Tag Archives: IPA

Gondwana IPA

Posted on by
Reply

Chasing the perfect IPA is a perpetual task. As my brewing technique has advanced, I’ve transitioned into all-grain and adjusted grain bills, adjusted water chemistry, played with different hopping regimes, and implemented closed transfer into a keg. The results have, in the best batches, been quite satisfying–especially for “traditonal” C-hop IPAs and classic North American IPAs. I’ve also improved overall beer quality. Yet, I’m always looking to try something just a little different.

Hop derivative products are nothing new, including CO2 extracts, various bittering products, flavorings, and concentrated pellets (e.g., Cryo) released over the years. I keep an eye on what’s out there for homebrewers, and although I’ve dabbled with some concentrated hop pellets like Cryo, they’ve never been so knock-my-socks-off that I’ve gone exclusively to them. More recent products like Abstrax are intriguing, but just odd enough (and expensive enough) that I haven’t jumped at them. But, I’ve been reading more about all of these lately, so I thought I would give them a try. I’m also wanting to get the super crisp, super fruity profile that the best beers with Southern hemisphere hops can have. Time to experiment!

I built my current recipe exclusively around Southern hops, from Australia and New Zealand. I wanted something with big tropical fruit notes and a bit of citrus (but not straight citrus, like some North American IPAs). I chose a combo of Galaxy and Moutere to hit that for the boil and whirlpool. To amp things up, but avoid the astringency of too many hops, I implemented Cryo Riwaka, for the passionfruit and citrus notes in the dry hop. Finally, I rounded things out with a dose of Abstrax Omni Hop Profile, targeting a Galaxy-type expression. In order to let the hops shine through, I followed my all-grain, low mash temperature malt bill from recent “modern” IPA attempts. I also turned down the bitterness, from around 67 IBU in my most recent IPA to 50 IBU here. Although I don’t with US-05 as much as I used to, the peachy quality that it provides seemed like a nice way to augment the overall fruity qualities I wanted in this beer. I had a lot of fun conceptualizing the recipe in this batch, and choosing the ingredients to hit my overall concept.

Note that this is my second recipe with the name of “Gondwana IPA.” My first was over a decade ago, during only my second all-grain brew session. The name is too good to leave to an early effort, so I’m going to repurpose it for a new generation of brewing.

Gondwana IPA

  • 9.5 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 3 lb. Synergy Select pilsen malt (Briess)
  • 1 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1 oz. Moutere hop pellets (15.7% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Kick Carrageenan tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Galaxy hop pellets (16.9% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool at 185°
  • 1 oz. Moutere hop pellets (15.7% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool at 185°
  • 1 pkg. Safale American ale yeast (US-05)
  • 1 oz. Cryo Riwaka hops (12.4% alpha), dry hop in keg
  • 2.5 mL Southern Hemisphere (AU) Tropical Omni Hop Profile, Abstrax, added to keg
  • 1 oz. Biofine Clear, added to keg

