Widmer's W-10 Pitch Black IPA Clone

For my third brew, I'm going to attempt a Cascadian Dark Ale based on a Clone recipe for Widmer's W-10 Pitch Black IPA, which I found on the site below.

http://www.byo.com/stories/article/indices/51-recipe-exchange/2113-widmer-brewing-co-w-10-pitch-black-ipa-clone

The recipe was for a 5-gallons/19L batch so I had to adjust ingredients to 23L and find alternate malts and hops for things that were not available to me at Dan's Homebrew shop. Here's how it's broken down after adjustment of quantities and ingredients.

Widmer Brewing Co.W-10 Pitch Black IPA Clone

23 L, extract with grains; OG = 1.064 FG = 1.014; IBU = 65; SRM = 30; ABV = 6.5%

Ingredients:

9.5 lbs. Pale malt extract
1.8 lbs. (0.81kg) Cara 8
14.4 oz. (0.4kg) Black Patent
12 oz. (0.34kg) Brown Malt
1.2 oz./36 g Zeus hops (75 mins)
1 tsp. Irish moss (30 mins)
1 tsp. yeast nutrient (15 mins)
0.3 oz./8.52 g Cascade hops (2 mins)
0.9 oz./25.2 g Zeus hops (2 mins)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade hop pellets (dry hops)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)
0.9 cup (180 g) corn sugar (for priming)

Steps and How it Went Down

01. Started by cleaning and sanitizing all the equipment.
02. Smacked the Wyeast Packet to activate the yeast. The stuff mixes together and the yeast gets going.
03. Boiled 9.12L of distilled water to 150°F and turned off heat.
04. Warm up malt extract containers in "bath" of hot water.
05. Added the specialty grains to the water, covered up and let steep for 38 minutes(the recipe called for 30 minutes but I had a bit more so I decided to give it a bit longer).
06. Remove grains from wort with strainer.
07. Sparge grains in strainer with 2.16L hot water.
08. Add all to brew kettle, add previously warmed malt extract.
09. Bring to a boil, add 75 min boiling hops.
10. Rehydrate 1tsp irish moss at 40min in ½ cup of warm water.
11. Add irish moss at 30min.
12. Add 1tbs yeast nutrient at 15min.
13. Start cold water bath at 10min.
14. Add finishing hops at 2min.
15. Transfer brew kettle to cold water bath and bring wort to 75°F.
16. Transfer wort to primary fermenter, top to 23L with water.
17. Take a sample and check Original Gravity. Mine was at 1.061.
18. Open now inflated Wyeast packet and add in primary.
19. Close and wait.

Additional Notes

- Since my last 2 brews had a bit of a off taste to me, I decided to try brewing with distilled water this time around but have since read that it is not recommended when doing grain mashing because "some minerals are necessary for healthy fermentation". Oh well, no big deal...

- Once again, when pouring the malt extract into the brew kettle and putting it back on to boil, had a bit of a burn issue at the bottom with it burning... I think it might be due to the cheap kettle I'm using because I really stirred it around this time before putting it back on to boil...

- I really really need to make myself an immersion chiller. Cooling the wort down is way too slow using the sink plus ice method..

UPDATE
11/14/2010

Transferred the beer from the primary to secondary and added hop pellets. All went well. Took a sample to check the gravity and it was at 1.015. So, right on point. Had a taste and it had this really really nice chocolate taste to it. Not as hoppy as I would have liked but hopefully the dry hopping adds to the hop flavor. Week or two in the secondary and it should be ready to bottle(or keg, if I equip myself with all that stuff!). After the racking was done, I saved up the yeast cake in 2 small 500ml milk bottles for future brews.

12/03/2010

Tasted the beer. Came out really nice though not as hoppy as I would have liked.. Great carbonation, nice hoppy smell, great taste regardless of the lack of bitterness and hop taste/aroma. Will have to add more hops at 75min and at end. And/or, add an addition midway as well.. All and all, very tasty and the best beer I've made so far.