First try at a session IPA

Brewing Processes
1

I’m just getting started brewing and I want to start working on a recipe for a session IPA in the 4-4.5% abv range that I’m hoping to turn into a house regular. I’m planning on brewing half batches until I get this recipe to where I want it. I don’t mind making some mistakes, since this is going to be an experiment in the recipe-development process for me. I just threw this together in Brewers Friend and Hopville to try something out.

I did have a few questions to help determine if there are any tweaks that need to be made before I get started.

-Right now this recipe calculates to about 60 IBU. I love bitter beer, but is that going to be overpowering in a beer with such a low FG/abv? My goal here is aroma/flavor first, but with a nice bite to it.
-My yeast choices are WLP-001, Wyeast 1056 or US-05. I’d like to use the WLP-001 to maximize my attenuation, but I’m not set up to make starters yet. Will I be ok pitching a pack of WLP-001 without a starter if this is only a 3-gallon batch? Or should I stick to dry yeast for now?
-I’ve been thinking about starting with 1 lb of the DME at the start of the boil and adding the rest at about 20 minutes remaining to maximize hop utilization. Is there any real benefit to this if the OG is so low on this beer? Aside from saving a little bit of my bittering hops, what else do I have to gain by doing this?
-Anything else here that doesn’t look right or should be tweaked before I get started?

Thanks in advance!

====================

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.22%
IBU (tinseth): 59.31
SRM (morey): 3.86

FERMENTABLES:
3 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Light (100%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Galena (AA 13) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade (AA 7) for 15 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade (AA 7) for 5 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Cascade (AA 7) for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
1 oz - Cascade (AA 7), Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop

YEAST:
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 76.5%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temperature: 68 F - 73 F

2

A session IPA is just a hoppy pale ale.

3

You should be good to go on the yeast just pitching a vial in. You could probably get away with pitching a vial in a 5 gallon batch of 1.042 wort.

I would do a partial mash of some specialty grains though.  Maybe a half pound of crystal 40 and a little carapils or something like that? Youll definetly want a little something in there for color and flavor as most IPA’s have a little something added.

If youre unfamiliar with that process just steep the crushed grains a muslin bag in some of the brewing water around 155 degrees for 30 min or so!

4

I have to agree with this. Save yourself some money on hops and focus on a pale ale. Use the dry yeast to save more money. I think that many IBUs will be overpowering.

5

I would try and find Kelsey McNair’s West Coast Bitter recipe.  I think you are looking for something similar to that?  I have brewed it and it is phenomenal!  I know it is listed in the recipe section of Stone’s new book if you can’t find it on the internet.  As many others have said, a session IPA is really just a hoppy lower gravity pale ale.  It is a little bit of a balancing act and you have to make sure that the beer isn’t too thin and has the body to stand up to those hops at a low OG.  You may even consider no sparge if possible?  As mentioned you should probably steep some specialy grains like crystal or victory, as well.  60IBUs is a lot.  I would try to have my BUs=GUs and focus more on hop bursting and dry hopping for more flavor and aroma vs. bitterness

6

I have been brewing a session  IPA of sorts lateley that I really like. it calculates are ~65 IBU according to beer smith but it not overwhelmingly bitter even with a 1.032 OG.

the recipe is

6.5lbs pale malt
.5 lbs crystal 30-40 (whichever makes itself available)

Last time I did it I put 12 oz hops in it. mostly in the last15 minutes 15, 10, 5, 0 with only about .5 oz of goldings at 60. you could do similar with extract by just adding ~.5 lbs crystal to your above recipe.

7

I copied this somewhere:

Here is the recipe for 7 gallons of wort with a mash efficiency of 82%:
OG: 1.042
8.75lb Domestic 2-row
0.5lb Crisp Crystal Malt 77L
0.5lb CaraPils
0.2lb Honey Malt
0.1lb CaraVienne Malt
Mash at 158F for 60 minutes
Boil for 90 minutes
Hops:
20g Warrior (38.2 IBU) at 60 min
7g CTZ (7.3 IBU) at 30 min
10g Amarillo (3.1 IBU) at 10 min
10g Simcoe (4.3 IBU) at 10 min
1oz each Simcoe, Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, CTZ at 0 min
1oz each Simcoe, Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, CTZ dry hop
Fermentation:
WLP001 or WY1056 at 67F until completely fermented
FG should be 1.010~1.011
Reduce temp to 50F to settle out yeast
Return to 67F and dry hop for 7 days.

This.
I have been thinking that excessive late hopping might be key.  Massive flavor and aroma, not as much, or smoother, bitterness.