Target Parameters

  • 75 minute infusion mash, 148°, full volume mash
  • 1.062 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 6.8% abv, 50 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Water built from RO, to hit 94 ppm Ca, 156 ppm SO4, and 51 ppm Cl.
  • 5.25 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I built the water up from scratch, with 7.5 gallons of RO water, 8 g gypsum, and 3 g calcium chloride, to hit my brewing water profile.
  • After heating the water to 154°, I added the grains as well as 18.6 mL of 10% phosphoric acid to adjust mash chemistry.
  • I held the mash at `148° for 75 minutes, with recirculation, before pulling the grains and heating to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.053, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • Once the kettle was at a boil, I added the hops and finings per the recipe. I boiled for 60 minutes.
  • After the full 60 minute boil, I chilled the wort to 185° and added the whirlpool hops, and recirculated. I had a realization, that I could use my Anvil heating element to keep the whirlpool at the temperature! It’s somewhat silly that it took me so long to realize this (temperature drops due to the recirculation, so start whirlpool temp is higher than end whirlpool temp otherwise)…but now I can incorporate that into my process for more consistent results!
  • After the 15 minute whirlpool, I continued chilling down to 72°, transferred to the fermenter, pitched the yeast, and continued chilling in the fermentation chamber down to 66°.
  • I brewed this beer on 15 March 2026. Starting gravity was 1.060.
  • Fermentation temperature was held at 66°.
  • A very light krausen was visible on the surface of the beer by 16 March 2026, and a solid krausen was visible by 17 March 2026. I noted there wasn’t a lot of bubbling in the airlock, so I wonder if there’s not a small leak somewhere in the way the lid gasket is seated.
  • I started the cold crash for the beer on 15 March 2026, and kegged the beer on 1 April 2026, using a closed transfer.
  • I added the Cryo hops in a large bag after the transfer was completed, doing as quick of an addition as I could. I ran the CO2 into the keg at very low pressure while doing so, to keep a blanket of CO2 in place and hopefully minimize oxygen ingress.
  • Final gravity was 1.007; down from 1.060, this works out to 7.0% abv.
  • I dry hopped at ~34°, while carbonating.
  • I tried to remove the dry hops on 4 April 2026, but they had sunk in the keg, so I couldn’t retrieve them. Ah well!
  • On 4 April 2026, I added 2.5 mL (0.5 tsp.) of the Abstrax product.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light gold in color, with a light shimmery haze–it’s not a “hazy” in the sense of being opaque or murky, just a beer with a hop/chill haze. The beer has a nice white head with good retention and a bit of lacing on the glass.
  • Aroma
    • A nice bouquet of tropical fruit, at a moderately high intensity. I perceive it as sweet orange, passionfruit, and mango.
  • Flavor
    • Medium high bitterness, with a flavorful hop quality–sweet pineapple, orange, a fair bit of white peach; overall, a sweet and fruity flavor from the hops. Clean fermentation, with a slight peach ring candy flavor at times. The maltiness is light and has a slightly grainy quality.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium light body, moderate carbonation, dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a good IPA–I think I threaded the flavor/bitterness needle pretty well. It avoids astringency, and has a perfect level of bitterness and hop flavor for what the beer is. The sweet hop sensation is a new one for my home brews, and very cool to experience. The haze marks the beer down slightly, but that’s more cosmetic than anything. I think the Abstrax adds something, but it’s nice and subtle, without being in your face. I get the sense that in my use case it’s a support alongside the other hops rather than a “whammo” in your face experience. I like that my hopping regimen avoids the diesel flavor I got in a commercial IPA with Riwaka that I recently sampled. The “lower” bitterness (50 IBU calculated, versus 60 or 70 as in my typical batches) lets the hop flavors shine over the bitterness. In all, I think this is a successful experiment and use of a variety of non-convention (i.e., non-T90) hop products!
  • Overall
    • 9/10

West Coast Best Coast IPA

Posted on by
1

Even though my tastes tilt a little more old school, and even though our area has no shortage of excellent contemporary West Coast IPA’s, I still enjoy the challenge of crafting a tasty, crispy, citrusy, fruity, pale-as-you-can-get-it West Coast IPA. During the past two years, I had pretty good results with a Denny Kong-inspired beer, so I’m continuing along those lines for 2026.

Rather than going all-pilsner, I’m doing a mix of 2-row and pilsner, with a pound of Vienna as in my previous batches. I’m ditching the dextrose, because it’s a relatively small percentage, and I figure I’ll let the mash do the work of drying out the beer. Hops are all T90 pellets (I want to try some of the newer hop products in a future batch), because I have a good number to use up still. So, this beer is a step back to more traditional ingredients and techniques.

