I’ve done soooo many American-style IPAs (especially tending towards the citrusy/fruity variety) that I’ve lost sight of what else an IPA can be. I wanted to get back to the style’s roots roots, with an English-style recipe. Creatively, I decided to call it…English IPA. It’s modified from a recipe on the AHA website, which won gold in the NHC during 2016.

English IPA

• 12 lbs. Maris Otter malt (Bairds)
• 0.5 lb. biscuit malt (Dingemans)
• 0.5 lb. red wheat malt (Briess)
• 6 oz. crystal 120 malt (Great Western)
• 6 oz. crystal 40 malt (Great Western)
• 1 oz. Magnum hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc pellet, 10 minute boil
• 1 oz. Fuggles hop pellets (5.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
• 2 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
• 2 pkg. Nottingham dry yeast (Lallemand)
• 3 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (5.0% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

• 1.064 s.g, 1.015 f.g., 6.5% abv, 49 IBU, 11 SRM
• Infusion mash with batch sparge
• Water built from Claremont tap water with mineral additions.

Procedure

• Starting with Claremont tap water, I added 9 g gypsum, 5 g epsom salt, and 4 g CaCl to 4.6 gallons of water with a partial Campden tablet. I heated it to 166° and added the grains along with .5 tbs. of 88% lactic acid, to hit a mash temperature of 152° for 60 minutes. Then, I added 0.7 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected first runnings.
• Next, I added 3.6 gallons of water at 185° with 0.3 tbs. of 88% lactic acid for the sparge. After 10 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected second runnings.
• In total, I collected 6.9 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.055 and 75% efficiency.
• I brought everything to a boil and added the various kettle ingredients per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and cooled to 85°. Finally, I transferred to the fermenter (with aeration) and cooled to 66°.
• I brewed this and pitched the yeast on 7 November 2018.
• I kegged the beer on 19 November 2018 and added the dry hops.
• Original gravity was 1.063, and final gravity was 1.015, for 6.4% abv.

Tasting Notes

I drank this beer fairly quickly, because it was so tasty, and unfortunately I kicked the keg before I could do a full, formal tasting. Nonetheless, I kept a few brief notes on my last glass…

The beer had a hop-forward, nicely earthy aroma, with a slight caramel malt character behind that. On the taste, the malt and bitterness were well balanced. Hop character was pretty smooth on the finish, against the caramel malt qualities. Color was a gorgeous medium amber, with a slight haze.

Overall, I give this beer a 9 out of 10. I could perhaps round out the body a bit more (maybe with some oats or flaked barley), but overall this beer is pretty close to exactly what I wanted. The hops in particular are a treat–this feels like something Bilbo Baggins might enjoy next to the fire on a cold night in the Shire.