LG & LG (Let Go and Let God) Collaboration Brew Day

Hello again! If you've read the most recent post about the cinnamon beer competition, this post is the story of what happened the day of that competition which took place that evening. As I had to drive several hours to attend the competition/club meeting, I wanted to make the most of my trip. So I thought it might be fun to plan a collaboration brew day in which each brewer would brew a beer of their choice (including mystery ingredient(s); continue reading for more details), and then combine one part from each beer into as many "collaboration" beers. Aside from making the best use of my time, there was a part of me that needed to rebel against the constraints of the cinnamon competition, in which the beer had to include cinnamon. I wanted to just throw everything in a pot and let the chips fall where they may. It would also be interesting to collaborate on a single beer brewed with several different ingredients on the same day we would judge several beers that all contained a single ingredient. Each of the other collaborators were skeptical of my idea. They were worried about incompatible flavor combinations, different starting gravities, the resulting beer being too dark, among other meaningless hesitations. It took some salesmanship to convince them that they should just "let go and let God." I also coerced them by suggesting they have control issues and relinquishing some control of their process would be good for them.So, finally, there were three of us that were willing and able to collaborate on this project.

So what, then, would I brew? Something daring, of course. Throw caution to the wind with spices? Coffee? Citrus? Wood? Garlic? Why not all five? Well, because I didn't have time to prepare all those ingredients, and I didn't want to create a beer similar to how I imagine hot garbage juice tastes. I decided to play it safe with Madras curry, Garam Masala, and 9 oz. of hops! Yes, 126.1 calculated IBUs (you have to remember this beer is getting divided three ways). Oh, and Spanish cedar inserts from cigar boxes to compliment the piney, citrusy hops. What follows is the recipe for our epic collaboration brew day and each of the three individual beers incase you would like to copy us. But I encourage you to try your own ideas for home brewing collaboration.

Recipe for LG & LG Collaboration Brew Day:

-3 willing friends (in this case myself, Rob Kring, and Richard McElroy)
-1 stuck sparge (Rob was the only one of the three that felt he had to be a purist and brew all-grain that day, and his sparge got stuck thus delaying the rest of us)
-1 boil over (Richard's wort boiled over, to which he promptly responded by panicking, yelling "OH!" and throwing his bittering hops in, thus providing about 1 million extra nucleation points and increasing the boil over which pushed most of the hops over the side and onto the ground-oh well, that's brewing!)
- Almost enough propane for a 60 minute boil (I ran out of propane with 15 minute left in the boil and had to switch over to Richard's tank, whose boil had just finished)
- 1 flat tire (Richard got a flat tire, which I assisted him in changing while out picking up some pizzas for a quick, pre-competition dinner/alcohol sponge)

My Recipe:  OG-1.083  126.1 BUs

Extract/Steeping grains:
9.9# Rye LME (3.3# boiled for 60 min.; 6.6# added at 15 min. to maximize hop utilization)
.5# Crystal 80 (not crystal lady) steeped in 1 gallon of water as long as it takes cool water to heat up to 170F)
1.5# Table sugar (added after majority of primary fermentation is complete)

Hops:
2 oz. Bramling Cross hops (pellet; 6.00%) first wort hops-60 min.-53.9 BUs
2. oz. Mt. Rainer hops (pellet; 6.00%) first wort hops-60 min.-53.9 BUs
1 oz. Sorachi Ace hops (pellet; 11.6%) 5 min.-10.4 BUs
1 oz. Amarillo hops (pellet; 8.8%) 5 min.-7.9 BUs
1 oz. Apollo hops (pellet; 16.0%) steep 30 min. post-boil
1 oz. Citra hops (pellet; 14.1%) steep 30 min. post-boil
1 oz. Simcoe hops (pellet; 13.2%) steep 30 min. post-boil
1 oz. Citra hops (pellet; 14.1%) dry hop 3-7 days
1 oz. Simcoe hops (pellet; 13.2 %) dry hop 3-7 days

Spices/Etc:
2 Tbsp. Madras curry powder-boil 5 min.
2 Tbsp. Garam Masala-boil 5 min.
1 g. Calcium Chloride-boil 60 min.
5 g. Gypsum-boil 60 min.
1 big pinch Irish moss-boil 15 min.
Spanish cedar cigar box inserts (an as yet undetermined amount) an as yet undetermined # of days

