Style Of The Week 13/12/06 - American Ipa

[Stuster]

Not the traditional IPA shipped from England to India, but American IPA which is basically a stronger, hoppier APA. (Let's not get bogged down in the name business again, please.)

So what are your recipes for this style? What grains do you use? What yeast? And importantly, what hops? This is definitely a style kit brewers can brew. Any tips? And what commercial examples have you guzzled that you can recommend, especially any that may be available here? :chug:

Tell us all you know about this style. :super:

Here's what the BJCP has to say about this style. From here.

14B. American IPA

Aroma: A prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, perfume-like, resinous, piney, and/or fruity character derived from American hops. Many versions are dry hopped and can have an additional grassy aroma, although this is not required. Some clean malty sweetness may be found in the background, but should be at a lower level than in English examples. Fruitiness, either from esters or hops, may also be detected in some versions, although a neutral fermentation character is also acceptable. Some alcohol may be noted.

Appearance: Color ranges from medium gold to medium reddish copper; some versions can have an orange-ish tint. Should be clear, although unfiltered dry-hopped versions may be a bit hazy. Good head stand should persist.

Flavor: Hop flavor is medium to high, and should reflect an American hop character with citrusy, floral, resinous, piney or fruity aspects. Medium-high to very high hop bitterness, although the malt backbone will support the strong hop character and provide the best balance. Malt flavor should be low to medium, and is generally clean and malty sweet although some caramel or toasty flavors are acceptable at low levels. No diacetyl. Low fruitiness is acceptable but not required. The bitterness may linger into the aftertaste but should not be harsh. Medium-dry to dry finish. Some clean alcohol flavor can be noted in stronger versions. Oak is inappropriate in this style. Some sulfur may be present if sulfate water is used, but most examples do not exhibit this character.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-light to medium-bodied mouthfeel without hop-derived astringency, although moderate to medium-high carbonation can combine to render an overall dry sensation in the presence of malt sweetness. Some smooth alcohol warming can and should be sensed in stronger (but not all) versions. Body is generally less than in English counterparts.

Overall Impression: A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale.

History: An American version of the historical English style, brewed using American ingredients and attitude.

Ingredients: Pale ale malt (well-modified and suitable for single-temperature infusion mashing); American hops; American yeast that can give a clean or slightly fruity profile. Generally all-malt, but mashed at lower temperatures for high attenuation. Water character varies from soft to moderately sulfate.
Vital Statistics:
OG FG IBUs SRM ABV
1.056 - 1.075 1.010 - 1.018 40 - 60+ 6 - 15 5.5 - 7.5%

Commercial Examples: Stone IPA, Victory Hop Devil, Anderson Valley Hop Ottin', Anchor Liberty Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Three Floyds Alpha King, Harpoon IPA, Bell's Two-Hearted Ale, Avery IPA, Founder's Centennial IPA, Mendocino White Hawk Select IPA

 

[neonmeate]

huge room for variation in this style but i like amarillo and simcoe. 70ishIBU, 1065, mixture of pils and maris otter, 5% crystal and maybe a touch of amber malt. thames valley and 1318 worked well for me, 1056 is too boring and WLP002 is too sweet and WLP023 is too sulfury. cold conditioning is good only i gave my fridge away to a dog.

 

[Voosher]

I'm yet to brew this style but I took on some comments from the IPA thread of some time back and have the current work-in-progress:

12l batch
85% Joe White, 15% JW Light Munich - Target OG 1075

10g Chinook @ 60m
10g Simcoe @ 60m
10g NB @ 60m
10g Simcoe @ 20m
10g Amarillo @ 15m
10g Cascade @ 10m
10g Chinook @ 5m

And something as yet undecided for aroma and/or dry hopping.

Target bitterness 72IBU

Thinking of Wyeast 1332.

My thoughts are that I want this a little maltier than an APA but still quite simple malt-wise - hence the Munich and the choice of yeast.
I was half-tempted to go US-56 but I'm with neonmate neonmeate in wanting character out of the yeast.

 

[Duff]

Boy, where do you start with a great style like this?

