Category Archives: IPA

Off the Rails Belgian IPA

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One of my favorite local establishments is The Back Abbey, a little place in Claremont that has been a gathering spot to celebrate special occasions, and sometimes just to enjoy a nice meal (their fries are the best in the area). They also have a phenomenal selection of draft and bottled Belgian beers. When I want a treat, I’ll order a glass of Houblon Chouffe, a Belgian IPA. It has a cute gnome on the logo, and the beer is pretty good too! Because we’re not eating out much these days, I’ve been missing that beer. And the fries.

Thankfully, as a homebrewer I can fairly easily make a clone brew and enjoy my own version at home. I did a bit of looking around online, and found a clone recipe based on Houblon Chouffe that seemed pretty decent. The beer is fairly high octane, so I elected to do a 3 gallon batch rather than my usual 5 gallons. As noted below, I had to improvise a ton to hit my marks, so I dubbed this “Off the Rails Belgian IPA”. The improvisation made things a bit frantic, but also kinda fun.

The result was pretty great. It drank super easily, especially for something pushing 10% abv. The keg is drained, but here are the overall details and tasting for posterity’s sake.

Off the Rails Belgian IPA (Houblon Chouffe Clone)

  • 10.5 lb. Viking Pilsner Malt
  • 1.5 lb. white sugar
  • 0.55 oz. CTZ hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.25 oz. CTZ hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Saaz hop pellets (5.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Belgian Ale yeast (WLP550)
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (7.7% alpha), dry hop in fermenter

Target Parameters

  • 1.084 s.g., 1.009 f.g., 10.0% abv, 52 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Infusion mash, full volume, 144° for 30 minutes, 154° for 70 minutes, 168° mashout for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet to remove chloramine

Procedure

  • The night before brewing, I made a 1 liter shaken-not-stirred starter for the yeast. I also prepped the brewing water.
  • I mashed in with 5 gallons of water at 152° and 3.75 mL of 88% lactic acid, to target a mash temperature of 144°. It was a touch low at first (142°), so I extended the first mash rest to 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes as planned.
  • As the mash recirculated, I got a stuck sparge about 20 minutes in. It manifested as foaming in the mash, and a low water level outside my grain basket. Argh! I added two handfuls of rice hulls, which worked for a bit until it got stuck again. I hadn’t used the small batch adapter, so maybe that was the issue? Or perhaps it was the thickness of the mash? Either way, I had to watch things pretty carefully, and there definitely was some aeration (argh).
  • After 30 minutes at 144°, I raised the mash to 154° and held it there for 70 minutes, before finishing the mash cycle at 168° for 10 minutes.
  • I thought I had only put in 8.5 pounds of pilsner malt, but had actually put in 10.5 pounds. This led to a surprise gravity reading waaay above what I had calculated. With 1.067 after the mash and 1.080 after adding the sugar, I needed to thin things out a bit. So, I added 0.5 gallons of water to bring the gravity down to 1.072.
  • I boiled for 70 minutes, adding the hops as per the recipe. At the end of this, I ended up with 3 gallons, after discarding about a gallon of trub and a bit of extra wort. This brew session really went off the rails!
  • I brewed this beer on 12 December 2020. Starting gravity was 1.084.
