Gentlemen,
At the time of writing I have little to offer in ways of knowledge towards distillation as I'm early in my journey in that respect. However although not considered a master at brewing...nor am I a novice. In the spirit of contribution and sharing of knowledge I'd like to pass along a recipe I hold near and dear to my heart which has consistently provided me a very tasty home brew that pleases my palate. If you are of a similar nature to me, and enjoy hops, then I hope you will share in this experience and also pass along the results of your labour.
TBones hoppy bottle conditioned ale.
Target OG: 1.062
Target FG: 1.012
ABV: 6.5%
IBU's: 85
Batch size: 23 litres
Grain bill.
5.5 kilos pale malt, 2 row.
.55 kilos Munich malt.
.25 kilos cara pils/cara foam.
.25 kilos melanoiden malt.
.25 kilos light crystal malt.
Hops.
(As a note here you can play with whatever hops you like. I'd encourage you to find a balance to your liking that gives a good representation between "dank" & "tropical fruity")
As an example I used USA citra, NZ grown chinook, and NZ grown cascade. All equally split for clarification.
60 minute bittering addition...30 grams.
15 minute addition... 30 grams.
10 minute addition... 45 grams.
5 minute addition... 45 grams.
Flame out addition... 45 grams.
Dry hop for 5 days... 90 grams.
Other notes:
Mashed at 152 for 70 minutes. I used PH stabiliser in the mash. Used Irish moss at 10 minutes. Yeast used was safale us-05 which was rehydrated prior to pitching.
No fancy tricks here's guys, and just basic equipment used. No secondary fermentation either...I waited until fermentation was near over before adding the dry hops so no worries or issues with oxidation.
The US-05 is a beast and takes care of attenuation nicely.
After a few weeks bottle conditioning this beer is awesome! Nice appearance, good mouth feel, huge hop taste and aroma, and despite good attenuation from the yeast there's a nice balance from the other malts which help out a lot.
I've also used US-04 with good results...so give that a try as well.
If you brew it let me know how it goes!
And feel free to ask any questions...I'd be happy to help.
TBone