AG49 Vermont IPA

[strange-steve]

So I came back and gave this one a brew - just a 1 gallon batch...

50% Pale
15% Flaked Oats
15% Wheat
10% Flaked Wheat
6% CaraAmber
4% Torrified Wheat

Using your hop profile from Page 1 - Columbus, Amarillo, Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic, Simcoe.

Safale S-04 English Ale yeast

OG1.047
FG1.012

4.7% ABV

It tastes amazing! Colour is between a deep murky yellow and a hazy bright orange. This photo looks a bit brighter than actual due the sun pouring through my window. Aroma is of juicy tropical fruit throughout. Taste is slightly wheaty and more bitter than the style should be, but full of those tropical citrus fruity hops!

I wildly missed my OG target (1.060), partly due to poor 1 gallon BIAB efficiency, but also just due to having a rushed and stressful double brew day that day.
It’s come out slightly under carbonated with a head of loose bubbles that doesn't last very long unless the glass is swirled. I might have screwed up my bottle priming volumes.
It’s also slightly bitterer than planned, probably down to the extended boil time it takes me to chill in an ice bath.

But I’m thinking if I get over those points it will make a pretty tasty re-brew! :thumb:

That looks great!
Glad it tastes good too, I'm planning v2 before the hot weather arrives.
Btw what were your calculated IBUs?

 

[strange-steve]

Rather than start a new thread, I'll ask here. What kind of carbonation levels should a NEIPA be? Tempted to do one instead of a Witbier in my next round of brews.

This is the current BJCP guidelines for the style:

21B. Speciality IPA: New England IPA

Overall Impression
An unfiltered, soft-bodied, American IPA low in bitterness. Showcases the bright flavors and aromas of American or New World hops through its balance, mouthfeel, and yeast character. Drinkability is a key characteristic.

Aroma
A prominent to intense hop aroma typically citrus, tropical fruit, stone fruit, floral, berry, melon; pine and spice are less common but acceptable. Most versions are dry hopped and have an additional resinous or grassy fresh hop aroma, this is desireable but not required. Some clean malty-grainy aroma may be found in the background, generally with no caramel component. Low to medium fruity esters.
A restrained alcohol note may be present, but this should be minimal.

Appearance
Color ranges from gold to light reddish-amber. Medium-sized, white to off-white head with good persistence. Hazy to cloudy, even turbid. Dry hopping contributes to haziness. The high protein content of wheat and/or oats impairs clarity in an unfiltered beer, although the level of haze is somewhat variable. Suspended yeast sediment can contribute to cloudiness.

Flavor
Hop flavor is medium to very high, with American or New World hop characteristics such as citrus, floral, tropical fruit, stone fruit, resinous, berry, melon, etc. Low to medium bitterness, any lingering bitterness should not be harsh. Low to medium-low malt flavor, generally clean or grainy-sweet; caramel or toasty flavors should be minimal. Low to medium yeast character is common, sometimes peach- or apricot-like. Dry to medium-dry finish; low residual sweetness is acceptable. A light, clean alcohol flavor is not a fault in stronger versions.

Mouthfeel
Medium-light to medium body with medium to medium-high carbonation. No harsh hop-derived astringency. Smooth, with creaminess from wheat and/or slickness from oats. Suspended yeast may increase the perception of body.

Comments
Can range from a smoother, hazier, juicier interpretation of an American IPA to an opaque “fruit smoothie” that might seem more like fresh squeezed juice than beer. When judging, allow for differences in interpretation. May have a pungent, dank hop character usually found only in wet hop beers.

History
Based on Head Topper from The Alchemist, first canned in 2011, which became popular using an English house yeast and extensive late hopping to create its fruity character. Later producers employed a combination of hop flavor-enhancing techniques that together produce the signature haze. Variously referred to as “Vermont IPA” to reflect its origins or “North East IPA” because several prominent early producers are outside of New England in New York. This style continues to evolve.
Characteristic Ingredients
Pale, two-row or Pilsen malts, including British varieties. American or New World hops, especially newer varietals providing distinct characteristics, with a concentration on late and dry-hopping. High-protein malts such as oats or wheat contribute mouthfeel and polyphenols for enhanced hop character. Minimal use of crystal malts, if any. Sugar additions to aid attenuation are acceptable. English yeast strains are estery, medium- to low- attenuating and medium- to low-flocculating. High chloride levels accentuate mouthfeel.