  • I chilled the beer down to 75°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled it to 65°. I aerated for 30 seconds with pure O2, and pitched the yeast (12 December 2020). I held the fermenter at 65° for 48 hours and then let it free-rise to 70° (starting 14 December 2020). I let it free-rise to 75° after 48 hours (starting 16 Decembe 2020). I held it at this temperature for a week, and then let it free rise to 78° (on 23 December 2020). After 24 hours, I let the beer drop to 70° (beginning 24 December 2020). I removed the beer from the fermentation chamber and brought it in to ambient (~65°) to finish fermentation, 19 days after brewing (1 January 2021). The gravity was 1.015 at this point, so I agitated the fermenter to rouse the yeast and hopefully help spur the last bit of fermentation.
  • I had steady bubbling in the airlock by the morning after pitching the yeast, and vigorous bubbling into a blowoff tube within 48 hours. I changed out the blowoff jar twice. The most vigorous aspect of fermentation was done by 19 December (one week after pitch), so I switched over to an airlock. The airlock had a crack, so tended to leak liquid…unfortunately, I think this means the fermentation got a little more latent oxygen than desirable.
  • I moved the beer to a ~64° location on 7 January 2021, adding the dry hops at this point. I cold crashed on 10 January 2021, and kegged on 15 January 2021.
  • Final gravity was 1.013, for 9.6% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Medium gold beer, fairly clear; it has a pillowy and persistent white head.
  • Aroma
    • The aroma is wonderful! It is quite spicy, like gingerbread or spice cake, showcasing a really nice Belgian yeast aroma. The hops definitely faded a bit over time, starting out as herbal and slightly grassy, fading to a low herbal note towards the end of the keg. There is a light pear-like yeast character.
  • Flavor
    • Very clean! There is a wonderful hop/malt balance, with no boozy notes to speak of. Malt level is medium-low, with a cracker quality. Bitterness is relatively high, with an herbal and piney character, but that had faded a bit over time. There is a slight pear quality to the yeast, with spicy and peppery aspects more at the front.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Highly carbonated, medium-light body, with a medium-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Absolutely! I’m super pleased with the results, particularly in how well I nailed the yeast management. This fermentation schedule (gradual ramp up and gradual ramp down) seemed to do really well for WLP550, and I would absolutely use that again. I may have had some minor oxidation issues due to the mash problems as well as the airlock going dry, which resulted in a faster hop fade and slightly darker color than desired. The beer was definitely a deeper gold hue than I expected for 100% pilsner malt (with white sugar). I didn’t notice any sherry or cardboard or honey notes that I usually associate with oxidation, but I bet it would have manifested if I had let it age out a bit more. In any case, I’m super pleased with the overall result, and will give it another try someday when I want a high gravity sipper. I’ll need to reconfigure the malt and water quantities for a more carefully constrained future batch, but that should (hopefully) be trivial. I might also lower the second mash rest to 150° or so, to help dry out the beer a bit more. It finished a touch higher than desired, so I’ll mash a bit lower next time for the second step.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Mahajanga IPA