West Coast Best Coast IPA

  • 9 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 2.75 lb. pilsner zero malt (Viking)
  • 1 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.75 oz. Citra hop pellets (12.9% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Kick Carrageenan tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2.25 oz. Citra hop pellets (12.9% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 2 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (10.7% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. California ale yeast (White Labs WLP001)
  • 2 oz. Citra hop pellets (12.9% alpha), dry hop in primary
  • 2 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (10.7% alpha), dry hop in primary
  • 1 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), dry hop in primary

Target Parameters

  • 90 minute infusion mash at 149°, 10 minutes at 168°, full volume mash
  • 1.059 o.g., 1.009 f.g., 6.7% abv, 67 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Water built from RO to hit 94 ppm Ca, 24 ppm Mg, 195 ppm SO4, 94 ppm Cl
  • 5.25 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I started with 7.5 gallons of RO water and added 7 g epsom salt, 5.5 g calcium chloride, and 5 g gypsum to hit my water target parameters.
  • I heated the water to 155°, before adding the grains as well as 8.8 mL of 10% phosphoric acid, to target a pH of 5.2. I held the mash at 149°, with recirculation, for 90 minutes. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains.
  • The 6.6 gallons of runnings had a gravity of 1.050, for 67% mash efficiency–pretty much exactly on my target.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe.
  • After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, chilled to 195°, and added the whirlpool hops. I whirlpooled for 15 minutes; during this time, the kettle dropped to 185°. I set the Foundry to hold at 185°, to avoid things getting too cool.
  • I chilled the wort the rest of the way to 64°, let it settle for a bit, and then pitched the yeast while transferring the wort into the fermenter.
  • I let the beer free rise to 66°, and held it at this temperature for initial fermentation.
  • Starting gravity was 1.058; I brewed the beer on 3 January 2026.
  • I added the dry hops on 10 January 2026, and cold crashed to 33° on 20 January 2026. I kegged the beer on 1 February 2026, using a closed transfer.
  • Final gravity was 1.006, for 6.9% abv.
pale yellow beer with white head in glass on table during sunny afternoon

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Relatively clear pale yellow beer, with a very slight haze. Pours with a thick and tall white head that is very persistent, leaving nice lacing on the glass. Awesome!
  • Aroma
    • Fresh citrus at the forefront, and a bit of tropical fruit behind that, with a hint of blueberry. A hint of green vegetal aroma, very faint. Not much for malt, and nothing for yeast aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Very bitter, citrusy hop character. Light and clean malty flavor. Slight tropical fruit hop note, which becomes more prominent with additional sips. Clean yeast character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Light body, medium high carbonation, dry finish. Slight astringency.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a solid West Coast IPA. The bit of vegetal hop flavor and astringency are my fault, for leaving the hops in the beer for too long before kegging. I might try advanced hop products (e.g., Cryo or Abstrax) in the future, and reduce the length of the time of pellet contact in dry hopping. I might reduce the bitterness also–the beer is just a little too bitter.
  • Overall
    • 6.5/10

Pryes Miraculum Midwest IPA

Posted on by

IPA’s are way too abundant at the expense of other styles, and yet there is a good reason why they are so popular. I truly enjoy the classic American IPA’s, with their malt complexity and citrusy hops. Hazies don’t do it for me, because they’re not crisp enough, and something has been lost in the quest for the pilsner-malt-only “West Coast IPAs.” That something is yeast and malt character. Hops are great, but it’s a one-note beer if the other ingredients recede beyond the horizon. So, the “Midwest IPA” is a bit of an atavistic species, a relict population from the late 1990’s when it was still acceptable to use 10 percent crystal malt in an IPA and Pinesol was a desirable hop character.

Craft Beer & Brewing has been killing it with their recipes, and I had great success with one in the recent past and a few just about ready to serve. The magazine hits some budding and uncommon styles, and I first learned about Midwest IPA’s here. I am still not totally convinced this is a unique style, so much as a population of recipes that has retained ancestral traits that others do not. Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale is considered a foundational example; having sampled it I consider it a “traditional American IPA.”

