This one was a total experiment for me! Experimental hops, experimental yeast, and experimental fermentation. My local homebrew shop had a new variety called Samba, with tropical characters that sounded pretty neat! So, I picked up a few ounces for a batch. I also had been meaning to try out Lallemand’s new dry Voss kveik strain, so grabbed some of those packets.

For this beer, I wanted a tropical/citrus character and fairly light drinkability, alongside a “full-strength” IPA. So, I combined Centennial, Samba, and Simcoe for a whirlpool as well as a dry hop addition.

Dance Party IPA

• 12.5 lb. 2-row Xtra Pale Malt (Viking)
• 0.75 lb. Carapils malt (Briess)
• 1 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
• 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
• 1 oz. Samba hop pellets (11.6% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
• 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.7% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
• 1 pkg. Voss Kveik Ale dry yeas (Lallemand)
• 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), dry hop in keg
• 1 oz. Samba hop pellets (11.6% alpha), dry hop in keg
• 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.7% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

• 1.059 s.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.1% abv, 62 IBU, 4 SRM
• Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet and 5 g of gypsum added at the boil, to bump up the bitterness
• 60 minute full volume infusion mash, 152°

Procedure

• I mashed in with 7.25 gallons of water at 159°, to hit a mash temperature of 152°. I added 6 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the mash pH.
• After a 60 minute mash with recirculation at 152°, I bumped up the temperature to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out.
• Following the mash, I removed the grain basket and brought the kettle to a boil.
• In total, I had 6.3 gallons with a gravity of 1.050, for 66% mash efficiency. I added 5 g of gypsum to the boil, to bump up the sulfate.
• I boiled for 60 minutes, adding finings and hops per the schedule.
• After the boil, I did a 15 minute whirlpool at around 195°, and then chilled down to 90° and transferred to the fermenter.
• Starting gravity was 1.050. I brewed this beer on 27 March 2021.
• I pitched the packet of yeast directly, and began fermentation at 90°. After 18 hours, I raised the temperature to 95°, and then raised to 100° at the 24 hours mark after yeast pitch. After 72 hours, I lowered the temperature to 90°.
• I kegged the beer on 7 April 2021, with the dry hops floating loose in the keg and a screen on the floating dip tube to filter out hops.
• Final gravity was 1.013, for 5.8% abv.

Tasting

I didn’t have time to do a formal tasting on this one before the keg was kicked, but have a few general perceptions. First, the fermentation had a super clean character, and the kveik lives up to its reputation. I would totally do this fermentation profile again! Second, I really enjoyed the hop combo, but think that I probably overbittered it a bit, and the hops drowned out any potential malt character. There was a touch of astringency from the dry hops also, at times, which I think also detracted from the final flavor. So, if I redo this kind of IPA I might use a more character-rich base malt such as Vienna or Maris Otter and maybe a touch more of a crystal malt (e.g., crystal 20 or even crystal 40). That aside, the Samba hops did live up to their tropical reputation, and played well with the rest of the hops. It might be interesting to switch up the hop combos; I think this beer would be great with any combo of Samba, Citra, and/or Mosaic.

So…I would probably do this again, but modify things significantly. It was definitely worth the experiment, and I’ll likely dive into more kveik fermentations this summer! I give the beer itself a 5/10…not awful, but not quite where I want it to be either.