Pith Helmet Ipa

[Trough Lolly]

G'day all,
I want to do a partial IPA on the weekend and I've roughed up the following recipe - have a look and feel free to suggest mods to the recipe.

Trough Lolly's Pith Helmet India Pale Ale
----------------------------------------------
20 Litres / 1 Keg
Expected IBU - 55
OG 1.069
FG 1.012
Alc: 7.3% v/v
Expected Colour: approx. 11SRM

Part mash Grains (Limited to 2.6kg):
1.5kg UK Bairds Pale malt
300g UK Bairds Munich
200g UK Bairds Amber
300g UK Thomas Fawcett crystal 50L
300g German Weyermann Carapils

Extract:
1kg Coopers Pale DME
1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale kit

Mash: 1tsp of Gypsum in the mashtun. 66C single infusion mash for 90 mins. Mashout at 72C to extract 12L of liquor to the boiler. 60% efficiency.

Boil: 12L of mash liquor with Coopers DME added at start of 60 min boil. Add the 1.7Kg kit at flameout to improve hop extraction efficiency during the boil and preserve hop flavour and aroma from the kit.

Hop Bill (all pellets):
28g Chinook (15.3% A/A) 60 mins
16g Goldings (5% A/A) 30 mins
16g Goldings (5% A/A) 20 mins
20g Cascade (6.3% A/A) 5 mins

Yeast: S-56 rehydrated or Wyeast 1028 London Ale.

The grains are limited to a small esky and I haven't used Chinook pellets before so I figured this brew would handle Chinook for bittering - I have Northern Brewer pellets too but I just wanted to try something different, but if Chinook's all wrong for an IPA, I have NB, Willamette, Goldings, Styrian Goldings, Fuggles, Tettnang, Hallertau, Saaz or Cascade available if need be....

Cheers,
TL

 

[Kai]

I don't know about the chinook, you might get away with it for bittering, but I would be dropping the cascade unless you're wanting an APA. Just my opinion.

 

[Trough Lolly]

Perhaps I could dry hop with Fuggles in lieu of the Cascade?

 

[RobW]

Perhaps I could dry hop with Fuggles in lieu of the Cascade?

[post="80150"][/post]​

How about a mix of Goldings & Fuggles at 30, 15, 10, 5 & flameout (& dry hop if you want but I wouldn't). It's an IPA so you could bump the bittering up a bit more.

 

[Trough Lolly]

Just found an interesting article on IPA's on the Brewing Techniques website: here...
On hops, it says:

Hops: Choice of hops is primarily a matter of preference and accessibility. For traditional India Pale Ales, you will need to select a bittering and finishing hop. I prefer the high-alpha, citrus-like crispness of Chinook. Other breweries have success with Galena and Centennial.

Some brewers choose to follow traditional brewing practices and use low-alpha hops for all additions. The relatively high humulone/cohumulone ratio found in low-alpha hops such as Kent Goldings and Fuggles results in a smoother, more rounded flavor than that achieved by the use of high-alpha hops. Chinook and Nugget have more favorable humulone/cohumulone ratios than other high-alpha hops and allow the brewer to achieve high levels of bitterness without the expense of using low-alpha hops. Whatever you choose, give the hops a good long boil. Some recipes recommend at least a 90-min boil for the bittering hops.

[snip]

If you choose to brew a contemporary version of the style, select fresh hops for additions during midboil. I recommend additions at 10-min intervals beginning at 40 min. This seems to provide the full flavor necessary to make its presence known in this very bitter style. Again, as with the aroma component, I recommend Kent Goldings, Cascades, or Fuggles. For a traditional recipe, minimize the amount of hops used to flavor the beer.

The finishing hops, used liberally for either interpretation, should be carefully selected based on freshness and preference. I like the peppery nose offered by Kent Goldings or the floral grassiness of Cascades. Aroma hops may be added to the last 5 min of your boil, especially if you use an extended hot break after boiling.

Traditionally, aroma hops were added to the cask before shipping. If you choose to dry hop your IPA, use caution. I have seen dry hopping in the secondary work for several breweries; Cantwell et al. provided interesting insights into dry hopping in a previous issue of BrewingTechniques (11). A true IPA with its associated high alcohol content should withstand the risks associated with heavy dry hopping. My experience suggests that the heavier the dry hopping, the longer the beer needs to condition before drinking. Recipes for l9th century IPAs report the use of 14-1 lb of hops per cask.

