StoneHedge, Oak Aged IPA (5-Gallon AG)
 

I was turned on to two of the best beers I ever had in two different swaps. Edwort and I exchanged some beers back in August-07 and he sent me a bottle of his Stone clone. My first foray into the world of IPA’s and it was absolutely awesome. Then in November, Orpheus sent me a bottle of his “Ambrosia”, a wood aged IPA using oak chips. Ambrosia was a perfect name for that beer. Rich, well balanced bittering and a nice rustic oak flavor and aroma. I thought “so this is what the original IPA’s coming out of the British Empire headed for India tasted like.”

For me, a good IPA is about a rich and malty profile supported by a health dose of hops flavor and aroma…and no excessive bitterness. Aging the beer on oak chips is a natural. The flavor blend is fantastic. I knew I had to create something.

I used Edworts Stone clone as a base to begin with.

• Modified the grains just a bit to get a bit more malt profile.
• Blended a bit more complex hops schedule and moved everything to FWH and late additions only.
• Dry hopped with 2 ounces of “C” hops for 10 days.
• Added one handful of medium roast oak chips to the keg to age for 1-month. ( I fond that smaller amounts of oak chips aged longer, provide a much richer smoother flavor than a larger amount added for shorter periods of time. This is not a process that can be rushed.)

At any rate, I brewed my recipe back on March 1st. It was three weeks in the primary and right to the keg with an ounce (+/-) of oak chips. It’s been gassed up, chilled and in the keezer now for about 6 weeks and I plan on bottling the entire batch in about another month. (I really want to get all the flavor I can out of those oak chips.) In the meantime however, I find myself pouring larger and larger samples in the evening and fighting hard not to just move this beer to the upstairs kegerator.

This beer is fantastic. Smooth. The oak flavoring is rich but not “bitey”. The dry hops really come through nicely. There is a slight sweetness that comes from the Summit hops and First Wort Hopping really gives the beer a nice mellow bitterness.

If you’re looking for a nice rich 7% IPA that is a little different, this is a winner. My only regret is not doing a 10-gallon batch of this beer.

I give you…

StoneHedge IPA

Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.32 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 9.4 SRM
Attachment 5380
Estimated IBU: 48.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)

0.50 oz Summit [16.50%] (75 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz Nugget [11.50%] (75 min) (First Wort Hop)
1.00 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00%] (1 min)
1.00 oz Pearle [7.60%] (1 min)

NOTE – After flameout, drop the temp of the wort to 180 degrees and hold for 15 minutes.

1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-56) Yeast-Ale

1.00 oz Cascade [6.80%] (Dry Hop 10 days)
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50%] (Dry Hop 10 days)

1.00 oz Medium Oak chips for as long as you can stand to wait. (3-4 weeks minimum)

Attachment 5381

That looks really nice. One thing though - what's the thinking behind
Does that get more out of the late additions? It sounds like it should, but I've never heard of that as a technique. Maybe you should come up with a name for it!

That's exactly it.

Someone recommended I do it when I was kicking around my Sacred Summit pale ale.

You steep the hops in wort that is hot enough to effectively extract the flavor / aroma, but not hot enough to extract additional bitterness.

Hey BM, nice recipe, what temp did you mash at?

I hit right at 156 for this one. Wanted a bit more body.

As an aside, I opened one of these last night and it was phenomenal. Very smooth and the oak had mellowed nicely.

If I were to do anything, I might take the OG up about 4-5 points and do a shorter mash to really hold on to some residual sugars. :mug:

Great thank you BM, I'm going to get an order together for the ingredients for this and for the Black Pearl porter.

Hey BM could you put the oak chips in the secondary instead of a keg? I don't have a kegging system yet so I was curious if I could do it this way. Thanks

Sure. Just let them sit for 3-4 weeks before racking to bottles.

Thanks to the OP for this interesting recipe; bringing this thread back from the dead. However, I don't have an all grain setup just yet and was wondering if anyone had a good partial mash/steep recipe for this. Thanks in advance.

Here you go. I converted it using BeerSmith and it look very similar to the original recipe. Enjoy!

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Stonehedge IPA- partial
Style: Altbier
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.46 gal
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 9.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 46.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs 15.2 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 64.13 %
2 lbs 15.7 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 24.06 %
15.9 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 8.03 %
3.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1.89 %
3.7 oz Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1.89 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Summit [16.50 %] (75 min) (First Wort HopHops 26.2 IBU
0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (75 min) (First Wort HopHops 20.6 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
1.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-SHops -
1.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 28.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs DCL Safale American Ale Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.45 lb
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
40 min Saccharification Add 5.56 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F


Notes:
------

after bring bring to 180F and hold for 10 minutes.