Style Comparison
Cloudier, less bitter, softer and often fruitier than an American IPA. Many modern American IPAs are also hazy and fruity but have a crisp finish and a higher perceived bitterness; these beers should be entered as American IPA.
Entry Instructions
Entrant must specify a strength (session, standard, double); if no strength is specified, standard will be assumed. Entrants may specify specific hop varieties used, if entrants feel that judges may not recognize the varietal characteristics of newer hops.

Vital Statistics
IBUs: 35 - 70
SRM: 4 - 14
OG: 1.045 - 1.085
FG: 1.010 - 1.018
ABV: 4.5% - 10.0%

Commercial Examples
Tree House Julius, Trillium Congress Street, Other Half Green Diamonds, Grimm Tesseract, Great Notion Juice Box, Cloudwater DIPA v3

 

[DavidF]

Cheers. My calculated bitterness target on Brewers Friend was 30 IBU's. It feels slightly higher though.

 

[MickDundee]

I've ordered my ingredients for this. I've gone for a more sessionable 4.68% ABV (so the name I've given it is misleading - need to think if a different New England/Vermont area themed band/song) ;
79% MO
11% oats
5.5% wheat
4.5% Caramunich II

I nearly had a heart attack when I put the hops in my order so I subbed the citra and simcoe for Falconer's Flight but otherwise my hops are the same as Steve's but I've dropped all additions except a small 10 minute addition, flameout and dry hop.

 

[krispn]

Just made a NE IPA and dry hopped yesterday. The smell is intoxicating in that it's heady and luscious. The sample I tried was very promising.

The version I tried had a hop oil addition but I went ahead and bittered with Cascade and Moteuka - I know these generally don't have a 60 min addition but I had some left and thought why not....(recipe to follow) then citra Mosaic and Simcoe at 80c for 30min hop stand, then dry hopped with these same hops after 5 days for 4 days.

I expect it to be more bitter than is expected of this style - my calculations say 58ibu's but I dont mind that. I already plan to make it again (I only do about 3.5gal due to space restrictions).

I used the Vermont ale yeast and it's looking like it's slowed down quite a bit after 5 days. I'll take a gravity reading this Wednesday (4days after the dry hopping) and if all looks stable cold crash and bottle condition for a few weeks however I know I'll be super tempted to crack one open and get tasting!

I'm based in Edinburgh and we have soft water- I've not really experimented with adjusting my water profile so that might be a consideration for future iterations.

Really looking forward to this one. It's been my first brew in a while and I'm using my new Grainfather and a proper temp controlled fermenting fridge.

I may be up for sending a bottle out of V2 for some honest opinion and feedback.


It's such a great feeling to identify a type of beer you want to try and just make it!! I feel quite happy about this 😀

 

[krispn]

Update to my above post with my recipe:

Malts:
3kg Pale malt
270g Oat malt
85g Munich II (in place of honey malt)
85g Cara Pils
100g Demarara sugar - Yeast Bay suggest 5-10% addition of 'fermentatables'

Bittering hops:
Cascade 20g
Moteuka 25g both in at 60 min. The recipe called for hop oil but I didn't have any but I did have these in the freezer!

Hops:
Citra 80g - 35g hop stand 45g, dry hop
Simcoe 45g - 20g hop stand, 25g dry hop
Mosaic 70g - 35g hop stand, 35g dry hop - all dry hops added after four days in the FV (for four days).

I cooled the wort to 80c for the 30 min hop stand before cooling to 20c, transferring to the FV and pitching the yeast.

I kept it at 18c for a few days before raising the temp to 19c then 20c as per Yeast Bay recommendations.

I made a calculation error on my sparge water as I was looking at the wrong page on the Grainfather booklet (doh) but its worked out OK if a little smaller volume than planned.

