My 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°.

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.