Tag 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