I think combo's of hops are the way to go as they provide more depth in the flavour profile. There are loads of potential combo's andloads of beer to be made to try them, but I find that anything over the 4 different hop mark then it can get to a little too much going on. I've made a few, here are some of the better ones.

----------

This one dissapeared extremely quickly one afternoon between 3 of us, one being an ex pro Welsh rugby player. The Cascade/Amarillo combo is great, and surprisngly the Scottish Ale yeast went very well with it. The Pilsner base also gave good results.

05-25 American IPA

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 20.00 Wort Size (L): 20.00
Total Grain (kg): 5.92
Anticipated OG: 1.069 Plato: 16.84
Anticipated SRM: 8.3
Anticipated IBU: 66.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
79.3 4.70 kg. JWM Export Pilsner Australia 1.037 2
13.6 0.80 kg. JWM Wheat Malt Australia 1.040 2
3.3 0.20 kg. TF Crystal UK 1.034 74
2.3 0.13 kg. Melanoidin Malt 1.033 35
1.5 0.09 kg. JWM Dark Munich Australia 1.039 13

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.00 g. Hallertau Northern Brewer Pellet 10.50 15.8 60 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 6.7 60 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 4.5 60 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 6.3 50 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 4.2 50 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 5.1 40 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 3.4 40 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 3.4 30 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 2.3 30 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 2.2 20 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 1.5 20 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.3 10 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.9 10 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.1 5 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.8 5 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.1 4 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.8 4 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.1 3 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.8 3 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.1 2 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.8 2 min.
5.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 1.1 1 min.
5.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.8 1 min.
10.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 0.0 0 min.
10.00 g. Cascade Pellet 6.00 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

----------

This one was also a great beer and is a clone of the Victory Hop Devil. Tasted just like Goatherders contribution to the recent case swap, but more hoppy. It's also a great beer. The 009 Australian Ale gave it a little more fruitiness. Centennial is a great hop, to me like Cascade on steroids.

06-13 Victory Hop Devil I

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 20.00 Wort Size (L): 20.00
Total Grain (kg): 5.60
Anticipated OG: 1.066 Plato: 16.19
Anticipated SRM: 11.2
Anticipated IBU: 75.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
64.3 3.60 kg. JWM Traditional Ale Malt Australia 1.038 3
19.6 1.10 kg. JWM Light Munich Australia 1.038 10
8.9 0.50 kg. JWM Export Pilsner Australia 1.037 2
3.6 0.20 kg. JWM Crystal 140 Australia 1.035 74
1.8 0.10 kg. JWM Dark Munich Australia 1.039 30
1.8 0.10 kg. Weyermann Melanoidin Germany 1.037 36

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
26.00 g. Centennial Pellet 10.00 39.5 60 min.
15.00 g. Centennial Pellet 10.00 11.6 30 min.
10.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 6.9 30 min.
20.00 g. Tettnanger Pellet 5.20 8.1 30 min.
15.00 g. Centennial Pellet 10.00 6.1 15 min.
10.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 3.6 15 min.
40.00 g. Centennial Pellet 10.00 0.0 0 min.
40.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.90 0.0 0 min.


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP009 Australian Ale


I thought I'd push the limits a bit more when I made Pliny the Elder. It was a big beer hop wise (nothing like what's being pushed out now from a local Hills Brewer ) but it did have just too much happening. I may do it again since I have my hands on some Columbus.

I think though for my taste buds, around the 90 - 100IBU mark is the go. I'm working on my next one which will be this Saturday, a clone of Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA, but I'll post the receipe in another thread.

Overall for yeast, I tend to settle now for either 029 Kolsch, 001 California, or recently US-56. A clean profile to shine the hops is the go, one that has high attenuation to achieve a drier finish. Malt wise, I think use your favourite pale ale base to get the OG up to the 1.060 - 1.075 and simply load up the hops :chug:

Cheers.

 

[mikem108]

Love this style, one of my and other hopheads favourites. Oportunity to use loads of US hops.

Try White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale if 56 is too boring I find it a bit more flavoursome with a less dry finish.

