Single Hop Ipa

[bradmcm]

Trent and others,
Yeah it's hard for homebrew stores to stock a very
wide range of hops, especially as they need to be used up
in a year or so.
No store is going to get through 5kg of Centennial in a year,
as it is a very low demand item.

May I suggest that if no store will get it in for you - try
an overseas store. My favourite is Hoptech in California,
they have Centennial pellets at US$7.50 for 227g.

If you order a few things from them it makes it
worthwhile. Even with the airfreight and handling charge
it should come out cheaper than your local shop.

Remember you are not allowed to import hop flowers.
So stick with pellets

 

[pint of lager]

Just a quick note.

Everyone here is discussing strong ales hopped up with American hops. This makes it an APA, not an IPA.

IPA's were brewed in England for transport to the colonies including India, hence Indian Pale Ale. Nothing to do with native American Indians.

The hops available for brewing IPA's were probably fuggles and goldings. There was no such thing as cascade, gem etc. No grapefruit, no citrus. If you are brewing an IPA, stick to fuggles or goldings, unless you have done some research into the history of the style and find another English hop that may be suitable. No Northern brewer, cluster, POR or chinook either.

The two styles, APA and IPA are worlds apart in flavour.

 

[Barry]

Good day POL
I thought you had work to do? Wasted no time getting back on the forum.
I'm off to see daughter's soccer game.

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Absolutely correct POL,
you beat me to it.

 

[jayse]

Ok at the expense of not being in with the 'cool' crowd i'll say out loud right here, There is a style of beers being made around the world that people call IPA and they use american hops!
I know it makes some of you cringe! h34r:
Get yourself some amirrillo and cascade side by side and bitter with northern brewer, load it up with JWM trad malt to 1.065 and off you go. :super:

Anyway cheers to the brewers who chuck loads of american hops in what they call IPA. :beer: no offense intended to those who don't iam just having fun with ya!.

Jayse

 

[wee stu]

I'm not going to argue with pint of lager, but I hope I can be excused poetic license, at the very least, when it comes to the naming and labeling of one of my current favourite brews.


For the record, mine has a mixture of English and American hops - and is loosely styled on one of the new fangled IPA styles Jayse is talking about.

Whatever the merits of the case, I was not going to let a little thing like historical authenticity get in the way of a good label idea

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

OK point taken, looks like we got the wrong type of indian POL. :blink:

 

[PostModern]

I was going to take exception to the lack of "American" in the name of the beer these guys are talking about.

In discussions like these, I always fall back on the BJCP's style guidelines. Accoring to category 14 there are 3 recognised homebrewed "India Pale Ales" in American comps, one original, two Americanised.

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

Eh, I don't really care about style guidelines, especially when something will taste better than the 'real/accurate/traditional' style.
If I'm going to enter a comp, I'll look up my book, otherwise I just want a beer that tastes good. I brewed a hefeweizen a little while ago with a little bit of JW crystal... out of style, but still a hefeweizen, right? I'm using Australian and German malts with this IPA, and NZ hops, so maybe it should be an International Pale Ale, or a South Pacific Pale... either way, as far as I'm concerned, if the gravities and the IBUs match, it's an ale of the right colour, it falls into the IPA category, my apologies for those who disagree (even if you are right), but at the moment I'm not exactly worried.

 

[pint of lager]

Looks like one of the favourite flaming threads is about to start again. Shall we brew to style, or to our tastebuds?

The best response would be "to brew with style, rather than to style." I forget the name of the person who said this, but it is a great brewing line.

You can brew whatever you like, any combination of hops, malt, ibu's, adjuncts, rheinheitsgebot style if you wish.

You can use any style guidelines you like, including the American ones. They do not cover Australian styles, but go for it. Like so many things American, they do tend to take over and "Americanise" language, styles and cultures. This includes beer styles. If the only source of your brewing information is American, of course you will think it is fine to call any heavily hopped ale an IPA. The BJCP are excellent, but are based on what is happening in the American brew scene.

Next, all you cascade hopped APA brewers will be calling biscuits, cookies.

Basic understanding of how and why different beer and brewing styles evolved is part and parcel of brewing.

Brew with style.

 

[PostModern]

Well said PoL. What I find interesting is that we can spell the word "Americanise" without irony.