No matter what you call the style, the Summer 2025 issue of Craft Beer & Brewing had a recipe for a clone of Pryes Brewing’s Midwest IPA that looked like a good wintertime brew. My recipe is pretty similar, with some minor ingredient swaps. I used Barke Munich instead of Munich II, and CaraRed instead of CaraAmber. Columbus hops were substituted as the main bittering charge instead of Galena, and I used New England East Coast Ale yeast instead of WLP007 (Dry English Ale). Of course it’s not the same beer exactly, but definitely in the same neighborhood as the original.

Pryes Miraculum Midwest IPA

  • 11.75 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 14 oz. Barke Munich malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. Carahell malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. Carared malt (Weyermann)
  • 2 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 0.4 oz. Columbus (Tomahawk) hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.4 oz. Columbus (Tomahawk) hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Kick Carrageenan tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. New England East Coast Ale Yeast (Lallemand)
  • 3 oz. Simcoe hop pellets (12.4% alpha), dry hop
  • 3 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), dry hop
  • 2 oz. Cascade hop pellets (7.3% alpha), dry hop

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.062 o.g., 1.014 f.g., 6.3% abv, 75 IBU, 10 SRM
  • Claremont tapwater, adjusted to hit roughly 89 ppm Ca, 25 ppm Mg, 102 ppm Na, 195 ppm SO4, 130 ppm Cl, 10 ppm bicarbonate, RA=-70

Procedure

  • Starting with 7.5 gallons of Claremont tap water, I added 7.7 mL of 88% lactic acid to drop out the carbonates, and then added 6 g of gypsum and 2 g of Epsom salt to build out the water profile.
  • I heated the water to 158°, added the grains, and held the mash at 152° with recirculation for 60 minutes. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash out.
  • I removed the grains, collecting 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.051, for 67% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe.
  • At the end of the 60 minute boil, I added the hops and whirlpooled for 10 minutes before chilling down to 75° and transferring to the fermenter.
  • Once in the fermentation chamber, I chilled the wort down to 64° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 11 October 2025. Starting gravity was 1.062. I fermented at 67°.
  • The airlock was showing activity on the morning after pitching.
  • Dry hops went in on 17 October 2025, and I cold crashed the beer on 22 October 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 30 October 2025, using a closed transfer.
  • Final gravity was 1.011, working out to 6.7% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Medium amber in color, relatively clear with slight haze, pours with a persistent fine white head and slight lacing on the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Moderate orange hop aroma with a slight bit of pine behind that; faint caramel maltiness. In early pours, the malt and hops clashed just a touch; with a little more conditioning, it’s really nicely balanced.
  • Flavor
    • This is a very bitter beer, with a resiny hop quality. The beer has a moderate level of maltiness, with a light caramel character. It’s less complex than I expected, and the hops and malt clash a bit. A bit of orange comes in at the midpoint of the taste, at a moderate level. There is a low level of breadiness in the malt.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a good, but not fantastic, beer. The malt character is nice, although the hop flavors are less forward than I expected, especially given the quantities, and something clashes slightly in the flavor and aroma. I wonder if the beer is a touch oxidized? That doesn’t seem likely, given the careful closed transfer and the nature of the flavor, but anything is possible. I enjoy the “old school” aspects of the beer, though, including body and maltiness. I think it might be better with just Cascade or Cascade+Chinook, or another more “traditional” American hop combo. The beer is definitely better when it has warmed slightly above the initial serving temperature.
  • Overall
    • 7/10

Steve’s Cali-Belgique IPA Homage

Posted on by

Homebrew is best enjoyed with friends and family, whether it’s a brew day or a warm summer afternoon sharing a new recipe out on the patio. The social aspect is a big part of my enjoyment of the hobby, as I make new friends and welcome old friends into the world of brewing.

