NEIPA hints and tips

[hoppyscotty]

Hi, only about 5 brews into my Homebrew career and am tackling my first NEIPA this weekend. Was doing some planning and research this evening in preparation and there seems to be some additional risk or sensitivity with oxidation with this beer style. Is this really something I need to take more care and attention over and above normal brews? Under normal circumstances I'm pretty careful and not really sure what more I can do to prevent oxidation. I've been so paranoid about oxidation so far that I've been bottling straight from the primary fermentation vessel (had pretty clear beers coincidentally) to avoid any risk of oxidation in transferring to a racking vessel and not had an issue with oxidation so far, so will I get away with it with an NEIPA or will I die? I usually bottle condition for nominal 2 weeks or so then it doesn't last long by the time I've distributed around friends so can't imagine any will get much past 4 weeks after bottling before its all drunk. Any hints and tips will be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[grooves]

My last brew was a dialed down version of Brewdog vs Cloudwater NEIPA - I reformulated it to 5% with same bitterness / gravity ratio. It was the best beer I made this year by far. I did do a CO2 pressurised transfer to the keg to avoid oxidation - if you are bottle conditioning I wouldn't sweat it to much the live yeast should take care of the oxygen. I'd just fill a bit closer to the top than usual - although I doubt it makes much difference. Necking it all in a month is probably the best approach.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Thanks Grooves. There are four of us in our Homebrew 'consortium'. Two of us seem to be well into the brewing and the others the support crew, so between the four of us the brews don't last that long.

 

[The Baron]

It seems to be consensus opinion that oxygen free transfer is becoming more and more critical for NEIPAs. I have done the old style method and it has been ok but you must be extra careful with possible oxygenation and also they do need to be drunk as fresh as possible this will stop it rearing its head if you do introduce some oxygen. Plenty of more expert NEOPA brewers will pipe up with more detailed ideas of how to do it I am sure

 

[Snoop]

Putting aside the oxidation aspect which is unavoidable if you're bottling from a bottling bucket, the most important thing to getting a neipa right is your water. The chloride / sulphate ratio needs adjusting. Also the correct yeast. The double dry hop, first one at high Krausen is supposedly very important too but I'm less convinced by the bio transformation malarky. I still do the DDH tho.

Bottom line tho it's an expensive brew to mess up so defo drink it quickly if bottling. Mine decline after 2 weeks and that's pressure transferred into a purged keg so zero oxygen.

 

[Hawksy]

Some thoughts:
Pressure transfer. Mind there’s no air in your tubing (look for persistent bubbles).

Fill your bottles from the bottom - have your transfer tube/cane/whatever at the bottom of the bottle.

Purge the bottle first with CO2 or fill it with steriliser and push it all out with CO2.

And use Verdant yeast ‘cos it’s highly versatile, will pull your NEIPA together nicely and is just all round bloody lovely!

 

[foxy]

Hi, only about 5 brews into my Homebrew career and am tackling my first NEIPA this weekend. Was doing some planning and research this evening in preparation and there seems to be some additional risk or sensitivity with oxidation with this beer style. Is this really something I need to take more care and attention over and above normal brews? Under normal circumstances I'm pretty careful and not really sure what more I can do to prevent oxidation. I've been so paranoid about oxidation so far that I've been bottling straight from the primary fermentation vessel (had pretty clear beers coincidentally) to avoid any risk of oxidation in transferring to a racking vessel and not had an issue with oxidation so far, so will I get away with it with an NEIPA or will I die? I usually bottle condition for nominal 2 weeks or so then it doesn't last long by the time I've distributed around friends so can't imagine any will get much past 4 weeks after bottling before its all drunk. Any hints and tips will be much appreciated. Thanks.

https://byo.com/article/neipa-tips-from-the-pros/

 

[Surfingobo]

The two biggest things for me have been

Chinook dry hop at pitch (I use a bag and pull out after 5 days or so), I always use chinook for this but I’m sure others would work. This always gives me a very hazy beer even with fining so I do believe it makes a difference.

I fill the bottles then I purge the headspace with a cycling co2 tyre inflator, they are only a few pounds. At 2 months in the bottle I tried my unpurged test bottle and there was close to zero hop flavour yet the purged bottles were still fine!

 

[hoppyscotty]

Thanks for the advice and links to tutorials. Think I'll assume given where I am with equipment and things (no ability to purge with CO2 at this stage) I think I'll just go with the advice to drink it up quickly! Think if we do this and it is a half decent drop then we'll count that a success as our first attempt and for the next batch look at how we can improve our bottling or do something else.

We using a kit from Malt Miller so comes with, I assume, the right yeast for the brew. We'll see.

