Guess whom's back?

Today I will be busting out the mashtun for the first time in almost a year. In the fall I was too busy brewing at Rock Bottom and for the last 6 months I've been too busy ordering all the beer I could ever want at Pinocchio's. But today I am brewing a test batch of an IPA that I will recreate in 2 weeks at Pinocchio's, when I put on a homebrewing demonstration in the parking lot. I kept the abv lower than I wanted so it should hopefully be done fermenting in time so I can keg it and serve it after the demonstration.

The recipe involves 7.5 pounds of Maris Otter malt, 3 pounds of pale ale malt, 1 pound of Gambrinus Honey malt, half a pound of Belgian Aromatic malt, and half a pound of Carapils malt. I usually only use pale ale malt and different crystal malts when brewing IPA's, so Maris Otter as a base is definitely new to me. Pinocchio's was also kind enough to supply me with a ton of hops. 3 ounces of Magnum for bittering, an ounce each of Amarillo and Citra for flavor/aroma, and then an ounce each of Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, and Citra for Dry hopping. This should be VERY citrusy and piney, and some floral notes as well. Hopefully I'll update the blog later with....pertinent updates. Oh yeah, and I have a yeast starter going right now in a growler since I did a mini-mash earlier tonight. Hopefully this will ensure a quick start to fermentation and sufficient attenuation by the time I have to keg this mother. Peace.