Working on a session IPA

So, here's my IPA recipe:


Paint Stripper - American IPA
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Batch Size: 5.500 gal
Boil Size: 7.100 gal
Boil Time: 1.000 hr
Efficiency: 90%
OG: 1.074
FG: 1.019
ABV: 7.1%
Bitterness: 101.4 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 8 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 10.000 lb Yes No 79% 2 L
Caramunich Malt Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 72% 56 L
Munich Malt Grain 2.000 lb Yes No 80% 9 L
Total grain: 12.500 lb

Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Galena 14.7% 1.000 oz First Wort 1.500 hr Pellet 26.5
Cluster 8.7% 2.000 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet 47.1
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 30.000 min Pellet 5.8
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 25.000 min Pellet 5.2
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 20.000 min Pellet 4.5
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 3.7
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 2.7
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 1.5
Amarillo 11.1% 0.500 oz Aroma 1.000 hr Pellet 0.0
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 2.7
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 1.5
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.500 oz Aroma 1.000 hr Pellet 0.0

Misc
================================================================================
Name Type Use Amount Time
Whirlfloc Fining Boil 1.000 tsp 0.000 s
Yeast Nutrient Other Primary 1.000 tsp 0.000 s
pH 5.2 Stabilizer Water Agent Mash 2.029 tsp 0.000 s

Yeast
================================================================================
Name Type Form Amount Stage
Wyeast - American Ale II Ale Liquid 0.528 cup Primary



I want to make this into a sessionable IPA at around 3.5% ABV. I basically want to make an IPA that I can take with me to a gathering and still be able to drive home, but I want it to taste like the one I drink when I'm not driving. Here's what I've come up with:


Paint Stripper Jr. - American IPA
================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.500 gal
Boil Size: 7.100 gal
Boil Time: 1.000 hr
Efficiency: 90%
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.3%
Bitterness: 91.5 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 7 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 4.500 lb Yes No 79% 2 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 72% 2 L
Munich Malt Grain 2.000 lb Yes No 80% 9 L
Caramunich Malt Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 72% 56 L
Total grain: 7.500 lb

Hops
================================================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Galena 14.7% 1.000 oz First Wort 1.500 hr Pellet 33.7
Cluster 8.7% 0.750 oz Boil 1.000 hr Pellet 22.5
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 30.000 min Pellet 7.3
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 25.000 min Pellet 6.6
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 20.000 min Pellet 5.8
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 4.7
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 3.5
Amarillo 11.1% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 1.9
Amarillo 11.1% 0.500 oz Aroma 1.000 hr Pellet 0.0
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 3.5
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 1.9
Sorachi Ace 11.2% 0.500 oz Aroma 1.000 hr Pellet 0.0

Misc
================================================================================
Name Type Use Amount Time
pH 5.2 Stabilizer Water Agent Mash 2.029 tsp 0.000 s
Yeast Nutrient Other Primary 1.000 tsp 0.000 s
Whirlfloc Fining Boil 1.000 tsp 0.000 s

Yeast
================================================================================
Name Type Form Amount Stage
Wyeast - American Ale II Ale Liquid 0.528 cup Primary




I would usually mash at 150, so I'm thinking that mashing at 158, plus the addition of the 1/2lb of carapils will keep the body and sweetness to balance the hops. Also, I adjusted the cluster hops down because of the higher utilization in the lower gravity wort. I left the rest of the hops alone, since I wanted to preserve the flavor and aroma. Does this all make sense to everyone? Has anyone ever tried to "clone" their own recipe with a lower ABV?

trigger said:

Has anyone ever tried to "clone" their own recipe with a lower ABV?

Click to expand...

I've been working on that for several years! So far, I've got a pretty good "clone" that comes in at 4.25% instead of nearly 8%. It's not exactly the same, of course, but it's pretty good. I just keep lowering the base malt until it was enough, and lowered the bittering hops to get the same IBUs and left the flavor/aroma hops the same. I don't use crystal or other malts in my IPAs usually, so it's just 5% aromatic malt (or amber malt) and 95% two-row.

Havent done this yet, but your logic seems sound. As long as you keep the FG at 1.012 or higher, i think the transition will be good.

I really want to do this myself and am really curious how this turns out.

Please keep us up to date.

Thanks for the advice Yooper. Did you up the mash temp to keep it from drying out? I'm just worried that at around 100 IBU it'll dry out too much and miss the balance.

Yooper said:

I've been working on that for several years! So far, I've got a pretty good "clone" that comes in at 4.25% instead of nearly 8%. It's not exactly the same, of course, but it's pretty good. I just keep lowering the base malt until it was enough, and lowered the bittering hops to get the same IBUs and left the flavor/aroma hops the same. I don't use crystal or other malts in my IPAs usually, so it's just 5% aromatic malt (or amber malt) and 95% two-row.

Click to expand...

Interesting, are you saying that you dont want the crystal in the low ABV brew because of its low ABV? Or are you saying that you just don't like them in all of your IPAs?

Haputanlas said:

Havent done this yet, but your logic seems sound. As long as you keep the FG at 1.012 or higher, i think the transition will be good.

I really want to do this myself and am really curious how this turns out.

Please keep us up to date.

Click to expand...

