Batch 274, Basil IPA

 The basil in the garden is ready, so today I made a Basil IPA. Same recipe as last year, which turned out really good, although last year I was a little short of 2-row, this year I had plenty. 

10 gallon batch

22.0 lb 2-row

2.0 lb Biscuit malt

1.5 lb White wheat

1.0 lb Special B

Heated 8 gallons of water to 168F, mashed in, hit 155F, adjusted pH to 5.13. Mashed for 45 minutes, then started recirculating for 15 minutes. Drained off 4 gallons into the boil kettle. Second batch sparge with 8 gallons at 180F, for a total of 12 gallons in the boil kettle.

1.0 oz Magnum, FWH

2.0 oz Chinook, 60 min

2.0 oz Centennial, 30 min

2.0 oz Centennial, 15 min

2 tsp Irish Moss, 15 min

1 cup basil leaves, 15 min

1/2 cup basil leaves, 8 min

2.0 oz Citra, flame out

1 cup basil leaves, flame out

90 minute boil. I see there is a variation from last year, I'm out of Cascade, so I substituted Centennial. For the basil leaves, I cut just the leaves off of the stalks, then packed them fairly tight into a measuring cup. I really don't see any reason to not just stuff the whole stalks into a cup and throw them in stem and all, but that isn't what I did, maybe next year.

Oxygenated, then pitched a quart jar of 1272 from the guava IPA I made a couple of weeks ago. 

OG: 1.061, 1.060 actual (nice!)

FG: 1.016

ABV: 6.1%

IBU: 80.4

SRM: 12.4

Update, Aug 30, 2022: Fermentation was complete on Saturday, set the fermenter to 33F for cold crash, kegged today, added gelatin.

basil in my garden

Also a note about how I chill the wort: I have a nice plate chiller, I recirculate with a pump out of the brew kettle, through the chiller, then back into the kettle until the wort is down to about 120F or so, which takes around 10 or 15 minutes. By then the wort is coming out of the chiller at around 70F, so I start running it into the fermenter, which is at 65F, then oxygenate and pitch.