This is a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for quite awhile…fruit beers intrigue me, and a well executed fruit IPA can be exquisite. This particular recipe is modified from the Peach IPA recipe by Mitch Steele in the March/April 2016 Zymurgy magazine. I adjusted the base malt, hops, etc., to match some of what I had in stock. I also upped the dry hop quantities to provide the more intense hop aroma that I like.

Peach IPA

• 11.25 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
• 0.75 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
• 0.5 lb. Carapils malt (Briess)
• 1.10 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
• 1 oz. Galaxy hop pellets (14.0% alpha), 5 minute whirlpool
• 2 oz. Helga (Southern Hallertau) hop pellets (5.6% alpha), 10 day dry hop
• 1 oz. Galaxy hop pellets (14.0% alpha), 10 day dry hop
• 1 oz. Mosaic hop pellets (12.25% alpha), 10 day dry hop
• 4 oz. peach puree, added on day 3 of fermentation
• 1 pkg. California Ale yeast (White Labs WLP001)

Target Parameters

• Single infusion mash to hit target of 152°, 60 minute rest, batch sparge
• 1.063 s.g., 1.014 f.g., 6.5% abv, 64 IBU, 4 SRM
• Water adjusted to 113 ppm Ca, 22 ppm Mg, 24 ppm Na, 194 ppm SO4, 42 ppm Cl, 170 ppm alkalinity, 76 ppm RA

Procedure

• Two days before brewing, I prepared a 2L yeast starter, and let it go for 36 hours before cold crashing in the fridge. I’ll set aside ~0.6L for a later batch.
• I prepared my mash water and sparge water in two equal batches of 4.25 gallons. To each, I added 3.1g gypsum, 1.7 g epsom salt, and 0.7 g calcium chloride. To adjust the mash pH, I added 2 tsp (10 mL) of 75% phosphoric acid.
• I mashed in with 4.25 gallons of water at 160.5°, to hit my mash target of 152°. After 45 minutes, I was down to 150°.
• After 60 minutes, I added 0.75 gallons of water at 185°, let rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
• Next, I added 3.5 gallons of water at 185°, let rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
• In total, I collected 6.5 gallons of sweet wort with a gravity of 1.053, for 75% efficiency.
• I brought the wort to a boil, and added the hops and other ingredients per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I added the final hop dose and then turned off the flame before chilling as far as I can.
• I got the wort down to about 85°…that’s the best I could do in the midst of this heat wave! So, I transferred the wort into the fermenter and put it in the fermentation chamber overnight to chill down to 66°.
• Starting gravity was 1.062. I brewed this beer on 1 September 2017, and pitched the yeast on 2 September 2017.