I like the BJCP guidelines bacause they are so detailed. The Australian guidelines give a bit more room to move with respect to ingredients but still be "in style" because they are (possibly deliberately??) vague.

Under the AABC guidelines, Dunkel_Boy's beer is an IPA (because there is no specification of type or region of hops used). Under the BJCP guidelines it is an "American IPA" because it is the origin of the hops that distinguishes the styles.

 

[wee stu]

Under the BJCP guidelines it is an "American IPA" because it is the origin of the hops that distinguishes the styles.

[post="48056"][/post]​

And mine becomes a hybridized TPPA (Transatlantic Puddle Pale Ale) :huh:

English bittering hops provide the backbone of my TPPA, but the flavour and aroma hops are Yankie Doodle Dandy.
The model for it, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, is listed under BJCP as an American Indian Pale Ale - so for once, I'll defer to the Americans on this one .

If, however, I was thinking of entering it into an Aussie comp I would probably label it as a plain old American Pale Ale - and depending on the comp it would compete against old world IPA's, or not, depending on direction of the wind, and what the prevailing style guidelines may be :blink:

Whatever, it's all gone - so maybe time I brewed some more :beer:

 

[Trent]

Wee Stu
if you are brewing a SNCA based beer, then you have probably gotten yer hands on some centennial, which is better than most have been able to! Ya lucky bugger. Hope it tastes good. And Shawn and brad, thanks for the info. I didnt even know that Mark had any centennial (maybe I should ask next time!). maybe I will try hoptech. Do you have a web address for em, brad?
Cheers
Trent

 

[wee stu]

Wee Stu
if you are brewing a SNCA based beer, then you have probably gotten yer hands on some centennial,

[post="48106"][/post]​

nah, my loose adaptions of recipes can be very loose indeed

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

What's American about my beer?

 

[wee stu]

What's American about my beer?

[post="48114"][/post]​

The hops - initially it was going to be an all centenial I(A)PA, since then a whole number of other hops have been bandied about, but the centenial certainly would give it a mega dose of grapefruity citrus aroma - typical of an American Pale Ale. If centenial is super cascade, then cascade is the trademark of the American Pale Ale style.
You do all challenger, you will get a very different kettle of beer aromas and tastes.
Pacific Gem - don't know much about this kiwi(?) hop.
I used challenger to bitter (bit of old world influence, even if a more recent hop), ahtanum for mid level additions (cos I reckon it is smoother than cascade) and some cascade for dry hopping (even then I used older plugs, so as not to get too overpowering a grapefruit hit).

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

I'm considering doing an all-Challenger down the road, but chose not to mention it in the last post. I'll see how this Pacific Gem turns out first, and see how I go from there. Sorry that my beer has caused so much offense...

 

[wee stu]

Sorry that my beer has caused so much offense...

[post="48127"][/post]​

I think the word is debate, DB.

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

Yeah, perhaps POL should have been a touch more diplomatic... but I'm happy for this to be a debate, it's a good topic but I've always seen homebrewing as potential to be creative. You can buy traditional IPAs at the bottleshop, why not make something slightly different?
At the same time, I definitely would be interested to see the differences... obviously they will be substantial, but I'd be keen to see which one I enjoyed more. Brewing to style is a good challenge though (what I've found) and great to make sure your methods are working... but I don't think I'd have the audacity (that word is a little strong sorry) to basically suggest that a beer somebody is making isn't real because it's using international ingredients when the style (as I see it) is one of the most adaptable out there... perhaps people need to be more flexible, that's all. I see this as a 50:50 argument, both points are valid but you should never discourage somebody trying to make good beer.

 

[PostModern]

Sorry that my beer has caused so much offense...

[post="48127"][/post]​

I think the word is debate, DB.

[post="48132"][/post]​

Exactly.

You can buy traditional IPAs at the bottleshop, why not make something slightly different?

[post="48144"][/post]​

The problem isn't with the recipe formulation, it's the name. An IPA with American hops is called an American IPA, so that it's not confused with the original IPA, made with English hops. In Australia we have an interesting perspective on the world's brewing scene. We are heavily influenced by English stlyes historically but now our culture and economy is becoming more and more American. I for one think it's important to be aware of where styles, cultures and traditions come from, particularly in things related to such a passionate hobby as beer. Nothing offensive about any of it, apart from perhaps the yanks stealing names

It's beer after all, so give Hodgson his due and add "American" to IPAs made in the American style