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Although my tastes tilt towards lower alcohol (<5.5% abv) beers, I like something a bit stronger as a treat now and then. I’ve previously enjoyed Avery Brewing Brewing Company’s Maharaja, a 10% abv double (triple?) IPA, and found a clone recipe in Craft Beer for the Homebrewer. I modified the hops in my version, with Chinook in place of Columbus and Centennial on the boil. On the dry hop end of things, I was much closer to the original recipe.

The name is a play on Avery’s brew, honoring a city in northwestern Madagascar where I spent a bit of time during my fieldwork in that country.

Mahajanga IPA

  • 10.5 pounds 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 7 oz. biscuit malt (Dingemans)
  • 6 oz. crystal 120 (Great Western)
  • 1 oz. Chinook whole hops (13.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Chinook whole hops (13.1% alpha), 30 minute boil
  • 1 lb. pilsen light dry malt extract, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. Safale American Ale yeast (US-05)
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Chinook whole hops (13.1% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (13.6% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.088 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 10% abv, 113 IBU, 13 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, with 2 g of gypsum added at end of boil
  • Full volume mash, 90 minutes at 147°, mash out to 168°, ferment at 65°

Procedure

  • I mashed in full volume with ~5 gallons of water at 156°, to hit a mash temperature of 147°. I added ~4 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the mash pH.
  • After a 90 minute mash, I brought it up to 168° and held for 10 minutes before removing the grains.
  • I hit around 57% mash efficiency, with ~1.058 gravity for 4 gallons of runnings. This is pretty low, so I knew I would have to add a pound of DME.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops, DME, and kettle finings per the recipe.
  • I added 2 g of gypsum at the end of the boil.
  • Approximately 3.4 gallons of wort went into the fermenter. I gave this 30 seconds of pure O2, and then pitched the yeast. It fermented at ambient (~64°).
  • I brewed the beer on 25 November 2020, and it had a starting gravity of 1.077.
  • I kegged the beer on 19 December 2020, adding the dry hops at that time. Final gravity was 1.014, for 8.5% abv. I’m thrilled that the beer attenuated fairly well!
  • I removed the dry hops on 27 December 2020, to avoid overhopping or harshness.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer has an orangish, burnished gold color; it’s slightly hazy, but not overly so. It pours with a persistent ivory head with really nice lacing.
  • Aroma
    • Slight caramel malt quality, and a prominent hop character of citrus rind and pine resin. There is no yeast character or hot alcohol character, which is awesome!
  • Flavor
    • The beer is quite bitter, with a grapefruit rind and pine resin character to the bitterness. The malt flavor is somewhat grainy, and relatively moderate compared to the hops. Yeast character is very clean. This is a hop-forward beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, with an off-dry finish and moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Overall, this is a great recipe that just requires some hop adjustment. The hop character is a bit one-dimensional, with the Chinook dominating everything else. If I rebrew this, I’ll go closer to the original recipe, and ditch Chinook for all but a small dry hop addition. The malt character is about perfect, with enough body to stand up to the hops. The yeast management was perfect on this one–it attenuated well, and the yeast character was clean rather than boozy or fusel-ridden.
  • Overall
    • 6/10

See See IPA

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Classic American IPA time, again! The recipe is a modest modification of my Wildfire IPA from a few months back. The malts are fairly different (crystal 40 and biscuit, instead of crystal 30), and I used light Munich instead of dark Munich malt. The hopping schedule is also adjusted, to use the clean bitterness of Magnum and all of the flavor/aroma happening in the whirlpool and dry hop. So, I suppose it’s not really a complete rebrew, but a new recipe strongly inspired by the past recipe.

The name references the C-C dry hopping, with Cascade and Chinook whole cones right in the keg. And that, in turn, is a (bad) pun on “See See Rider,” a song that originated over 100 years ago and is known to many of us because of Elvis Presley.

See See IPA

  • 12 lb. 2-row brewer’s malt (Great Western)
  • 1 lb. Munich light malt (Chateau)
  • 0.5 lb. crystal 40 malt (Great Western)
  • 0.25 lb. biscuit malt (Dingemans)
  • 1.4 oz. Magnum hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 45 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 0.5 oz. Chinook whole hops (13.1% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 0.4 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)
  • 1.5 oz. Chinook whole hops (13.1% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.057 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 6.1% abv, 7 SRM, 67 IBU
  • Infusion mash, 150°, full volume; 60 minute boil
  • Claremont water, with Campden tablet to remove chloramines.

Procedure

  • I heated 7.5 gallons of mash water to 157°, and added the grains to hit a target mash temperature of 150° for 60 minutes. I added 10 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust pH.
  • After a 60 minute mash with recirculation, I ramped the temperature up to 168° over 10 minutes, and held it there for 10 minutes more. Next, I removed the grains and started heating to the boil.
  • I had approximately 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.050, for 64% mash efficiency.
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and finings per the recipe.
  • After 60 minutes, I added the whirlpool hops and recirculated for 15 minutes, before continuing to chill.
  • I transferred the wort to the fermenter, and let it chill down to 68° in the fermentation chamber, before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 14 November 2020. Starting gravity was 1.055.
  • I kegged the beer on 1 December 2020, adding whole dry hops directly to the keg. I have the hop screen adapter for my Clear Beer Draft System, and thought I’d give it a try.
  • Final gravity was 1.012, for 5.7% abv. This batch came pretty close to hitting targets!

