Session IPA

[Alastair70]

This is brew no.20 on the Grainfather, and had a couple of cock-ups along the way. But enjoyed it thoroughly, so who care!
Was aiming for a sub-5% dry, hoppy and bitter IPA for summer quaffing, but overshot on OG by a few points.


Water
Alk 20ppm, Ca 125, Cl 20, SO4 80
23L batch

Fermentables (Crisp from GetErBrewed)
Maris Otter 3kg
Munich 0.8kg
Vienna 0.8kg
Carapils 0.3kg

Mash
60 min - 62C
10 min - 75C

Hops
60 min - 28g Simcoe
15 min - Protoflac
10 min - 28g Amarillo

Yeast
MJ Liberty Bell

OG 1.052 - IBU 48.5 - EBC 12

Balls up no.1
Was expecting OG of 1.045 to ensure an IBU:OG somewhere north of 1.2. I think the issue is my mash efficiency has improved significantly over the last couple of years but is still sitting at 75% the software.

Balls up no.2
I had planned an Amarillo/Simcoe hop steep but managed to omit them from the original order. Plan B is to go with a dry hop instead with 15g each of simcoe and amarillo. Expecting more aroma and a bit less flavour as a result.

This is my first run out a session IPA, so I'm expecting it'll need a few brews before I get it right. On the up side, I made a very clear wort this time

 

[Clint]

No cock ups...just happy mistakes.

 

[The Baron]

As your Eff increase just drop the grain bill down, if it does end up too low just boost it with some sugar which will also help to dry it out if you are wanting it drier

 

[Tommo 2]

This is brew no.20 on the Grainfather, and had a couple of cock-ups along the way. But enjoyed it thoroughly, so who care!
Was aiming for a sub-5% dry, hoppy and bitter IPA for summer quaffing, but overshot on OG by a few points.


Water
Alk 20ppm, Ca 125, Cl 20, SO4 80
23L batch

Fermentables (Crisp from GetErBrewed)
Maris Otter 3kg
Munich 0.8kg
Vienna 0.8kg
Carapils 0.3kg

Mash
60 min - 62C
10 min - 75C

Hops
60 min - 28g Simcoe
15 min - Protoflac
10 min - 28g Amarillo

Yeast
MJ Liberty Bell

OG 1.052 - IBU 48.5 - EBC 12

Balls up no.1
Was expecting OG of 1.045 to ensure an IBU:OG somewhere north of 1.2. I think the issue is my mash efficiency has improved significantly over the last couple of years but is still sitting at 75% the software.

Balls up no.2
I had planned an Amarillo/Simcoe hop steep but managed to omit them from the original order. Plan B is to go with a dry hop instead with 15g each of simcoe and amarillo. Expecting more aroma and a bit less flavour as a result.

This is my first run out a session IPA, so I'm expecting it'll need a few brews before I get it right. On the up side, I made a very clear wort this time

View attachment 47696

Do like the sound of this, is the recipe for 23 litres

 

[Alastair70]

Do like the sound of this, is the recipe for 23 litres

Yes, 23L batch
Mash 17L and Sparge 15L in the grainfather.

 

[Tommo 2]

Yes, 23L batch
Mash 17L and Sparge 15L in the grainfather.

Thanks Alastair, appreciate it

 

[Alastair70]

20g each of simcoe and amarillo for the dry hop just landed on the doorstep, they'll be going in next Wednesday. I'm going to stick some in bottles at packaging time, if you brew one and fancy a swap let me know. This is iteration number 1 of the recipe, next time round I'll get the ingredients right and go back to plan A.

Recipe was based on this craft beer and brewing article.

 

[Alastair70]

A week in and fermentation is pretty much finished. ABV is coming out at 5.25, so only a modest overshoot. Apart from a big hit of diacetyl at the end it tastes pretty promising. Temp upped from 18 to 23 for a few days then I’ll package it mid week.

 

[Alastair70]

First pour of Version 2. Tweaked recipe and no balls ups on the day. Very drinkable; crisp and bright with a dry finish. just needs a load more hops. What are the thoughts on bigger hop stand vs big dry hop?
(Ignore the water additions, this was my first brew diluting my own hard water with RO. Either that or the closed transfer has helped produce a very bright well flavoured beer).

 

[Brew_DD2]

First pour of Version 2. Tweaked recipe and no balls ups on the day. Very drinkable; crisp and bright with a dry finish. just needs a load more hops. What are the thoughts on bigger hop stand vs big dry hop?
(Ignore the water additions, this was my first brew diluting my own hard water with RO. Either that or the closed transfer has helped produce a very bright well flavoured beer).

View attachment 52963

I found closed transfers to make one of the biggest improvements in my IPA. On your hopstand Vs dry hop question; do both. Looking at your recipe, replicating your hopstand additions will work great as a dry hop. Looks excellent.

 

[Alastair70]

I found closed transfers to make one of the biggest improvements in my IPA. On your hopstand Vs dry hop question; do both. Looking at your recipe, replicating your hopstand additions will work great as a dry hop. Looks excellent.

