Epic Divorce Pale Ale (the final eval)

This is it, the Epic Divorce Pale Ale. I plan on kegging the batch and cracking it open when the divorce is final. Unlike many of my friends, I do not plan to have a party when it is over... I plan to have a wake. The beer didn't turn out as big as I wanted, but I think it will do the job. What job is that? Waking up a bit fuzzy!
17 and a 1/2 years. Jeez.
So, the wake has happened and the beer has been consumed. How did it turn out? Read on! Plus, look at my "URL" link and see how the wake turned out!

Brewer:	Rathole		Email:	am1nightcreature@yahoo.com
URL:	http://hometown.aol.com/rathole2331/apology.html
Beer:	Epic Divorce Pale Ale (the final eval)		Style:	India Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5.5 gallons
Color:	23 HCU (~13 SRM)		Bitterness:	75 IBU
OG:	1.075		FG:	1.016
Alcohol:	7.7% v/v (6.0% w/w)
Water:	Reverse osmosis filtered water with two teaspoons gypsum at start of boil.
Grain:	1.5 lb. American crystal 40L .5 lb. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
Steep:	Steep grains in a grain bag at 155° for 30 minutes. Sparge with 170° water.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.083	5 gallons
	11 lb. Light malt extract
	1 1/2 teaspoons irish moss last 15 minutes or so. At end of boil, add one ounce cascade, steep for ten minutes, cool wort.
Hops:	1 oz. Chinook (13% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (6.6% AA, 20 min.) .75 oz. Centennial (9.9% AA, 20 min.) .5 oz. Chinook (13% AA, 20 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (6.6% AA, 10 min.) .75 oz. Centennial (9.9% AA, 10 min.) .5 oz. Chinook (13% AA, 10 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (6.6% AA, 5 min.) .75 oz. Centennial (9.9% AA, 5 min.) .5 oz. Chinook (13% AA, 5 min.) 1.5 oz. Cascade (aroma) .5 oz. Centennial (aroma) .5 oz. Chinook (aroma)
Yeast:	I used two packets of "Nottingham" dry yeast, rehydrated per instructions
Log:	3/26/04: Brewed it tonight. Actual OG is 1.070 Had some problems because I used leaf chinook, and didn't use a hop bag. (No excuse... I had like five of them, duh) Lost about a gallon of wort, fermenting 4.5 gallons. 4/2/04: Racked to secondary, dry hopped with 1/2 oz each of cascde and centennial. SG 1.032 This has been fermenting very cool, staying about 60 degrees. Has a good clean bready aroma intially, then a kind of citric/piney aroma, all very complex and pleasant. Has a clean balanced bitterness which does not suggest 75 IBU, although it still has some fermenting to do (I hope!) Time to settle down for a good long time in the secondary. 4/9: SG 1.030 still cloudy. Let the future ex-wife take a whiff, the hop aroma singed her nose hairs. She was not adventurous enough to try a taste. Not particulary bitter, very pungeant grapefruit/pine character. 4/28: SG still hanging around 1.030-ish... made a pint starter of champagne yeast and pitched it today 5/3: The champagne yeast did the trick! SG 1.016 corrected. HUGE hop aroma, I can smell it strongly through a nose so plugged I can't even smell a fart. Good bitter malty taste... almost perfect. May have to rack to tertiary it's so cloudy, but we'll see. Late may: still cloudy, racked to tertiary 6/4: Kegged in a 3 gallon ball lock borrowed from a brewing friend, with enough left over to make a 12 pack of 12 oz bottles, for tasting and fair entry. SG 1.015 @ 70°, better than I could have hoped for
Tasting:	Welcome back recipator! OH MY GAWD! This stuff is great. Beautifully balanced, malt and bitterness are perfect. Nice piney, slightly citric hop aroma. I think some of the aroma was lost due to the introduction of some 02 during the rack to tertiary, but this stuff is wonderful. So well balanced that it tastes and looks like a kinda big pale ale, except with 7.8% alcohol! I will never make this beer again (unless I go through another divorce) but will make one similar. By the way, I moved out of the future ex-wifes house may 7th, and am living in a Crappy Little Trailer down the street from my brewing buddy. Looks like the marriage is still going in the crapper, so the wake will proceed as planned. I'll let you know, and maybe post a link so you can see some pics. 12/17/04 The final update well, the keg is dead. my party has happened and the beer is gone, thanks to "keg killer" curtis. I had my share, fear not. Basically, almost nine months after brewing, it came down to this: Good stuff! very close to S/N celebration ale, nice malty flavor well balanced by bitterness. more bitter and hoppy than the celebration, with similar hop aromas, just more of them. less dense than bigfoot. I think it's perfect. try to find that point, about four months after bottling, that it floats in that perfect netherworld between fading bitterness and rising maltiness. still the best beer I ever made. go to the above "hompage" link, and see the pictures of the epic divorce party. you'll wish you were there. I wish I had thought in advance, and brewed a batch of this for the next party a year from now. Brew at one party, drink at the next. *sigh* but i will brew one in awhile, and try to do that next year. I would bump up the IBU's, otherwise, it was perfect! If you use pellet hops all around, should bring the IBU up to about what i want, around 85-90. just a toosh.

Recipe posted 12/18/04.