I don’t think “hoppy” pale is accurate enough. ;D

8

YUP, that looks like the recipe.  I don’t look at it as “excessive”, I look at it as “appropriate” ;D

9

It almost sounds like what you are after is a stone levitation type beer that’s not a red.  I love levitation for its hoppy-ness and its low ABV.  I’ll be watching this thread with interest because I too would love to have a low ABV, high hop homebrew that rivals levitation for goodness (whether red, pale, or other).

Anybody else with good recipes along these lines please do elaborate in great detail (or PM me if you don’t want to derail this thread).

10

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I’m hoping to brew this baby up tonight.

As far as the nomenclature goes, I’ve never been one for holding tight to BJCP guidelines (that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to start brewing my own beer), but I get the point. I guess I’ve been thinking “Session IPA” because I want a light, bitter beer, but this recipe is pretty far off form a true IPA in its current version. I think “Bitter Blonde” is a more fitting description, so that’s what I’m going to call it.

While I still want a nice bite from this one, I’ve decided to cut the 60-min Galena addition down a little to put me in the 50 IBU range instead of 60. This brings my BU:GU down from 1.31 to 1.16ish. I can always ratchet that up or down in future revisions.

As far as the steeped grains go, I was definitely thinking of adding some steeped crystal malt when I step this recipe up to proper APA/IPA/DIPA versions. I’m a huge hophead, so I kind of want to start with a really light malt to get a feel what the hops are doing on the bitterness/flavor/aroma. Once I get a good feel for that then I’ll start playing with the malt.

11

Although I agree with that statement, I’ve had a beer that was quoted as a session IPA.  That was Wanderer IPA from North Peak and it was 4.2% and 45 IBU.  Clearly it is below the PA alcohol limits, so it misses the PA mark too.  I’d say it more correctly should be called a session PA, but I’m betting marketing has some input there.  That beer did have a substantial hop flavor and aroma.  Maybe that is why they market it as an IPA?  It was good.

The hop flavor and aroma of the Wanderer far exceeds the limits of a Blonde Ale.  So that beer couldn’t fit there.

12

I’m a big fan of sessionable beers that mimic bigger beers. 
I call mine an XPA (Extra Pale Ale)
I shoot for the low end of AIPA or APA.
[BJCP: OG=1.50, FG=1.010, IBU=40, SRM=8, ABV=5%].
[BJCP:  OG=1.045, FG 1.010, IBU=30, SRM=5, ABV=4.5%].
It won’t win any BJCP competitions, but, I guarantee you that a 5 gallon keg will empty in one night at a party.

For smoother bitterness, I’d make sure your sulfate levels in the water are low (<50 ppm)–but that’s something you might want to have Martin chime in on.  For the floral/fruity styles, I find Summit, Admiral to be good choices.  Magnum gives clean bittering.

For fruity/citrusy flavor and aroma:  Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe are all good choices.  I like to combine small fractions of each hop and add them every 5-10 minutes from 20-30 minutes on down to flame out.  It gives more complexity.

For excellent aroma (that will somewhat survive CO2 scrubbing during fermentation), I find adding at least one or two ounces for steeping during whirlpool/chilling (once the wort temp gets below 170F) really kicks it up a bit without the excessive grassiness of dryhopping.

Dryhopping is nice, too but is usually accompanied by the grassiness and diminished clarity that some don’t want.  Use at least one ounce per 5 gallons to have a noticeable effect.  Again, I add small fractions of each hop (e.g., 0.5 oz each of Cascade, Citra, Amarillo, Summit, and Simcoe) to increase complexity.

Malt is basically pale ale malt and crystal, with a little victory, carafoam, honey malt, or aromatic malt as good choices for specialty kilned malts.

13

I finally cracked into the first bottle of this batch last night. The hop aroma is absolutely fantastic. The only thing is that the beer is too thin and dry for my liking for the type and amount of hops bitterness. So the verdict for this batch is that it is sessionable from an alcohol standpoint but not so much from a bitterness balance standpoint.

Changes I will make for the next batch:

Move from WLP001 to a less attenuative yeast (taking suggestions here - WLP007 maybe?)

I want to keep this recipe all extract for now so I’m thinking of adding dextrin for body. I was also thinking of starting the boil with the dme in only a gallon or two of water to get a little caramelization before I bring it up to full volume and add the bittering hops.

I may bring the bu:gu down a little, but frankly I’m fine with the current level of bitterness. I’d rather tweak the FG up first and adjust the IBUs in a future batch if it still needs it. I will switch from Galena to a cleaner/low cohumulone bittering hop like Magnum next time though.

I’m using RO water right now. I have to doublecheck but I’m pretty sure it has Mag sulfate added back in. I may try distilled water next time to keep the sulfate level lower.

All in all I’m very happy how this turned out for my first self-designed recipe. I appreciate all the advice I’ve gotten and I’m looking forward to making this even better the next time around.

14

1450 might be nice.

15

ringwood ale yeast maybe?

16

Great analysis erockrph… make sure to keep us posted on your next recipe and results!