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold and fairly clear, with just a smidge of haze at the time of this writing. It has cleared up surprisingly wel! The beer pours with a persistent but modest off-white head.
  • Aroma
    • There are definitely Chinook hops in this! Hop aroma is at the forefront, with a heavy spicy, herbal, and slightly dank character. I don’t pick up much for citrus notes, although I could be convinced there is grapefruit as part of it. There is a hint of caramel malt character, but that’s very much in the background. No yeast character is evident.
  • Flavor
    • Flavor is dominated by the hops, with the herbal and dank character mentioned above. Bitterness is moderately high, but not over the top; it’s about perfect for my tastes! The malt character is nicely supportive, and I like the malty, bready character alongside the trace of caramel. As with aroma, the yeast stays in the background, where it belongs!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, with a finish that is only slightly on the dry side. Carbonation is also on the moderate side, as is appropriate for the style.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This general recipe is a great base for a classic northwestern IPA that highlights “old school” American hops. It’s pretty similar to its Wildfire IPA predecessor, and I think this overall recipe is likely to stay in my semi-regular rotation. Although it’s a bit out of vogue these days, the 2-row plus Munich base malt combo really hits the spot for me, and I think the crystal malt adds important character. My main complaint on this batch is that the Chinook hops are just a touch heavy. Their flavor plays well with everything else, but I prefer the more citrusy varieties like Cascade in my American IPAs.
  • Overall
    • 7/10

Summer RyePA

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My latest session IPA was a bit of a kitchen sink beer, but also one where I wanted to create a slightly more “traditional” northwest IPA. That means citrus and pine for the hops, and no fear of the crystal malt. To ground my malt character, I used Vienna malt as the base, with a healthy dose of rye malt on top of that. I used about 7% crystal malt to add some body and depth. The overall results were pretty fantastic!

Summer RyePA

  • 8 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 1.5 lb. rye malt (Viking)
  • 0.5 lb. crystal 40 (Great Western)
  • 0.25 lb. crystal 60 (Great Western)
  • 2 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.5 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alph), 60 minute boil
  • 0.4 oz. Chinook hop pellets (13.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 3 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (BRY-97)
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (9.2% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 0.5 oz. Cryo-Cascade hop pellets (12.0% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 0.4 oz. Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) hop pellets (15.5% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.047 s.g., 1.012 f.g., 4.5% abv, 7 SRM, 46 IBU
  • Infusion mash, 156°, batch sparge; 60 minute boil
  • Claremont water, with 3 g gypsum and 5 g epsom salts added to kettle during chilling, to hit approximate mixture of 51 ppm Ca, 32 ppm Mg, 71 ppm Na, 156 ppm SO4, 75 ppm Cl, ~100 ppm HCO3

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water, heated to 167°. Once it had cooled down to 163°, I added the grains, and hit a mash temperature of 153°. I added ~2 mL of 88% lactic acid to bring the mash pH down a touch.
  • Around 30 minutes in, I added 2 gallons of water at 175°, to raise the mash temperature to 157°.
  • After 60 minutes of mashing, I collected the first runnings. Then, I added 3 gallons of water with 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to neutralize carbonates. This should result in around ~100 ppm HCO3.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and such per the recipe.
  • After 60 minutes, I began the chilling process. At this point, I realized that I had forgotten to add the gypsum and epsom salts I had intended to add earlier, so boiled them in a cup of water and put this into the wort.
  • Once I had chilled a bit, I transferred to the fermenter and then chilled the rest of the way, down to 68°, in my fermentation chamber.
  • I brewed this beer on 8 August 2020, and fermented at 66°. Starting gravity was 1.048.
  • I brought the beer up to ambient garage temperature (78° to 80°) on 15 August 2020, to finish out fermentation.
  • I kegged the beer on 21 August 2020, adding 2.85 oz. of corn sugar for natural carbonation along with the dry hops in a bag. I let it sit at ambient for about a week, before chilling and finishing carbonation via forced CO2.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold in color, with an orange tinge, and only a slight haze. This beer dropped surprisingly clear after ~2 weeks in the keezer! A persistent off-white head holds modest lacing along the side of the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Hop forward, with citrus/orange at the front, and a bit of earthiness behind that. Yeast character is clean, and not much in the way of malt is noticeable.
  • Flavor
    • Bitterness level is moderately high, with an orange/citrusy character. It’s distinctly tilted towards the hops, with the malt in the background in terms of balance. Malt character is grainy with only a hint of caramel notes, and avoiding any perception of sweetness. I get a touch of rye spice as the beer warms up, but I’m surprised the rye doesn’t come through more prominently. That’s probably an okay thing, though, in that it doesn’t overwhelm the beer. As I finish more of the glass, the pine character of the hops starts to shine through.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light bodied, with an extended dry finish and a lingering bitterness. Moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is one of the better session IPAs I’ve done over the years. It’s got sufficient character to be interesting, and enough body to keep it from seeming thin. The citrus character is very nice, and I think the blend of hops is spot-on for this kind of beer. It’s squarely in the northwest IPA tradition, with plenty of citrus and not much of the tropical fruit character so common in IPAs nowadays. It’s interesting that the pine character manifests a bit late as I drink the beer, and same for the rye notes. That’s okay by me, though. I could certainly play with the hops more, but the grain bill is pretty close to perfect.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Wildfire IPA