Sounds like a plan for brew 3. Cheers!

 

[Brew_DD2]

Sounds like a plan for brew 3. Cheers!

Cheers to that!

 

[matt76]

Just so I'm clear @Alastair70 , the original one you posted back in May was v1, right, and the now recent one is v2?

Looks good though - this is actually very similar (great minds eh!) to a couple of recipes I'm currently iterating my way through, both 4% ABV-ish Session IPAs, one is Simcoe, Citra & Amarillo, the other Chinook, Columbus & Simcoe.

So far I've only made them with 100% Golden Promise, but the plan for the next attempts is to go 25% Vienna and 12.5% each Munich & Carapils.

I've experimented a bit with an enzyme designed to boost hop flavour & aroma but I'm not convinced it does much except increase attenuation which isn't really what you want in a session beer!

Re. hop additions, at the moment in the boil I'm generally going with something I picked up from foxbat - a bittering addition at the start and then flavour/aroma hops at 15, 10 & 5 mins, roughly in the ratios 1.0:1.4:2.0.

(So in a 10L batch roughly 15, 20 & 30g at 15, 10 & 5 mins, plus whatever is needed at the start of the boil to get me up to my target IBUs)

I'm too lazy/impatient to do a whirlpool most of the time, in these beers at least, but it's certainly added something when I've done one in an American stout.

More recently I've been adding dry hops at yeast pitch to encourage biotransformation of hop compounds. It works ok but I've decided for the next few beers to go back to the more traditional post-fermentation dry hop.

 

[Alastair70]

Just so I'm clear @Alastair70 , the original one you posted back in May was v1, right, and the now recent one is v2?

Looks good though - this is actually very similar (great minds eh!) to a couple of recipes I'm currently iterating my way through, both 4% ABV-ish Session IPAs, one is Simcoe, Citra & Amarillo, the other Chinook, Columbus & Simcoe.

So far I've only made them with 100% Golden Promise, but the plan for the next attempts is to go 25% Vienna and 12.5% each Munich & Carapils.

I've experimented a bit with an enzyme designed to boost hop flavour & aroma but I'm not convinced it does much except increase attenuation which isn't really what you want in a session beer!

Re. hop additions, at the moment in the boil I'm generally going with something I picked up from foxbat - a bittering addition at the start and then flavour/aroma hops at 15, 10 & 5 mins, roughly in the ratios 1.0:1.4:2.0.

(So in a 10L batch roughly 15, 20 & 30g at 15, 10 & 5 mins, plus whatever is needed at the start of the boil to get me up to my target IBUs)

I'm too lazy/impatient to do a whirlpool most of the time, in these beers at least, but it's certainly added something when I've done one in an American stout.

More recently I've been adding dry hops at yeast pitch to encourage biotransformation of hop compounds. It works ok but I've decided for the next few beers to go back to the more traditional post-fermentation dry hop.

Yes, spot on Matt. Post 1 was what I ended up brewing in May and not quite what I’d planned on the day. Version 2 was brewed 1st August, and everything went according to plan. I’ll add the dry hop that @Brew_DD2 suggested next time, probably mid-September.
Regarding grains, given the low OG and mashing low, I went for MO, Vienna and Munich in the hope it would feel like a bigger beer in the end. Seems to have worked ok, but the V1 carapils was an overshoot.
I like a good hop stand for hoppy beers as it helps prevent the Grainfather‘s filter getting clogged up during transfer. I haven’t seen the foxbat timings before, but they look great.
Haven’t strayed too far from traditional brewing methods so far, but might give one of these a go if the opportunity arises. Citra Incognito 15ml - Get Er Brewed

 

[Donegal john]

I did a similar brew with magnum for bittering and a 100g vic secret hopstand
I had planned on doing a 50g dry hop but went on hols and forgot but it’s very nice with the hop stand alone. Not great on aroma but . A very bitter start and a lovely smooth finish I will brew this again but add the dry hop this time.
I am a big fan of a hopsteep. I like it better than dry hoping.

 

[Donegal john]

Yes, spot on Matt. Post 1 was what I ended up brewing in May and not quite what I’d planned on the day. Version 2 was brewed 1st August, and everything went according to plan. I’ll add the dry hop that @Brew_DD2 suggested next time, probably mid-September.
Regarding grains, given the low OG and mashing low, I went for MO, Vienna and Munich in the hope it would feel like a bigger beer in the end. Seems to have worked ok, but the V1 carapils was an overshoot.
I like a good hop stand for hoppy beers as it helps prevent the Grainfather‘s filter getting clogged up during transfer. I haven’t seen the foxbat timings before, but they look great.
Haven’t strayed too far from traditional brewing methods so far, but might give one of these a go if the opportunity arises. Citra Incognito 15ml - Get Er Brewed

Shiit just reread this and remembered I have a bottle of citra hop aroma oil in the brew shed

 

[Alastair70]

Shiit just reread this and remembered I have a bottle of citra hop aroma oil in the brew shed

Glad to be of service