 

[Gggsss]

The two biggest things for me have been

Chinook dry hop at pitch (I use a bag and pull out after 5 days or so), I always use chinook for this but I’m sure others would work. This always gives me a very hazy beer even with fining so I do believe it makes a difference.

I fill the bottles then I purge the headspace with a cycling co2 tyre inflator, they are only a few pounds. At 2 months in the bottle I tried my unpurged test bottle and there was close to zero hop flavour yet the purged bottles were still fine!

Surfingobo - Excuse me ignorance, but how does one purge a bottle with a bicycle tyre inflator?? Sounds relatively easy and cost effective which suits me as I'm a man of slender means.
Many thanks in advance..... Cheers..

 

[Surfingobo]

Surfingobo - Excuse me ignorance, but how does one purge a bottle with a bicycle tyre inflator?? Sounds relatively easy and cost effective which suits me as I'm a man of slender means.
Many thanks in advance..... Cheers..

It is just a case of flooding the headspace with co2. You need a co2 canister (the little disposable ones normally £1 a pop) and co2 tyre inflator that has flow control, maybe £8. I fill 10 or so bottles then for each one hold the inflator just in the neck of the bottle and very gently crack the valve to release a steady stream of co2 and cap each one immediately. I’m sure it’s not as good as a counter flow but it seems to work ok for bottle conditioning.

Sometimes Lidl have a pack of inflator and some canisters during the spring cycling event

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

My only neipa so far turned out fine - fermented in FZ conical and syphoned into a pressure barrel. Yes, it did eventually start oxidising but not badly. What started out as neipa ended up a fabulously aromatic IPA and almost clear albeit slightly darker.

 

[Pennine]

Some of the best things I have tried to minimize oxidation are
Bottle conditioning
Cold storage of these bottles as soon as they are carbonated
Cold crash then dry hop
Use a small bit of metabisufite when kegging and force carbing

Funny enough I have two fermenter king jrs. to do pressure transfer but I cannot seem to work up the motivation to add an extra step in my process when the above steps seem to work just fine.

The other thing, I think some might prefer oxidized beer. I know I like the caramelized malty flavours that become more prominent with age especially in a Dipa.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Another potentially ignorant question here. I don’t fully understand what’s going on when you bottle condition, but I think the yeast is still active and working on the sugar you add to generate co2 to achieve carbonation and final flavour. If this is the case won’t a small amount of oxygen in the neck of the bottle be beneficial and help the yeast?

 

[Hoddy]

Another potentially ignorant question here. I don’t fully understand what’s going on when you bottle condition, but I think the yeast is still active and working on the sugar you add to generate co2 to achieve carbonation and final flavour. If this is the case won’t a small amount of oxygen in the neck of the bottle be beneficial and help the yeast?

In a simple word. No.

any oxygen is bad, really bad for any NEIPA style beer with high % of oats/flaked adjuncts and lots of hops.

whereas severely oxidised beer is easy to taste (and see) beer that is turning or slightly oxidised is harder. But as time goes on if you dial you palate in you can identify it.

 

[Pezza24]

Interested in this idea of purging with the tyre inflator. Mine is just a press onto the valve type unfortunately do you have a pic or link to the inflator you use? Brewing something similar to an NEIPA soon and want to make sure I do everything possible to make it right.

 

[Gggsss]

Surfingobo - Just looked at it. Seems simple. Good tip.... Im gonna do that next time....

Much obliged...

 

[BradleyW]

It is just a case of flooding the headspace with co2. You need a co2 canister (the little disposable ones normally £1 a pop) and co2 tyre inflator that has flow control, maybe £8. I fill 10 or so bottles then for each one hold the inflator just in the neck of the bottle and very gently crack the valve to release a steady stream of co2 and cap each one immediately. I’m sure it’s not as good as a counter flow but it seems to work ok for bottle conditioning.

Sometimes Lidl have a pack of inflator and some canisters during the spring cycling event

I read that the co2 cartridges for bikes shouldn't be used with beers coz they're not "food grade" and may have other stuff in there. Not sure how true this is, have you had any problems with the bike ones??

 

[Surfingobo]

The CO2 inflators are also used in the likes of king kegs etc. I’m not going to claim that it is safe to do but I can tell you I haven’t noticed any ill effects personally. Perhaps you can buy food grade ones?

I have a few of them, have used this one with good result

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-cnc-co2-inflator-thread-on-valve-head

 

[Pezza24]

I wouldn't use the one that I put on the bikes tyres and as far as I can tell co2 is just co2. Not sure how you would make it food grade? Cheers surfingobo definitely going to give it a try I need more cartridges for the bike anyway. How many do you use?