Category Archives: IPA

Pannotia White IPA 1.7

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I skipped a round last year, but decided that I needed to do another batch of my old favorite, Pannotia White IPA.

As I brewed this a few weeks back and as I enjoyed it now, I reflected on the fact that the (now long since past) white IPA mini-craze laid groundwork for the current hazy IPA mega-craze. White IPAs share some important features with the hazy ones, including haze and a juicy-fruity hop bill. They’re a distinct beast though, distinguished in large part by their drier body and distinct Belgian character. Personally, I find white IPAs a lot more enjoyable, but then again I also find the vast majority of hazy IPAs to be pretty mediocre.

In any case, this version of my white IPA recipe is pretty similar to the last time I brewed it, with the only minor distinction being the lack of lemon zest tincture. No particular reason I skipped that–I just forgot. Ah well!

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Pannotia White IPA 1.7

  • 7 lbs. 2-row malt (Rahr Malting Co.)
  • 3 lbs. white wheat malt
  • 1 lb. flaked wheat
  • 0.5 lbs. flaked quick oats
  • 0.5 lbs. rice hulls
  • 2 oz. Amarillo hops pellets (7.7% alpha), 45 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hops pellets (7.7% alpha), 5 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Citra hops pellets (13.2% alpha), 5 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Galaxy hops pellets (13.8% alpha), 5 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Citra hops pellets (13.2% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Galaxy hops pellets (13.8% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (11.3% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 tsp. Fermax, 10 minute boil
  • 8 g gypsum (added to boil)
  • 0.35 oz. bitter orange peel, 1 minute boil
  • 0.15 oz. coriander seed (crushed), 1 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Belgian Wit Ale yeast (WLP400, White Labs), prepared in 1.25L starter, chilled and decanted

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, batch sparge
  • 1.059 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.1% abv, 60 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Claremont water, with 8 g gypsum added to boil

Procedure

  • I began a starter a few days in advance of brewing, and cold crashed it for two days.
  • I mashed in with 4 gallons of water at 163.6°, hitting a mash temperature of 152°. I added 10 mL of 88% lactic acid to hit my pH estimate.
  • With two collections of runnings (one after 0.75 gallons of water at 185° and one after adding 3.35 gallons at 185°), I collected 6.8 gallons of runnings in total with a gravity of 1.046, for 73% efficiency.
  • I brought everything to a boil, adding hops and such per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled to pitching temperature.
  • I brewed this beer on 18 May 2019, fermenting at 66°. Learning my lesson from past experiences with an extremely vigorous fermentation for WLP400, I used a blow-off tube for initial fermentation. I moved it to ambient temperatures on 2 June 2019, and kegged on 22 June 2019. The hops were added to the keg in a mesh sack at this point.
  • Starting gravity was 1.057, and final gravity was 1.011, for 6.1% abv.
  • The tasting was done about a month after kegging; two months after kegging, this beer is still holding up really well!

Tasting

  • Aroma
    • Tropical fruit forward; it’s like a nose punch of passionfruit, guava, and citrus all at once! There’s just a hint of the Belgian ale spice behind that.
  • Appearance
    • Slightly hazy, with a pale gold color. The head is low but persistant.
  • Flavor
    • Definite tropical hop flavor at the front of this, with a smooth bitterness and the spicy Belgian ale yeastiness around that. Malt character is in the background, and is pretty clean (as expected for the grain bill).
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderate carbonation, moderate body, very slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yep! This is a good recipe as always. The head could be a touch better on this one, I probably should have added the lemon tincture, and I suppose there should be a little more haze, but nonetheless it’s a great beer.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Warrior’s IPA

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Transferring the wort into the fermenter

Today’s American IPAs are awesome–I love hops like Mosaic and Citra, to the point where I have been starting to hit fruity hop fatigue. The antidote? Make a beer with the most piney, resiny, harshest old school hops I could find.

Warrior’s IPA

  • 12 lb. 2-row malt (Rahr)
  • 1.5 lb. rye malt (Viking)
  • 0.5 lb. crystal 60 malt
  • 4.4 oz. crystal 80 malt
  • 4 oz. rice hulls
  • 1 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (~3.5% alpha), 5 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. Safeale American Ale yeast (US-05)
  • 3 oz. Columbus hop pellets (14.0% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, no sparge
  • 1.065 o.g., 1.016 f.g., 6.5% abv, 61 IBU, 9 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, augmented with 1 tsp. gypsum

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.75 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a mash temperature of 151.7°. After 60 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected 5.75 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.055. This equated to a fairly miserable measured mash efficiency of 60%. (After this, I re-aligned my mill, in case that was the problem–I also figure the percentage of rye might be partly to blame, too).
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat, added the whirlpool hops, let sit for 5 minutes, and then chilled.
  • I transferred the beer to the fermenter, and fermented at 66°.
  • I brewed the beer on 16 February 2019, and kegged on 9 March 2019.
  • Starting gravity was 1.065, and final gravity was 1.011, for 7.2% abv.

Overall Impressions

I served this beer for a party, and it kicked before I could really get a good tasting. I didn’t even get a good picture! It was really popular with the hopheads, definitely delivering on the hop flavors and aromas that I wanted–rich, resiny, and piney. I felt like it needed a bit more time to mature, because the malt flavors weren’t quite there yet. Another few weeks might have helped. Oh well…I guess that means I have to brew this again!