 

[neonmeate]

Try White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale if 56 is too boring I find it a bit more flavoursome with a less dry finish.

been meaning to try this one, pparently the best non-belgian yeast for hot weather too.

 

[warrenlw63]

Is it my piss-addled memory or does this strain come from Sam Adams? Or am I thinking of another? :unsure:

Warren -

 

[neonmeate]

Is it my piss-addled memory or does this strain come from Sam Adams? Or am I thinking of another? :unsure:

Warren -

thass right i ffink

 

[McBeer]

Hey Duff,
I'm just wondering why you add the hops at such close intervals?
I've read that adding less hops more regular gives the beer a nice integrated complexity with the malt. Is this what you are achieving with the above recipe ?
I'm not questioning your method, just interested

 

[Adamt]

Brewed this style for this year's SA Xmas case swap. Recipe is linked here.

I think it's pretty tasty, but it's probably best to wait for other, more experienced people to taste and judge after the swap this sunday.

 

[Malnourished]

This is the one style where I have a settled recipe, though I tinker with it occasionally. In fact I brewed another one yesterday.

85% JW Pils, 10% JW Light Munich, 5% JW Crystal. OG ~1.060, ~80IBUs with Amarillo the whole way through. Two big flavour additions, a fairly big one at flameout and about 2-3g/L dry hops. US-56/1056/001 fermented on the warm side. Soft water.

I like US-56/1056 but have had good results with British yeasts too. Anything much higher than 1.060 gets a bit too sweet and 'unsessionable' for me, and anything lower gets a bit out of balance. Timing of hop additions doesn't really matter as long as you get enough bitterness and dry hops I reckon. I've tried other hop varieties but only really use them when I get a bit sick of Amarillo. I just wish we could get more US varieties than Cascade in plugs.

 

[hooky]

I'm a kit brewer, i have a coopers IPA ready to make at home, if i use simcoe and amarillo then does that make the style an American IPA?

 

[RobboMC]

G'Day hooky,

I wouldn't do that. To make American PA I would start with Coopers Aussie Pale Ale. It's much more of a blank kit and lends itself quite well to 'tinkering' with hop varieties. I recently tried to make APA from this kit with Cascade for flavouring and aroma.
( 20 g @ 45 min, 10 g @ 30 min, 10 g @ 10 min, 10 g dry )
You can use DME and Brew Enhancer to beef up the kit to required alcohol and malt concentration. Made a beautifully clean tasting beer but not a true APA as there's no caramel notes in the malt mix.

I believe ( subject to more learned opinion ) that the Coopers IPA kit is flavoured with Fuggles. When I added more Fuggles aroma it came out pretty good. I wouldn't be mixing Fuggles with US hops, might make a nice beer, but not in any style.

Are you making beer for the style, or for yourself to drink nice beer. If your prepared to drink it, have a go and be the first to find out how it turns out.

 

[DJR]

G'Day hooky,

I wouldn't do that. To make American PA I would start with Coopers Aussie Pale Ale. It's much more of a blank kit and lends itself quite well to 'tinkering' with hop varieties. I recently tried to make APA from this kit with Cascade for flavouring and aroma.
( 20 g @ 45 min, 10 g @ 30 min, 10 g @ 10 min, 10 g dry )
You can use DME and Brew Enhancer to beef up the kit to required alcohol and malt concentration. Made a beautifully clean tasting beer but not a true APA as there's no caramel notes in the malt mix.

I believe ( subject to more learned opinion ) that the Coopers IPA kit is flavoured with Fuggles. When I added more Fuggles aroma it came out pretty good. I wouldn't be mixing Fuggles with US hops, might make a nice beer, but not in any style.

Are you making beer for the style, or for yourself to drink nice beer. If your prepared to drink it, have a go and be the first to find out how it turns out.

If i were making an American IPA using a CPA kit, i would use 2x 1.7kg cans and a bit of dextrose, probably only about 250g, that will be 38IBU or so and something like 1050-55 or so OG. Then just do a steep of about 250g of Crystal malt and 250g of Caramalt or Munich to add the caramel notes.