Yeast:
Bell's Brewery bottle culture (2 qt. 1.040 wort starter)

Richard's Recipe (courtesy of Richard McElroy):

Let Go And Let God - 16 Recipe specifics: Style: American IPA Batch size: 5.5 gal Boil volume: 6.0 gal OG: 1.073 FG: 1.018 Bitterness (IBU): 73.0 Color (SRM): 11.9 ABV: 7.2% Grain/Sugars: 9.90 lb Light LME, 83.2% 1.00 lb Munich (US), 8.4% 0.50 lb Crystal 60L, 4.2% 0.50 lb Weyermann Melanoidin, 4.2% Hops: 0.75 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) 60 min, 25.8 IBU 1.25 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) 15 min, 21.3 IBU 1.25 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) 10 min, 15.6 IBU 1.25 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) 5 min, 8.6 IBU 1.25 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) 1 min, 1.9 IBU 3.00 oz Mosaic (AA 12.7%, Pellet) dry hop Yeast/Misc: Irish Moss, 1.0 unit(s), Fining , boil 15 min Trappist Ale yeast, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast Recipe Notes: Add adjuncts at 155 deg. Steep for 30 minutes below 170. Batch Notes: Was very cold. Steep temp averaged 161 for 30 minutes Cooled wort from boil to 75 degrees in 30 minutes using a chiller. Removed chiller rested wort 60 minutes. Combined with brews from Travis and Rob. Dry hopped after one week, by racking into secondary fermenter. Pitched yeast at 63 degrees. OG - 1.070FG

Rob's Recipe (courtesy of Robert Kring, Jr.):

47 - LG&LG Recipe specifics: Style: American IPA Batch size: 5.5 gal Boil volume: 6.2 gal OG: 1.070 FG: 1.017 Bitterness (IBU): 42.1 Color (SRM): 6.0 ABV: 6.9% Grain/Sugars: 9.00 lb Two-row (US), 70.6% 2.00 lb Wheat (US), 15.7% 1.00 lb Honey, 7.8% 0.50 lb Crystal 20L, 3.9% 0.25 lb Crystal 40L, 2.0% Hops: 0.50 oz Chinook (AA 11.5%, Pellet) 60 min, 16.3 IBU 0.50 oz Chinook (AA 11.5%, Pellet) 30 min, 12.5 IBU 1.00 oz Cascade (AA 6.6%, Pellet) 20 min, 11.3 IBU 0.50 oz Cascade (AA 6.6%, Pellet) 5 min, 1.9 IBU 0.50 oz Cascade (AA 6.6%, Pellet) dry hop Yeast/Misc: American Ale yeast, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast US - 05

-The calm before the storm.

-Aforementioned boil over can be seen to the left of the photo. My pot is in the background under the blue towel to the right, and Rob's burner can be seen in the foreground. He has yet to lauter due to the aforementioned stuck sparge.

-Rob Kring, my brother-in-law (left), and myself (right) quickly accumulating the thick, wet snow and enjoying some of Rob's doppelbock.

-Random pic of Richard (since he was not in the previous one). No dogs were harmed in this collaboration brew day.

-A pic of the aforementioned changing of Richard's flat tire. His car would fail him yet again on his way home by indicating its fuel tank was 1/4 full when it was actually empty. Richard had a bit of a tough weekend you might say.

-A carboy full of collaboration beer ready to travel safely back to Indiana.

-In the cold environs of my current weekly living situation, fermentation took its time to get down to an FG in the low 1.020s (it could go lower I suppose, but I don't expect it to). That yields an abv of 8%. Last night I added 1 oz. each of Simcoe, Amarillo, and Citra hops, as well as 1/2 tbsp. each Madras curry powder and Garam Masala. Also added 6 sheets of Spanish Cedar cigar box inserts broken into 1 in. strips. I plan to force carbonate after 7 days.

First glass of Let Go & Let God Imperial IPA collaboration beer. Also first carbed glass from new kegging system. Cedar, citrus, lingering peppery spice. Nice lacing from all those hop compounds. Still quite cloudy, too. Almost opaque. There are a lot of hops in this beer. Delicious!

The great thing about collaboration beers is they can have as many or as few rules as you want. So, if you endeavor to embark upon one in your near or distant future, just remember to Be Fermentive!