"Lights Out Double IPA"

In this photograph we have a beer my buddy Brian and I brewed called "Lights Out Double IPA".  My friend Rob named it due to the power outage we endured while brewing this (he wasn't there during the brewing of the beer, but rather saw some posts I had made on Facebook about it).  This is a HUGE double IPA. It has hops - LOADS of hops.  We just kept hopping it until it was hoptastic! The malt bill is pretty simple, producing a nice slight burnt orange color.
The aroma ... well,  if you love hops, you'd love this - we used over a pound of hops!

On September 25, 2010 we began to brew this batch.

This was the second batch Brian and I were taking on after nearly a 10 year break from brewing.  

We had 9 pounds of Pale Malt...warming in the sick...and at 4:00 pm brewing was about to start in less than an hour.  We were pretty stoaked at trying out hand at making a Double IPA.  

By 6:58 pm we were totally in the dark and PG&E quoted a "lights on" time of 11:30 pm.  Trying to brew beer by camp lights is challenging. 

My buddy Jay said, "That'll be some old fashioned beer" and I called it, "Old school brewin' - lights off..".  and we brewed (and bottled our Hoppy Red Ale) in the dark.  

By 8:22 pm the lights were back on, but that didn't change the name of the beer.  "Lights Out Double IPA" stuck.  

It also allowed us to bottle the Hoppy Red as we waited for all of the steps (and hops) it took to brew this batch.  

By 11:50 pm we were finished brewing the double IPA and we were ready to clean up.

Here's the brew the next evening (the 26th). The first dry hoppin' took place the night. The second took place 7 - 9 days later and then we bottled after 5 more days. It was worth the wait!

Double IPA...first dry hop... wait 9 days...then dry hop again...

Double IPA.... Last few moments in the carboy.

We bottled the batch and I actually still have some.  With so many good beers on the market sometimes my home brew doesn't make it out of my "beer fridge".

Guess I better have one tonight (or maybe two).

Cheers!

Mark Harvey