Add lots of 30m and 10m hops in a quick boil of some of the malt or in the steeped crystal/caramalt boil, using something like simcoe amarillo cascade or whatever C hop takes your fancy. About 2-3g per litre of flavour/aroma hops should do it - ie. about 50-75g. Then dry hop with somewhere between 15 and 50 grams of US hops.

US56 of course, although i've discovered that S-33 doesn't make a bad APA, but US56 definitely tastes better. Recultured Cooper's yeast should work fairly well for the experimental, and if going to liquid yeast, an Alt/Kolsch strain is also very good for the style.

 

[sluggerdog]

I have this brew in planning for the next one, I want to do this one to use up some of the ingredients I have so I don't want to vary too much from the following but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions:



Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Boil Size: 45.13 L
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 24.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 51.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 55.0 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9000.00 gm Pale Malt (Powells) (4.5 EBC) Grain 69.5 %
2750.00 gm Munich Malt (Powells) (15.0 EBC) Grain 21.2 %
600.00 gm Melanoidin (Weyermann) (59.1 EBC) Grain 4.6 %
500.00 gm CaraPils (10.0 EBC) Grain 3.9 %
100.00 gm Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (800.0 EBC) Grain 0.8 %
125.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (20 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
30.00 gm Chinook [12.10%] (20 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
60.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (75 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 4.3 IBU
20.00 gm Chinook [12.10%] (75 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 3.0 IBU
20.00 gm Chinook [12.10%] (5 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (5 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
30.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (25 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
2.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale - American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-56) Yeast-Ale (Will probably build the 1 pack up to suit the double batch)

 

[Jye]

My only suggestion is not to mash hop and use them at 10 and 15min. You could also dry hop instead of steeping for more aroma.

 

[sluggerdog]

Thanks Jye, I have now updated it... As Follows:


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 40.00 L
Boil Size: 45.13 L
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 24.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 52.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 55.0 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9000.00 gm Pale Malt (Powells) (4.5 EBC) Grain 69.5 %
2750.00 gm Munich Malt (Powells) (15.0 EBC) Grain 21.2 %
600.00 gm Melanoidin (Weyermann) (59.1 EBC) Grain 4.6 %
500.00 gm CaraPils (10.0 EBC) Grain 3.9 %
100.00 gm Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (800.0 EBC) Grain 0.8 %
125.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (20 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
30.00 gm Chinook [12.10%] (15 min) Hops 10.6 IBU
60.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (15 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
30.00 gm Chinook [12.10%] (5 min) Hops 4.2 IBU
30.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
30.00 gm Cascade [5.80%] (25 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
2.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs Safale - American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-56) Yeast-Ale

 

[therook]

G'day everyone,

Thoughts on my first IPA

IPA (American IPA)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.060 (P): 14.7
Colour (SRM): 8.5 (EBC): 16.7
Bitterness (IBU): 59.9 (Average)

60% Ale Malt
30% Pilsner
5% Crystal 60
5% Wheat Malt

2 g/L Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Cascade (5.1% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Amarillo (8.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Cascade (5.1% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Simcoe (12.3% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Cascade (5.1% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Simcoe (12.3% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)
0.7 g/L Cascade Plugs (6.8% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)
0.7 g/L Simcoe (12.3% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)

0.0 g/L Calcium Chloride @ 90 Minutes (Mash)
0.0 g/L Epsom Salt (MgSO4) @ 90 Minutes (Mash)
0.2 g/L Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 90 Minutes (Mash)

Single step Infusion at 66C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 20C with Safale US-05

Rook

 

[Supra-Jim]

Personally I would sub out the 5% wheat and up the crystal to 10%. With all those lovely hop resins you'll have no dramas with heat retention/lacing etc.

Hop combo looks pretty good!

Cheers SJ

 

[Stuster]

I'll have to disagree with Supra-Jim there. For my tastes, 10% crystal in a beer like this is too much and I'd go with the recipe you have. I'd prefer to end up with a dryer, more sessionable beer. It really depends what you like though and both will work fine, just personal taste. And I certainly agree that the wheat is not essential.