Steve and I met through work, and we had our first brew session together in 2009. He was quickly hooked, and soon started his own brewing adventures. Like many brewers, Steve began with extract and transitioned into brew-in-a-bag before too long. He loved experimenting (an early attempt at smoked beer involved some Liquid Smoke added at bottling; do not try this at home, because even Steve grudgingly admitted that it wasn’t very good), and he also loved riffing off of commercial recipes. We would often bounce ideas off of each other, do side-by-side tastings, and give feedback for each others’ beers. We also had semi-regular “hostage swaps,” trading a growler of his homebrew for a growler of mine. Steve and I had many adventures in beer over the years, with brew days together, the San Diego AHA meeting in 2015, carpooling to club meetings, pouring our beers at festivals, and more. He was a creative brewer in ways that I am not–I like to carefully plan each recipe, and Steve was more the type to say, “hey, I wonder what happens if I add sage to this,” or “can I get an approximation of this style with a random yeast?” Steve’s sudden and untimely passing earlier this year has been hard–I lost a close friend, a role model, and a good brewing buddy.

In honor and memory of Steve, I wanted to brew one of “his” beers. A few recipes stand out for me – a sage saison, a Mirror Pond Pale Ale clone, and most all his Cali-Belgique recipe. Cali-Belgique IPA was one of Steve’s early brewing obsessions, attempting to clone one of Stone Brewing’s beers. No longer commercially available, Cali-Belgique was a modification of the flagship Stone IPA, fermented with Belgian ale yeast. Steve enjoyed this beer, and wanted to make his own version; I sampled a few early brews, as he got closer and closer to his vision for the beer. Along the way, it turned into an excellent recipe and one that was truly Steve’s own, not just a clone. I’ll forever associate this beer with him!

Crafting Steve’s Cali-Belgique

Unfortunately, I didn’t have Steve’s Cali-Belgique IPA recipe (I had never gotten around to brewing it myself, because I could readily get the beer from Steve), but I remembered that Steve pretty regularly phoned his recipes in to our local homebrew shop. So, I reached out to Charles at Pacific Brewing Supplies, and I was in luck! Charles happened to have the grain bill and hop list, which set us well on the way to reconstructing this recipe.

The latest version of Steve’s Cali-Belgique had 50% 2-row, 33.3% Belgian Pilsner malt, 8.3% Carapils, and 8.3% Dark Munich. Steve double-milled his grains, and Charles thinks Steve was hitting around 75% efficiency in his system. He started as an extract brewer, spent much of his brewing career using brew-in-a-bag, and spent the last part with an Anvil Foundry all-in-one system. Based on all of this, target gravity was probably around 1.064 or 1.065. For my own version, I increased the 2-row from 6 lb to 8 lb to improve the gravity on my system and make it match Steve’s system better. A future brew on my system should increase percentage on all grains. I assumed a mash temperature of around 152°, just for simplicity.

The latest version of Steve’s recipe included 1 oz. of Chinook (13% alpha), 2 oz. of Columbus (15% alpha), and 1 oz. of Centennial (10% alpha). I had to guess at usage, but assumed Chinook as the main bittering hop and then a combination of late hop and dry hop additions for the rest. Steve seemed to always be adjusting the recipe, so it’s safe to play around in the hopping approach, because that’s what he would do. Following Steve’s preferences and the original Stone IPA recipes, it was probably hitting around 65 IBU.

Yeast varied over the years, but Steve’s most recent batches used Abbaye or Monk dry yeast. For fermentation temperature, I remember the beer having the nice spicy yeast notes and phenols that come with a warmer temperature for these Belgian strains. So, I decided to ferment around 72°.

With all of this information gathered, it was time to brew and sample Steve’s Cali-Belgique. Cheers to you, Steve, and thanks for the many happy hours of stargazing, conversation, philosophy, and beer tasting.

