The July/August 2009 issue of Zymurgy has the results of this year’s reader’s best commercial beer in the United States. After being beat out for first place two years in a row by Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Vinnie Cilurzo took first place this year with his Russian River Pliny the Elder. The issue includes an article by Vinnie himself where he spends five pages telling you how to brew a double IPA. It includes an updated recipe. I found it especially interesting because I recently featured the recipe he gave out at the the 2005 National Homebrew Competition. It seems he has been tweaking the recipe and this may account for the change in the polls. The IBU values listed are Vinie’s measured values, not calculations.
| Then | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| OG: | 1.075 | 1.070 |
| FG: | 1.013 | 1.011 |
| ADF: | 81.8% | |
| IBU: | 95–100 | 90–95 |
| SRM: | 5.9 | 7 |
| Fermentables | Then | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Row Pale Malt (1.8 °L) | 13.3 lbs. (5.897 kg) | 11.0 lbs. (5.0 kg) |
| Crystal (45 °L) | 0.32 lb. (145 g) | 0.5 lb. (277 g) |
| Carapils Malt (2 °L) | 0.94 lbs. (425 g) | 0.5 lbs. (277 g) |
| Dextrose (0 °L) | 1.1 lbs. (500 g) | 0.4 lbs. (181 g) |
| Hops | ||
| Warrior 15.6% AA, 90 min. | 2.75 oz. (78 g) | |
| Chinook 12.2% AA, 90 min. | 0.5 oz. (14 g) | |
| Columbus 13.9% AA, 90 min. | 3.5 oz. (99 g) | |
| Simcoe 12% AA, 45 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Columbus 13.9% AA, 45 min. | 0.75 oz. (21 g) | |
| Columbus 14.3% AA, 30 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Simcoe 12.3% AA, 30 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Centennial 9.1% AA, 0 min. | 2.25 oz. (64 g) | |
| Centennial 8.0% AA, 0 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Simcoe 12% AA, 0 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Simcoe 12.3% AA, 0 min. | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Columbus 14.3% AA, dry hop. | 3.25 oz. (92 g) | |
| Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. | 1.75 oz. (50 g) | |
| Simcoe 12% AA, dry hop. | 1.75 oz. (50 g) | |
| Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (12 to 14 days total) | 1.0 oz. (28 g) | |
| Columbus 13.9% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) | 0.25 oz. (7 g) | |
| Centennial 9.1% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) | 0.25 oz. (7 g) | |
| Simcoe 12.3% AA, dry hop. (5 days to go in dry hop) | 0.25 oz. (7 g) | |
| Yeast | ||
| White Labs California Ale WLP001, Wyeast American Ale 1056 | ||