Hi!
For a competition, I have to brew a Belgian IPA with fresh hops (“wet hops”). I like the challenge as I never did this before and I found some videos about this.
The problem is that I’ll have to make this IPA with fresh Saaz. IPA is bitter and Saaz is very low in alpha acids. So I have to use a lot of fresh hops to obtain a sufficient level of bitterness. But (1) we have to multiply by 5 the quantity of fresh hops as compared to dried hops to get the same IBU (2) too much fresh hops and boiling them more than 15 mn seem to give an unpleasant “green” taste to the beer.
So, I’m blocked in the recipe formulation.
Do you have any ideas ?
Thanks in advance.
If you cant use any other hops, itb seems like you’re kinda stuck. I agree with you about the problem.
Agreed. Wet hops are typically reserved for finishing hops for this reason. If you can use a bit of CTZ, Chinook, or an extract like Hop Shot for bittering and save the wet hops for late additions then you will probably get something more palateable.
One more thing - in my experience Belgian IPA works better if you shoot for the lower end of the IBU range of the style. Real stong bitterness tends to clash with the yeast character (in my experience, at least). I’ve enjoyed mine closer to 50-55IBU.
Also, if you have options for yeast strain, Duvel yeast seems to work better in this style to my palate.
Maybe that depends on the yeast? I use 3522 for Belgian IPA and it goes great with a 60-70 IBU beer using hops like Cascade, Columbus and Centennial.
That’s certainly possible. Duvel finishes so dry that it may accentuate the bitterness a bit more than 3522 does.
Makes sense, although 3522 finishes pretty low, too. I model mine on Houblon Chouffe.
Thanks for your input and help. I think I’ll tell the person in charge of the contest that I’m not able to brew an IPA with Saaz and that I’ll use another hop. I have some american hops in my garden that will suit more the style.
You definitely have your work cut out for you on this one. If you try to brew a Belgian IPA in that early 2010s American IPA with Belgian yeast you’re going to have a really tough time making sense out of it with saaz, especially fresh hop saaz. If you make a beer along the lines of a De Ranke XX Bitter, which could be deservedly described as a Belgian IPA, you could reasonably brew something that would make people think IPA.
I would plan for a long boil which would allow you to bitter with a smaller amount of hops and I would add them in a bag so you could boil for a little while and then pull the bag. That will help get the lupulin in the beer but limit extracting tannins and green flavors. I’m not sure if you’re allowed to use spices but if you can, I would consider adding dried citrus peel and maybe a light flower addition to round out the hops. Saaz are grassy and spicy–not sure if fresh they have other flavor to add.
I would then do a big whirlpool addition of hops. XX Bitter is like 0.20 oz/gal of late addition (dried) which would be about an ounce per gallon. For more of an IPA feel you might want to go higher–maybe 3-5 oz/gal. (I brewed a fresh hop black IPA over the weekend that is an insane 10 oz/gal just because I could.)
I would also try to balance the grassy and spicy hop character with fruit so I would pick fruit forward Belgian strains. Duvel would be good. I would also consider maybe Duvel plus the Blaugies strain so you get pineapple and banana from Duvel and round it out with all that tropical flavor from the Blaugies yeast (WY3276).
FWIW, a longer boil will give you little if any additional bitterness. There is virtually no increase after 60 min. Interesting that you get fruit from Duvel yeast. I’ve always considered it pretty clean.
Following my reaction, the perdon in charge of the contest told me there was a misunderstanding in the description and that I can use bittering dry hops in the boil. The important point is to get the freshness of wet hops in the final beer.
Excellent!