Steve’s Cali-Belgique IPA Homage

  • 8 lb. 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 4 lb. pilsen malt (Dingemans)
  • 1 lb. dextrin malt (Viking)
  • 1 lb. Munich dark malt (Viking)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1.15 oz. Chinook hop pellets (12.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.75 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.75 oz. Columbus hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.25 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Abbaye Belgian ale yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 pkg. Monk ale yeast (CellarScience DY106B)
  • 1.25 oz. Columbus hop pellets (15.6% alpha), dry hop in fermenter
  • 0.25 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), dry hop in fermenter

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.063 o.g., 1.016 f.g., 6.2% abv, 68 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Claremont water adjusted with lactic acid and minerals to hit 76 ppm Ca, 22 ppm Mg, 89 ppm Na, 182 ppm SO4, 110 ppm Cl, 20 ppm bicarbonate

Procedure

  • Starting with 7.6 galllons of water, I added 6.33 mL of 88% lactic acid, to drop out the carbonates. Then, I added 4 g of epsom salt and 4 g of gypsum to kick up the sulfates.
  • I heated the strike water to 159°, before adding the grains and 25.7 mL of 10% phosphoric acid, holding the mash at 152° (with recirculation) for 60 minutes.
  • At the end of the mash, I pulled the grains. In total, I had 6.75 gallons at a gravity of 1.052, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil and boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and finings per the recipe. Then, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort to 72° before transferring to the fermenter and pitching the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.060. I brewed the beer on 30 March 2025, and fermented at ambient (~65°).
  • When I checked the fermenter on 1 April 2025, there was no activity in the airlock, so I opened the fermenter and confirmed no activity. I had a pack of Abbaye Ale yeast on-hand, so pitched that. Krausen was visible by the next day. I put a heat pad on the beer, but it got a bit hot; around 80° by 3 April. Oops! I let it ride at ambient at that point.
  • I kegged the beer on 14 May 2025, adding the dry hops in a bag. I removed the hops on 18 May 2025.
  • Final gravity was 1.015, for 6.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A very clear, gold beer, which has a thick and persistent white head
  • Aroma
    • I get a strong sensation of pineapple in the aroma as the beer warms up; some moderate alcohol notes, too. Yeast character dominates, and I don’t get much for hops or malt.
  • Flavor
    • This is a very bitter beer with a resinous edge to the hops. It has a medium-low maltiness, with a light caramel quality. There is a touch of clove flavor as the beer warms. The bitterness lingers on the tongue.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium carbonation, slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Yes! This beer goes down surprisingly smoothly, which I didn’t necessarily expect. I would like more dry hop aroma, and probably should just let the hops float free in the fermenter rather than bagging them. For a variant, I might try Eclipse and El Dorado, while keeping the same yeast. Mosaic or Galaxy could also work. The beer overall is quite good – the low hop aroma / low flavor complexity is the main reason that I gave it a lower score (no fault of the recipe – just my handling of the hops). That said, I don’t really remember Steve’s version of this having much for hop aroma. So, I might adjust the beer for my own preferences, but as something that captures his beer as I remember it, it’s pretty close!
  • Overall
    • 6.5/10
Steve helping with a festbier tasting, stacking my homebrew against commercial examples. I always enjoyed beer tasting with him…”I brewed up this new recipe…I’d love to get your thoughts on it!”

Denny Kong-ish West Coast IPA

Posted on by

I made my first version of this new-style West Coast IPA last year, and learned some lessons about hopping techniques in the process. During that previous batch, I used a hop bag that was too small for the dry hopping addition, and as a result the hop flavor/aroma were pretty underwhelming. This time around, I opted to let the hops float free in the fermenter. I use a BrewBucket 7.5, which has a rotating pickup arm, so I could do a closed transfer into the keg without excessive hop particles clogging things. The hop choices on this version used up some of my hop stash–three-quarters of a pound of hops went into the final recipe!

