The non-standard IPA
Just over a year ago, I decided I wanted to brew a non-standard IPA. Basically, the idea was to brew an IPA that did not use the common Pacific NW hops (Cascades, Centennial, Amarillo, etc…). As luck would have it, I happened to have at the time, nearly 3 pounds of various high alpha hops in the freezer at the time. I decided for the first batch to pair up Nugget with Perle. Needless to say, those two varieties didn’t play as nicely as i would have preferred.
Enter the new year, 2010, and my overwhelming need to brew after a 2 month downtime. Once again, i had some high alpha hops in the freezer that needed to get used up, and i decided to play with this recipe again. This year, we paired up Simcoe (which, I suppose is now a “standard” IPA hop now), and Perle. This is what we came up with:
- 10 lbs Maris Otter
- 2 lbs Vienna
- 1 lb British Mild
- 1 lb Cara-Amber (in lieu of Victory malt)
- 1/2 oz Simcoe 12.9AA (FHW) – whole flower
- 1 oz Perle 6%AA (30 minutes) – pellets
- 1/2 oz Nugget 13%AA whole hops were added at 20 minutes
- 2 oz Perle 8.8%AA whole hops were added at 20 minutes
- 3/4 oz Simcoe 12.9%AA whole hops were added at 10 minutes
- 1 oz Perle 6%AA pellets added at 10 minutes
- 1 oz Perle 6%AA hops added at flameout (when the burner is turned off)
- S-05 rehydrated sachet
OG was 1.062 (measured)… expected was 1.073
IBU 76 calculated, but it feels higher
Color 11-ish SRM
FG was 1.008
For brewday/ batch notes, I have:
We mashed at 153 for just over an hour in 4.5 gallons of water that was treated with 5.2 mash stabilizer, then sparged for 45 minutes with 4.75 gallons of water at 180*F.
During the sparge, we added our first charge of hops (also called First Wort Hopping, or FWH). 1/2oz of Simcoe 12.9%AA whole flower hops. FWHs are “said” to provide the perceived bittering of a 20 minute hop addition while boosting the flavor contribution.
After we ran off the 7 gallons of wort, it took nearly 70 minutes to bring this thing to a boil on our stovetop. This was January, after all, and it was all of 6*F outside… I do have my limits as a brewer.
No 60 minute hops (start of boil) were added. This was a late hopping technique brew
We chilled her down, and pitched in a rehydrated 11.5 gram sachet of Safale S-05 yeast. We had yeast activity within 4 hours, which is a happy sight for me.
Primary went for 2 weeks, before I needed the carboy for another beer (see post RE: Failte), when we racked this over to a secondary fermenter. I then dropped another 2 oz Perle pellets in there for dryhopping. Secondary continued for the next 4.5 weeks… which is longer than I generally like to dryhop.
She was bottled on 25 February 2010, and as I sip the first offering from this beer a week later, I think I am pleasantly pleased with this recipe. The Simcoe provide an interesting fruit component to the flavor and aroma (passionfruit), while the Perle stay true to the databooks in providing an interesting minty quality that I cannot quite define.
This one will be brewed again as is for sure. I would also expect to do a variation with some other high alpha English hops, like Challenger, or Pilgrim… and maybe even Millenium.
