Category Archives: session IPA

Summertime Session IPA

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Maker:L,Date:2017-9-11,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-YMy previous session IPA didn’t turn out terribly great (not even worth a blog post), due at least in part to a clash between the hops and malt. Munich just ain’t a good base for even a session IPA, so lesson learned! For a second try, I am switching over to Vienna malt and using up some hops in the freezer. The Cascade hops are whole hops that my dad sent. These are interesting, in that they are a bit more earthy/herbal than I typically think of for Cascade. Terroir, I suppose. I also used some Falconer’s Flight hop pellets, free courtesy of a brewing friend.

Summertime Session IPA

  • 7 lbs. Vienna malt (Great Western Malting)
  • 1 lb. Maris Otter pale malt
  • 0.5 lb. flaked oats
  • 0.5 lb. white wheat malt
  • 0.5 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. Empire Ale Yeast (Mangrove Jack’s M15)
  • 3 oz. Falconer’s Flight hop pellets (9.1% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 o.g., 1.014 f.g., 4.1% abv, 44 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Infusion mash to hit target of 155°, 45 minutes, batch sparge.
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.25 gallons of water heated to 166.5°, to hit a mash temperature of 153.5°. After 15 minutes, I added 1.5 gallons of water to raise the temperature to 155°. After 45 minutes of total mashing, I drained the mash tun and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I sparged with 3.5 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.7 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.039, for 78% efficiency.
  • After starting the boil, I added the hops and kettle finings per the schedule. At flame-out, I added the whirlpool hops and let it sit for 10 minutes before chilling to 74°.
  • I transferred the wort to the fermenter, added the yeast, and fermented the beer at 68°. This batch was brewed on 16 May 2018.
  • Starting gravity was 1.046, and final gravity was 1.016, for 3.9% abv. A perfect session beer!
  • I kegged the beer on 27 May 2018, adding the hops to the keg in a bag. I let it sit at temperature for a few days while carbonating, until 2 June 2018, when I moved it back to the fermentation chamber and dropped the temperature down to 34°.

Maker:L,Date:2017-9-11,Ver:5,Lens:Kan03,Act:Kan02,E-Y

Initial Impressions

This is a decent enough beer, but nothing remarkable. Because I used older hop pellets for the dry hopping, there’s not a ton of aroma. Bitterness versus maltiness is fairly perfect, and I’d be pretty happy with this bittering level as well as this malt combination in future recipes. This is a highly drinkable beer, so I suspect I’ll be going through this fairly quickly even if the flavor/aroma aren’t exceptional for an IPA.

Ophidia IPA

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I “needed” to brew another IPA, and was in the mood for something a bit lower in alcohol. The November 2014 issue of Brew Your Own magazine had a clone recipe for Suicide Squeeze IPA, from Fort George Brewery. It was a nice session-ish beer (4.7% abv), and the recipe called for stuff I had pretty much entirely on hand. With just a few minor modifications, my recipe was all set! The name for my personal take on this (Ophidia) refers to a scientific name for snakes, because the original Fort George product had a snake on the label for the can.

Ophidia IPA

  • 8 lbs. 3 oz. 2-row malt (California Select, Great Western Malting Co.)
  • 1 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. caramel 40° malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. flaked oats
  • 0.25 lb. Carafoam malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.45 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Citra hop pellets (14.1% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (11.3% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (11.3% alpha), 5 minute steep
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (11.3% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 1 oz. Citra hop pellets (14.1% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 156° mash, 45 minutes
  • 1.053 o.g., 1.019 f.g., 4.4% abv, 52 IBU, 6 SRM, 5.5 gallons into the fermenter

Procedure

  • 24 hours in advance of brewing, I made a 1.5L starter. This is the second use for the culture–I set aside 0.55L for later use.
  • My water was 5.25 gallons of Claremont water mixed with 3 gallons of RO water and 5 g of gypsum. For the strike/first round of sparge water, I used 1.5 gallons of RO and 3.25 gallons of Claremont water, with the gypsum added directly into the mash tun. For the rest of the sparge water, I used 1.5 gallons of RO with 2 gallons of Claremont tap water.
  • I mashed in with 4.75 gallons of water 167°, to hit a mash temperature of 153°. This was a bit below my target, but I figure I’ll roll with it. I did only a 45 minute mash, before vorlaufing and collecting the first runnings.
  • I sparged with 3.5 gallons of water at 185°, to hit a mash temperature of 168° for the mash-out.
  • I collected 6.75 gallons of wort at a gravity of 1.044, for 77% efficiency.
  • I started the boil, and added the various ingredients per the schedule. After a 60 minute boil, I chilled the wort to 68° and pitched the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.055, slightly above my target but not by too much.
  • I brewed this beer on February 6, 2017, and fermented at 66° for the first four days. Then, I removed it from the fermentation chamber (to make room for another beer), and fermented it at ambient room temperature with a heating pad beneath the carboy, to maintain ~68° in the fermenter.