Denny Kongish West Coast IPA

  • 12 lb. 5 oz. pilsner malt (Rahr)
  • 1 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 4 oz. dextrose, added to boil
  • 0.85 oz. Enigma hop pellets (17.9% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. LUPMOMAX Cashmere hop pellets (13.5% alpha), 30 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. California ale dry yeast (WLP001, White Labs)
  • 4 oz. Idaho #7 hop hash (31.4% alpha), dry hop in primary fermenter
  • 2 oz. Azacca hop pellets (12.2% alpha), dry hop in primary fermenter
  • 2 oz. LUPOMAX Sabro HBC 438 hop pellets (19.0% alpha), dry hop in primary fermenter
  • 1.15 oz. Enigma hop pellets (17.9% alpha), dry hop in primary fermenter

Target Parameters

  • 1.063 s.g., 1.010 f.g., 7.0% abv, 64 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Full volume infusion mash, held at 149° for 120 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes
  • Neutralized Claremont tap water with Campden tablet, RO water, and mineral salts added to mash to achieve 51 ppm Ca, 8 ppm Mg, 33 ppm Na, 104 ppm SO4, 53 ppm Cl, 8 ppm CO3.

Procedure

  • Starting with 3 gallons of tap water, I added 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid as well as a Campden tablet, along with 5 gallons of RO water, 0.75 CaCl, 1.5 g epsom salt, and 3.5 g gypsum to hit the target water parameters.
  • I heated the water to 155° and added the grains, along with 17.2 mL of 10% phosphoric acid for pH adjustment, to hit an estimated pH of 5.35.
  • I held the mash at 149° for 120 minutes, with recirculation, and then raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes before pulling the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.9 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.050, for 69% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, with a 90 minute total boil. After 30 minutes, I added the first round of hops, and then proceeded following the recipe.
  • After the 90 minute boil, I chilled to 170° before adding the whirlpool hops and letting them sit for 30 minutes while whirlpooling.
  • Next, I chilled to 68°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled down to 64° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 1 January 2025, and it had a starting gravity of 1.066.
  • I added the dry hops on 11 January 2025, loose into the fermenter.
  • I cold crashed the beer on 15 January 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 18 January 2025, into a CO2 purged keg. Final gravity was 1.007–that’s wonderfully dry and works out to 7.8% abv. I had a similar experience last batch, so this mash regime works wonders!

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light gold beer, slight haze, which pours with an exceptionally persistent and creamy white head–it’s like a meringue! This head leaves beautiful lacing down the side of the glass. The beer is surprisingly clear. As a result, I am feeling good about my decision not to use post-fermentation finings; this likely helped with oxidation reduction.
  • Aroma
    • Citrus and dank hop aroma at a high level, neutral yeast profile, and no malt character to speak of in the aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Very bitter, citrus pith and dank hop character, with a bit of grapefruit along the way, and a long-lingering hop aftertaste. The hop flavor is a bit one-note; it has the usual issue with Azacca to my tastebuds, which is an orange pith quality on the edge of rotten orange. I’ve never understood the appeal of that hop! Low level of maltiness, but it is there. Clean fermentation character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-high carbonation, medium-light body, very dry finish.
  • Overall
    • 7.5/10
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • I really like this recipe as a template for a double IPA; it is a clean background to let the hops shine. This is the first time in awhile that I have let the hops float free for dry hopping, and with the Brew Bucket’s rotating pickup arm, things worked well. Thanks to the closed transfer (and perhaps the BrewTanB?), the hop character has held up well. The beer is clear enough without finings, so I think there is no need to use Biofine Clear as the original recipe stipulates. Azacca, as usual for my experience, gives a harshness in the citrus note that I don’t care for. This formulation is a bit one-note on the hops. But, it’s okay overall! In a beer like this, a different hop combo would be the ticket to hoppiness.
      • Interesting note: when I tasted this again last night, after a rauchbier, I got more tropical notes, and the unpleasant orange wasn’t as apparent. I would rate the beer higher in that case – perhaps a 8.5/10.