 - with a good fermentation* we might hit 9% booze-by-volume, which would be perfect in my book. And my book kicks ass. When I get back from the apprenticeship at the end of December, the first thing I am going to do will be to open up one of these bros and drink the shit out of it.
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*Ah, yes -this is where we bring it all together. In regards to a "good fermentation," I like to start off at around 63 degrees and slowly let it warm up to about 67 to finish off...in my experience, and with my taste in Pale Ales, this is what gets me the best results. This morning I once again woke up to a 56-degree house....the beer had a meek Krausen going and was struggling to fight at 60 degrees. I sighed, sighed again louldly, sighed loudlier, and reluctantly turned the heat on.

You hear that, you Goddam GREEKS?! I BROKE! I TURNED THE FUCKING HEAT ON!!

Go ahead.....do your worst. I'm prepared to live with the consequences of my actions. You'll thank me this weekend when you're sitting on MY GODDAM COUCH enjoying the toasty apartment drinking my Goddam beer which I work so hard to make. But I broke, and there's no denying it.

-Wrence