The Bagombo Strikes Back

After only a month of being drinkable, I had given away a fair share of my half of Brian and I’s first batch of Bagombo IPA (not to mention having enjoyed a few myself). I was then left with the decision to sneak into Brian’s basement to steal from his cache before he returns from Louisiana or brew up another batch, this time with Carl providing the assist. As I have yet to receive my ninja certification card from that cereal mail-in offer (6-8 weeks wait?!), my hand was forced into brewing another batch.

Of all the beers I have homebrewed over the years, this IPA seems to be the one that samplers talk about most. I like to think it is the grapefruit laden aroma and smoothly balanced overall taste profile, but I must admit that under my brewing partner at the time and I’s rather raunchy naming convention, it was the one with the most hysterically memorable moniker. Forgive me if I add to the lore here by not revealing the original name. It is sufficient to say that while it was seen as playful by most, it was found offensive by some and does not merit repeating on this blog. As in, buy me a beer sometime and I will probably tell you.

I rounded up the ingredients at the homebrew shop and headed to Carl’s. He had taken the initiative to get the patio cleaned and situated for brewing prior to my arrival, so we were getting water up to temperature and cleaning utensils in no time. We had to compound our brew day by also racking our two previous beers, so just after mash in we started the transfer of the Pool-Pah Pale to a cleaned and sanitized carboy. Stir grain, check transfer, clean something, repeat.

The mash went quickly with the extra work surrounding it, but without problem. The sparge came next, followed by the climb to boil, which provided us with a break in the action sufficient to get the Mother Night ASIBA racked into yet another clean carboy. Once to a boil, we added the first hops and spent the next 40 minutes cleaning another carboy to get ready for the incoming Bagombo, taking gravity readings on the Pool-Pah and Mother Night (while sampling for quality control, of course) and running inside to check on the Spain-Portugal match.

After the next hop addition, the times got closer together so an increase in focus was in order. Luckily, the match had ended and all other brew duties had been completed. We added copious amounts of hops over the next 25 minutes with some yeast nutrient and Irish moss thrown in at the appropriate times as well and then it was time for the ice bath. I am still pining for a wort chiller, but the ice bath method is pretty effective for this particular recipe as it is (I admit) mostly extract and therefore produced a relatively small amount of wort. I am still working on formulating an all-grain recipe, but, as I stated previously, this is the beer that gets the most positive comments from those that have sampled my brews and there are times where if it isn’t it broke, you shouldn’t try to fix it. In fact, I have made tweaks to the recipe from batch to batch (this is its 8^th incarnation), but always get the best response (and beer) when I return to the original recipe. Other than a slightly longer boil and satiating my new fascination with something more resembling continual hopping, this version does not deviate from the original.

After the quick and effective ice bath, we added the wort to the carboy, topped off with water and then took an original gravity reading. We moved the carboy downstairs to its warm resting place for fermentation then pitched the yeast and set the blow off tube. Some final clean up and then we headed over to the Flying Goat for some well earned beers and some food. It took plenty of work, but after a pint or so, that wonderful “job well done” feeling start to set in and we eagerly discussed what the outcome of our efforts will taste like.