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I love IPAs, but I’m also a bit burnt out on brewing them. Often if I want this style, I’ll just buy a four- or six-pack, and that will satisfy my temporary craving. There are tons of really good (and many great) IPAs out there, but they start to blend together after awhile. The contemporary Citra/Mosaic/etc. versions are tasty, but honestly there’s not always a lot of difference from one to the next. I like the taste of many hazies at first, but get tired after half a glass. The theme in many contemporary IPAs is tropical fruit notes…which can be fun, but gets monotonous after awhile. Can you tell that I’m bored?

More and more, my flavor preferences come back to the “old school” IPAs. Pine, low-key citrus, and herbal notes are all something I crave. It’s hard to find these in many of the newer (and dominant) commercial IPAs! Even the local breweries that have otherwise excellent IPAs aren’t filling this flavor-space anymore. I can’t blame them, if this IPA variant doesn’t sell well. As a homebrewer, though, I can more easily tailor my beer to personal tastes!

I recently received a copy of the Homebrew Recipe Bible, which is a nicely written and expansive tome of recipes. Their recipe for Wildfire IPA immediately appealed to me. It had a hefty blend of old school and newish-hops, while also dodging Citra and Mosaic tropes. I made some small modifications for ingredients on-hand, but otherwise it’s as-written.

Wildfire IPA

  • 12.75 lbs. 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 1.25 lbs. Dark Munich malt (Viking), 11 SRM
  • 0.75 Crystal 30 malt (Great Western)
  • 0.6 oz. Chinook hop pellets (13.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.6 oz. Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) hop pellets (15.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.6 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (13.6% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (7.7% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. US-05 American ale dry yeast
  • 1 oz. Ahtanum hop pellets (6.0% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 0.5 oz. Cascade Cryo-Hops (12.5% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • Infusion mash to hit target of 150°, 60 minutes, batch sparge
  • 1.066 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 7.0% abv, 68 IBU, 7 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, with 1/2 tsp (~2 g) of gypsum added to boil kettle

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 5 gallons of water at 161.8°, to hit a mash temperature of 149.8°. I added 8 mL of 88% lactic acid to the mash, to adjust the pH.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 0.5 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I added 3.6 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.10 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.053, for 70% mash efficiency.
  • In the kettle, I added the 1/2 tsp. of gypsum and brought the mixture to a boil, adding hops per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I added the whirlpool hops and let it sit for 10 minutes before chilling.
  • As I transferred the wort to the fermenter, I noticed a lot of trub. This is due to the heavy hop load. Like, a lot of trub. For future recipes, I’ll need to adjust my kettle leavings (~1 gallon) to ensure I have a full 5 gallon batch.
  • I fermented the beer at 66°, following my brew day on 9 February 2020.
  • I kegged the beer on 29 February 2020. Starting gravity was 1.053, and went down to 1.008, for 7.7% abv. At the time of kegging, I added the dry hops in a weighted mesh sack.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep gold color and hazy but not cloudy, with a persistent and creamy white head.
  • Aroma
    • Pine, citrus pith, slight dankness
  • Flavor
    • Hop forward (as it should be), with a wonderful piney and bitter citrus character. Malt has a slight caramel, bready quality (likely from the Munich malt).
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderately light body, off-dry, moderate carbonation.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a very solid “traditional” West Coast IPA recipe, like something that would have been popular in the early 2000’s. I can’t think of much to change with this one…the only minor “ding” would be the slight haziness, but I’m pretty willing to tolerate that. Overall, it’s exactly the beer I wanted.
  • Overall
    • 9/10