Batch No. 40!

The following recipe is for kind of a special beer, considering it's my 40th batch and my 1st post-move brew. This past spring, I filled a gallon ziplock bag of spruce tips from the tree in my neighbor's front yard (in my defense, it straddles the property line) to be used in a future beer. Last year, I brewed Gordon Strong's Colonial Stock ale with molasses and spruce tips and really enjoyed it. As Spring has passed and Summer is quickly passing, I have been craving hoppy beers. Before the move, the last hoppy beer I brewed was a Mosaic SMaSH beer back in January and everytime I have one I say to myself, "I really need to brew some IPAs." I've had a pound each of Simcoe and Citra just waiting for me in the freezer, and I finally cracked them open yesterday. I'm calling this an imperial dark American ale with spruce tips: "All Spruced Up: American Dark IPA."

OG: 1.077
IBUs: 81.5

Fermentables:
12# US 2-Row 76.2%
1# Crystal 80 6.3%
0.50# Acidulated Malt 3.2%
0.25# Cara-pils 1.6%
0.25# Special B (SRM 180) 1.6%
0.25# Carafa III (SRM 525) 1.6%
1.5# Table Sugar 9.5%

Hops:
0.50 oz. Simcoe (90 min. first wort hop) 21.4 IBU
1.0 oz. Mt. Rainer (90 min. first wort hop) 19.5 IBU
1.0 oz. Citra (15 min.) 19.3 IBU
1.0 oz. Simcoe (15 min.) 18.1 IBU
1.0 oz. Citra (hop stand 30 min.)
1.0 oz. Simcoe (hop stand 30 min.)
0.5 oz. Citra (Dry-hop at least 7 days)
0.5 oz. Simcoe (Dry-hop at least 7 days)

Procedures:
90 minute boil. Add approx. 1 gallon ziplock back spruce tips at 60 minutes. Boil 60 minutes. For hop stand: after flame-out, wait until wort is barely steaming; add hop stand hops; steep, covered. Add boiled, cooled sugar to primary after majority of fermentation is complete. This dries out the beer, but encourages yeast to metabolize more complex sugars first.

I'll be doing a series of hoppy beers for the remainder of the summer, including a fresh, homegrown hop harvest ale. Enjoy! Be Fermentive!