17

So I brewed a new version of this last night. I made a few changes to try to fill out the body and balance out the bittering a bit. I added 4 oz of Maltodextrin powder. I changed from WLP001 to WLP051 to try to get a little less attenuation, but keep the same general Cal Ale profile. I also added 1 gram of gypsum and dropped the IBU’s from 50 to 40 to kind of balance out the bitterness.

I did change the hops from Galena/Cascade to Columbus/Ultra, but that’s more for flavor purposes than anything else. I already have a hop-bomb IPA about to be bottled, so I wanted to try something on the dank side.

I’ll report back in a few weeks once the beer is ready.

[quote]Title: Dankenstein’s Ultra Pale

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 70%

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.046
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 4.34%
IBU (tinseth): 40.94
SRM (morey): 4.19

FERMENTABLES:
3 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Light (92.3%)
0.25 lb - Maltodextrin (7.7%)

HOPS:
0.2 oz - Columbus (AA 13.9) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Columbus (AA 13.9) for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.3 oz - Ultra (AA 9) for 15 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.3 oz - Ultra (AA 9) for 5 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.3 oz - Ultra (AA 9) for 0 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil
0.25 oz - Columbus (AA 13.9) for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.7 oz - Ultra (AA 9) for 5 days, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Dry Hop
0.5 oz - Columbus (AA 13.9) for 5 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
1 g - Gypsum, Time: 60 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Boil

YEAST:
White Labs - California Ale V Yeast WLP051
[/quote]

18

Thanks for the report on this one.  This thread gave me a wild idea, perhaps a more hoppy English mild?  Schlafly did one a while back that was really great, C3 I think it was.  It was a one off that was very, very hoppy, although extremely dry.  Perhaps something sweeter but similar…

looking forward to your second batch of this and how it turns out!

19

You mean something like this? ;D  Brewed this this fall.  Had a great mild malt character, but balance with American “C” hops.  A sessionable Texas Brown Ale.  It was based/modified from the Alesmith NHC 2011 collaborative beer.  I changed all of the grains to British malt, British yeast, and classic PNW “C” hops.  I thought it came out pretty tasty, but I am biased.
Southern CAL Brown

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines

11-A  English Brown Ale, Mild

Min OG:  1.030  Max OG:  1.038
Min IBU:    10  Max IBU:    25
Min Clr:    12  Max Clr:    25  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal):        6.00    Wort Size (Gal):    6.00
Total Grain (kg):        4.07
Anticipated OG:          1.038    Plato:              9.63
Anticipated SRM:          18.0
Anticipated IBU:          25.6
Brewhouse Efficiency:      70 %
Wort Boil Time:            60    Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts

Evaporation Rate:      15.00    Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size:    7.06    Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity:      1.033    SG          8.22  Plato

Color Formula Used:  Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Tinseth
Tinseth Concentration Factor: 1.30

Grain/Extract/Sugar

%    Amount    Name                          Origin        Potential SRM

52.0    2.11 kg.  Pale Malt(2-row)              Great Britain  1.038      3
26.0    1.06 kg.  Mild Malt                    Great Britain  1.037      4
  8.0    0.33 kg.  Carastan Malt                Great Britian  1.035    34
  4.0    0.16 kg.  Amber Malt                    Great Britain  1.032    35
  4.0    0.16 kg.  Crystal 75L                  Great Britian  1.034    75
  4.0    0.16 kg.  Crystal 150L                  Great Britain  1.033    150
  2.0    0.08 kg.  Chocolate Malt                Great Britain  1.034    475

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount    Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time

7.00 g.    Columbus                          Pellet  15.00  12.7  First WH
  7.00 g.    Chinook                          Pellet  13.00  7.4  20 min.
  7.00 g.    Cascade                          Pellet  5.75  2.0  10 min.
  7.00 g.    Centennial                        Pellet  10.50  3.6  10 min.
  7.00 g.    Cascade                          Pellet  5.75  0.0  0 min.
  7.00 g.    Centennial                        Pellet  10.50  0.0  0 min.
14.00 g.    Cascade                          Pellet  5.75  0.0  Dry Hop
  7.00 g.    Centennial                        Pellet  10.50  0.0  Dry Hop
  7.00 g.    Chinook                          Pellet  13.00  0.0  Dry Hop

Yeast

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

Water Profile

Calcium(Ca):          87.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg):        15.0 ppm
Sodium(Na):          18.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4):        141.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl):        58.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3):    95.0 ppm

pH: 8.00

Saccharification Rest Temp : 156  Time:  60
Mash-out Rest Temp :        168  Time:  15
Sparge Temp :                168  Time:  30

Notes

Pitch 66F, free rise to 68-69F

20

Cool.  I really wanted to try those 9% Ultras.  Let us know what you think of them.