The Ones That Got Away…

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For a variety of reasons, I haven’t been able to blog about every single batch I brewed in 2018. Many of the ones that didn’t make the cut were repeat brewings of successful recipes. Because I’m not likely to get all of them with full blog posts at this stage, I’m giving myself semi-amnesty by listing them with brief comments.

  • Cerveza de Jamaica 1.1
    • This was a rebrew of the first version, which I really liked. Version 1.1 was modified very slightly to add a little more hibiscus and a little more orange peel, and the result was an incredibly tasty beer!
  • Double IPA / Hoppy Blonde Ale
    • This was an experiment with parti-gyle techniques, co-brewed with a friend. The double IPA ended up at around 7.8% abv, and was fairly tasty. The blonde ale rounded out at 4.6% abv, and was also pretty nice. The experiment was a lot of work on brew day, but a fun attempt.
  • Raspberry Belgian 2018
    • I rebrewed a house favorite recipe for a beer festival, and thus didn’t really get to taste the final result (sadly). Everything on the process was tasty, though, so I’ll be doing this one again too.
  • Bavarica Session IPA
    • This one was pretty disastrous! The flavors clashed horribly (never again will I use Munich malt in a session IPA), and I dumped most of the batch.
  • Grab Bag IPA
    • Basically to use up a bunch of ingredients. Nothing memorable here, although it was pretty drinkable.
  • Grapefruit Wheat Ale
    • I don’t have many notes on this, other than that I used Amoretti grapefruit craft puree for some of the flavoring.

English IPA

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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.

Centennial IPA

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I’ve gotten bored with tropical fruity, citrusy, guava bomb IPAs; they’re fairly easy to nail at least half-way well, but come across as a bit one-note after awhile. I don’t have a huge interest in the hazy IPA trend, either–they’re nice to try from time to time, but I don’t really want or need a 5 gallon keg of IPA orange juice. So, it’s back to the basics for me!

Two years ago, I did a Centennial hop-centered IPA based on one of Gordon Strong’s recipes. The result was quite good, so I figured I would revisit the recipe. 

The new batch is fairly close recipe-wise to the old one, with the main change being in the yeast. I decided to give the Mangrove Jack Liberty Bell Ale (M36) a try; it’s supposed to be a strain good for English or American pale ales.

Centennial IPA

  • 9.5 lbs. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 2 lbs. Vienna malt (Great Western)
  • 0.5 lb. Caravienne malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.25 lb. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
  • 3.4 oz. acidulated malt (BESTMALZ)
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet
  • 2 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 3 oz. Centennial hop pellets (9.3% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 2 pkg. Liberty Bell Ale dry yeast (Mangrove Jack’s #M36)

Target Parameters

  • 1.063 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 6.7% abv, 59 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Infusion mash to hit target of 150°, 60 minutes, batch sparge
  • Water built from 3 gallons of Claremont tap water, 3.5 gallons of RO water treated with 4.5 g gypsum, 1.5 g epsom salt, 1 g calcium chloride, to hit target of 74 Ca, 10 Mg, 14 Na, 120 SO4, 27 Cl, 129 HCO3, 47 RA.

Procedure

  • I mashed in with ~4.1 gallons of the RO water with minerals and the balance in tap water, at 161°, to hit a mash temperature of 150°.
  • After a 60 minute mash, I added 0.8 gallons of tap water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings. Then, I added 3.5 gallons of tap water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.5 gallons of runnings at a gravity of 1.051, for 72% efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, boiling for 60 minutes and adding hops per the schedule. After a full hour boil, I added the whirlpool hops and let them sit for 10 minutes before chilling, transferring to the fermenter, and pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this batch on 18 September 2018, and fermented it at around 67°. Starting gravity was 1.058.
  • On 30 October 2018, I kegged the beer. Final gravity was 1.005, working out to 7.1% abv. The beer had a somewhat estery aroma and flavor on first taste (see below).

Tasting

  • The Basics
    • Original gravity = 1.058; final gravity = 1.005; abv = 7.1%; esimated IBU = 59
  • Aroma
    • Slight phenolic, citrusy aroma
  • Appearance
    • Fine white head that sticks around for awhile; the beer itself is light gold with a slight haze.
  • Flavor
    • This is a very hop-forward beer, with a firm but even bitterness that persists on the tongue. There’s not a ton of malt character, but that’s OK for what this is. The hops have a slightly floral and citrusy character, which is unfortunately swamped out by a bit of a “hot” phenol note.
  • Mouthfeel
    • This is a fairly dry beer. Carbonation is appropriate to style.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • The description for Liberty Bell Ale yeast mentions pear esters in the aroma, which will get out of the way of prominent hop and malt aromas. Sadly, I couldn’t disagree more. The aroma was an estery mess on this one early on–it smelled somewhat like my early homebrew batches fermented without temperature control. I checked my records on power losses at home, and couldn’t find any record of a power outage during the height of fermentation, so I suspect it’s just a flaw in the yeast strain relative to this recipe. It doesn’t really seem like an infection, either, although I suppose that’s not completely outside the realm of possibility (especially given the low finishing gravity). The off flavor has moderated a fair bit as the beer sits in the keg, but in any case, I won’t be trying this yeast strain again.
  • Overall
    • 5/10 — the off flavor overwhelms the positive features of this beer.