In addition to wonderful aromas, dry hopping provides other advantages. The tannic acids provided by the hops aid clarification, while the diastase associated with the hops helps break down maltodextrins for further fermentation. Finally, the hops add additional protection against infection by increasing the isohumulone content of the beer.

Cheers,
TL

 

[Kai]

Just remember that's a yankee site and they seem to think a strong APA is an IPA.

Where's chiller when I need him?

 

[RobW]

Just remember that's a yankee site and they seem to think a strong APA is an IPA.

[post="80160"][/post]​

Exactly. Depends how historically accurate you want to be I guess. These aren't a bad read:

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/s...s/2_2style.html

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/s...s/2_3style.html

 

[Mr Bond]

Great links .Excellent reading. :excl:

 

[Trough Lolly]

Yep - that's where I got the original quote from...Perhaps I'll do one batch with Cascade and the next without and see what the difference is!!

More beer!

Cheers,
TL

 

[RobW]

The BJCP IPA style guidelines are here:

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category14.html

& they clearly differentiate between English, American & Imperial IPAs.

 

[pint of lager]

India Pale Ale (IPA) was brewed in England for shipping to the colonies in India. To withstand the rigours of a long ocean voyage crossing the equator, a beer that was hoppier, maltier and more alcoholic was developed. This means the brew was based on English pale ale malts and English hops, fuggles and goldings.

The "I" in IPA has nothing to do with Imperial or American Indian.

American brewers who have attempted this style, often use local American hops which are much more readily available and cheaper than the authentic English hops. American hops that I have tried are very citrusy, which is totally out of character of the intended style of IPA. These Americanised versions are then written up and discussed, and freely called IPA, rather than American Pale Ale or APA. Much of the online information comes from America, and the free misusage of the term IPA means that many brewers think that IPA means Indian American Pale ale with associated cascade and chinook.

The BJCP guidelines do show the beers as being separate substyles, but there is so much online information that incorrecty labels and confuses the styles, that many people think IPA should have cascade in it. Make sure when reading any online source about IPA, that it is an English version.

Fortunately, in Australia, we have access to all the international hops, and can happily brew whichever style we want and can then label our beers correctly.

The bittering hops do play a flavour role in a beer, and using an American hop as a bittering hop in an IPA will give the wrong flavour profile.

If brewing an IPA, stick to fuggles and goldings.

If brewing an APA, stick to the American hops, especially those starting with "C".

 

[Corellion]

So I know it's a little early to judge, but I'm hoping to lay down an IPA partial this weekend ...

How'd the Pith Helmet treat you? Anything you'd consider changing at this point?

 

[Wassa]

Always led to believe that Fuggles was the major hop used in making and IPA.

Every IPA I have tried has had fuggles, with more fuggles, with still more fuggles coming thru in both flavour and aroma.

 

[Trough Lolly]

So I know it's a little early to judge, but I'm hoping to lay down an IPA partial this weekend ...

How'd the Pith Helmet treat you? Anything you'd consider changing at this point?

[post="82431"][/post]​

G'day Corellion,
Sorry to not reply sooner... h34r:

The IPA is still in primary - it's been there since 2 October!! SG in the fermenter was 1.070 for 21 Litres of wort (better than expected efficiency! ) and the sucker stalled at about day 5 at 1.026. I figured that it was still too high an FG of course, and roused the yeast cake and flicked on the heating mat that it was sitting on. Brought the wort up from 16C to 22C over a day or two, and the yeast back to life.

It did the job - the airlock is still displaced and the gravity a couple of nights ago was 1.016. I'm gonna use the yeast cake for a batch of pale ale this coming weekend so I'll rack the IPA to secondary and fine it over the weekend before kegging it whilst I repitch the fresh pale ale wort on the old yeast cake that same day.

As for brewday adjustments, I replaced 500g of Bairds Pale malt with 500g of IMC Pale ale malt and upped the Carapils from 300g to 500g - I also replaced the Chinook bittering addition with Northern Brewer. Total IBU was 60...

I might lash out and dry hop the beer in secondary too as I found the aroma level a bit low on this monster - the alcohol levels are quite prominent in this batch (SG 1.070 - FG 1.016 and falling)!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Trough Lolly]

Always led to believe that Fuggles was the major hop used in making and IPA.

Every IPA I have tried has had fuggles, with more fuggles, with still more fuggles coming thru in both flavour and aroma.

[post="83669"][/post]​

That's fine if you like lots of fuggles in your beer... h34r:

TL