OG was 1.070 and its now sitting at 1.020 - Still a little fizz in the sample I tried but I'd imagine it's not far off being ready to transfer. Not sure it'll go much lower with the additional sugar added but I'll test it again tomorrow and see whats going on. It's got some bitterness but I like it and the smell is mental. It's one of those beers which is gonna totally shock some mates who don't know about this style. I'm brewing this for a lads weekend/reunion back in Ireland. We're having a bring a beer night where we each bring a 6 pack of something we'd like the others to try. I thought it'd be cool to make this as they won't have had one yet.

 

[strange-steve]

Your recipe looks great, though the demarera sugar is an interesting addition, what inspired that?

 

[krispn]

Your recipe looks great, though the demarera sugar is an interesting addition, what inspired that?

It mentions on the Yeast Bay site for the Vermont Ale yeast strain - I've added the section below.

"In order to achieve high attenuation, we recommend fermenting at 64-68 ºF for 5-7 days, and then raising the temperature to 70 ºF until a stable gravity is reached. We also recommend mashing at 148-149 ºF and adding a small percentage of the fermentables (~ 5-10%) as sugar."

I didn't add the full amount of sugar which would have worked out at 135g. I know its just there as a fermentable but didn't want any 'sweetness' in the beer. I didn't think the sugar would have added sweetness but just pulled the total back a wee bit :)

 

[strange-steve]

I get the reason for adding sugar, but I found it interesting that you went for demarera rather than white sugar. Though I suppose the amount was small enough that there won't be any flavour from it.

 

[krispn]

Ahh i understand your query now... well Ive see turbinado sugar in recipes which is basically demerera - I don't think it'll impart any flavour at these quantities plus I only had demerera in the kitchen

 

[MickDundee]

I brewed mine on Friday night. It took off like a rocket overnight which surprised me considering my yeast choice. I now need advice on dry hop 1 - I should do this during active fermentation but what would constitute this? 3 days in (Tuesday) 5 days in (Thursday)? Dry hop 2 will go in abou 3-5 days before bottling.

 

[strange-steve]

I brewed mine on Friday night. It took off like a rocket overnight which surprised me considering my yeast choice. I now need advice on dry hop 1 - I should do this during active fermentation but what would constitute this? 3 days in (Tuesday) 5 days in (Thursday)? Dry hop 2 will go in abou 3-5 days before bottling.

I think adding the first dry hop 2 days after pitching the yeast is fairly typical so I'd probably add it tonight.

 

[MickDundee]

I think adding the first dry hop 2 days after pitching the yeast is fairly typical so I'd probably add it tonight.

Superb thanks, slightly earlier than I would have without the advice so I'm glad I asked!

 

[krispn]

So I opened a bottle of this after a week just to see how it was looking and it's a strange one. Not cloudy at all. I've brewed this for a get together with some friends so next week will be 4 weeks in the bottle and I'll see how it looks again then. I'll get some pictures up of it when I get back from that in a couple of weeks!

 

[strange-steve]

So I opened a bottle of this after a week just to see how it was looking and it's a strange one. Not cloudy at all. I've brewed this for a get together with some friends so next week will be 4 weeks in the bottle and I'll see how it looks again then. I'll get some pictures up of it when I get back from that in a couple of weeks!

This isn't a beer that will age well, I think I had most of mine drunk within 4 weeks. You'll find that the intense hoppiness will fade in the bottle pretty quickly.
It's curious that it isn't cloudy, especially as you used one of the supposed biotransformation yeast strains, did you dry hop during active fermentation?

 

[krispn]

Well I bottled it and was letting it sit for a couple of weeks just to get some carbonation happening. I'm gonna try one tonight when I get home and see whats what. I brewed it on 01.05.17 should all be consumed by next weekend!

 

[krispn]

I dry hopped after 4 days for 4 days if I recall.

 

[Braindead]

Where are you getting RO water from?

 

[RKi]

Likely an aquatic shop.

 

[strange-steve]

Where are you getting RO water from?

I've got a little RO unit installed under the kitchen sink. It's slow but good enough as long as I remember to collect the water the day before brewing.