Beer Tasting: Jarrylo Session IPA

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I brewed this one waaay back, and haven’t gotten around to posting my tasting (completed in early March). Here it is!

  • The Basics
    • Original gravity = 1.047; final gravity = 1.017; abv = 3.9%; estimated IBU = 53.
  • Appearance
    • Very fine and persistent off-white heady with a creamy character; the beer itself is a medium copper color with a mild haze.
  • Aroma
    • The aroma is hop-centered but fairly mild, with notes of tropical fruit, pear, and perhaps a hint of pepper.
  • Flavor
    • The flavor is quite clean, with a subdued and smooth hop bitterness. The bitterness is way lower than I was expecting though, and probably pushes this more into pale ale than IPA territory. The hops themselves come across as citrusy and slightly floral. There is a very slight maltiness at the back end of this one.
  • Mouthfeel
    • The body is fairly thin, unfortunately, and the beer comes across as a bit watery. The finish is relatively dry.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • I was, unfortunately, rather disappointed with how this beer turned out. Even though it is intended as a session IPA, the bitterness and body miss the mark. I think the hops I used just aren’t suited for the style, and the initial wort was thinner than desirable too. Jarrylo seems like a nice hops variety, but probably better suited for less “hefty” styles, such as a blonde ale or even a pale ale. In fact, I’ve taken to thinking of this beer as a pale ale rather than an IPA, and that helps a bit with my perception of it.
  • Overall rating
    • 4/10

Jarrylo Session IPA Kegged

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Tonight (10 January 2016) I kegged my Jarrylo Session IPA, which has been fermenting for 11 days. The yeast had dropped very clear, and the beer had a malty flavor (all that Munich!) with a rather subdued bitterness. I’d probably place it in the pale ale rather than than IPA category. Nonetheless, it’s shaping up nicely!

Final gravity is 1.017, down from 1.047, for 3.9% abv. I added the dry hops (weighted down with two stainless steel washers–I note that three would probably be advisable, as the bag didn’t really sink as much as I’d hoped!). I’ll be force carbonating, and hopefully can let it go at least a week before tapping.

Jarrylo Session IPA

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For my last brew of 2015, I’m making a session IPA that is a modest departure from my previous session IPA. This is primarily to adjust for and use up ingredients on-hand, but also in order to try out a new yeast strain with some promise for session beers (“Conan”). I used WLP002 (English ale) for my last session IPAs, and liked it, but thought that the potentially low attenuation of Conan also has promise for a session IPA. We’ll see how it works!

The other twist on this brew is that I’m using Jarrylo hops, a relatively new variety. They’re not particularly intended for IPAs, but an IPA seems like a good way to showcase hop character, particularly in the late additions and dry-hop. Because Jarrylo is described as having notes of banana, pear, and spice, I figured some more citrusy/fruity varieties would meld well for the bittering and flavor hops additions. So, Citra and Mosaic are also in the mix. When smelling the Jarrylo hops pellets, I get a fair bit of pepper and maybe some fruitiness behind that. Perhaps it’s a mistake to dry hop with this one for an IPA, but that’s what homebrewing is all about!

Jarrylo Session IPA

  • 5.25 lbs. 2-row malt (Great Western Malting Co.)
  • 3.75 lbs. Borlander Munich Malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lbs. caramel Munich 60L (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Citra hops pellets (13.2% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Mosaic hops pellets (12.8% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Jarrylo hops pellets (14.2% alpha), 2 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Jarrylo hops pellets (14.2% alpha), 2 week dry hop
  • 1 pkg. Vermont Ale (“Conan”) yeast, The Yeast Bay (prepared in 1L starter)
  • 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
Procedure
  • I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 169.8°, to hit a mash temperature of 156°. The mash was down to 153.5° after 25 minutes and 150° after 45 minutes. After 50 minutes, I added 1.1 gallons of water at 190°, to raise the mash temperature to 156°. I elected to use a shortened mash procedure in order to add a tiny extra bit of body to the final beer (per the session beer workshop I went to at AHC). So, only 60 minutes passed between when I mashed in and when I collected the first runnings.
  • I vorlaufed and collected the first runnings, and added 3.75 gallons of water at 179°, which raised the mash bed to 166°. I let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the remainder of the wort.
  • I collected a total of 6.9 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.037. This equates to an extract efficiency of ~75%.
  • I started the boil, and added the hops per the schedule above.
  • After 60 minutes of boiling, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 70°. Then, I pitched the yeast and set the beer to fermenting, at 68°. I brewed this batch on 30 December 2015. Starting gravity was 1.047.
  • Note on the yeast starter: Because I am liking the Conan strain, I overbuilt my starter. I made 1.6 L of a 1.040 gravity, and set aside 0.6 L for my next batch (~100 billion cells, approximately).