Well, I've got all the ingredients and two empty buckets, so If all goes well I'm going to do a double brew day tomorrow, making one of each batch. Hopefully I'll have some side by side results in a few weeks. I'm a bit nervous about the pound of crystal malts and 158 mash. I might back that down to 156, not really sure yet.

We had a fair amount of discussion about it here

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/session-ipas-lets-hear-183421/

not sure if you saw that thread or posted in it....

trigger said:

Well, I've got all the ingredients and two empty buckets, so If all goes well I'm going to do a double brew day tomorrow, making one of each batch. Hopefully I'll have some side by side results in a few weeks. I'm a bit nervous about the pound of crystal malts and 158 mash. I might back that down to 156, not really sure yet.

Click to expand...

Partigyle or separate grains?

AZ_IPA - thanks for the link, I somehow missed that one when I searched. I'll read through it.

Haputanlas - I'm doing it with separate grains. A partigyle would put the big beer too big for me... Just not a fan of the IIPAs.

Haputanlas said:

Interesting, are you saying that you dont want the crystal in the low ABV brew because of its low ABV? Or are you saying that you just don't like them in all of your IPAs?

Click to expand...

I just don't like them in IPAs. IPAs should be dry and drinkable, and I don't like crystal in them. I can't say never- I have two IPA recipes that use small amounts of crystal. But for my everyday drinker, I don't use it.

trigger said:

Has anyone ever tried to "clone" their own recipe with a lower ABV?

Click to expand...

I've spent 2010 tweaking my Houblon recipe down to a lite version but keeping all the flavor, it took some carapils to get the body right. The ibu had to come down otherwise it was too bitter and 1-dimensional, I used more late & xtra dry hops.

Sometimes I really don't want a 9.6% beer, crazy I know

Houblon Chouffe aka HopChewy
SG 1.078
FG 1.006
IBU: 58

- VS -

Gnome Houblon
SG: 1.052
FG 1.006
IBU: 40

Well, they're both in the fermenter now. I got 5 gal of each. I followed the recipes I posted before exactly, except that i made a last minute switch and used WY 1332 for the smaller one, hoping that a bit more of the malt flavor comes through.

The sweet wort from each tasted nearly identical, with the high octane being a lot sweeter (obviously) and more syrupy. Pretty much what I expected. I'll report back in 2-3 weeks with the first impressions when they get kegged.

One of my favorite IPAs is Founder's Centennial IPA - I contacted them and they were very gracious and helpful on making a clone recipe. I made a smaller 3.5% IPA like beer based off the grain bill that I received. It turned out fantastic - crazy hop flavor and aroma with a decent body (though my brew finished a few points lower than I intended)

I liked their grain bill b/c is full of crystal malts and help keep some sugars left in such a low alcohol beer (especially since I fermented with cal ale yeast)

6 gallon batch
87% Brewhouse efficiency

OG: 1.039
FG: 1.012 (mine finished at 1.010)
ABV: 3.5%
IBU:25
SRM:6.3

5# 13 oz 2-row 77.5%
12 oz carapils 10%
6 oz Crystal 60 5%
6 oz Munich Malt 5%
3 oz Caramunich 2.5%

Mashed at 152 for 60 minutes

60 minute boil
.09 oz Magnum (13.6aa) @ 60

.5 oz Newport (9.8aa) @ 30
.5 oz Glacier (5.6aa) @ 30

.5 oz Newport @ 10
.5 oz Glacier @ 10

.5 oz Newport @ 0
.5 oz Glacier @ 0

.5 oz Newport dry hop day 3
.5 oz Glacier dry hop day 3

The hops I chose gave it quite a unique hop flavor - lots of apricot and peach notes with a touch of citrus and a little grassiness - really tasty

So I couldn't help myself and had to "check" the gravity on these today. The regular strength tastes great, just like it usually does. Right now it's slightly too sweet and slightly funky, which will clear up in the next week or two.

The low ABV didn't turn out so well. It's too thin already and lacks enough sweetness to balance the bitterness. I'm really surprised about this with the addition of #1/2 carapils and the 158 F mash. The color, aroma, and bitterness was right on, though. As far as rescuing this batch I may try 1/4 lb increments of lactose. In the future though I think I will include #1/2 of crystal 20. and see what that does.

Woops, I forgot to mention that on brewday I knocked the 2-row back to #3 on the low ABV version.
OG 1.036
FG 1.010

Regular
OG 1.076
FG 1.022

I expect the regular to come down another 3 or 4 points in the next few days, but I'm really hoping the low ABV is done, if it gets any dryer it's going to be rough drinking it.

trigger, how did it end up turning out? Did it save itself or was it too watery in the end?

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be calling this a Pale Ale, not a session IPA?

Sorachi is the Japanese hop, right? I had that around Philly (Iron Hill Brewery in Horsham; I think it's a chain). The brewer turned out to be very cool (he tailgated the next day at the Phillies game), but the Sorachi Pale was god awful. The whole table agreed. Maybe it needs a different presentation, a heavier malt, but I thought it was bad. The lemon taste did not work well in a light pale ale. That's my one taste of the hop. I'm saying it but obviously it's all about what you are looking for.

scottland said:

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be calling this a Pale Ale, not a session IPA?

Click to expand...

Shouldn't we be logical all the time?

There are plenty of Pale Ale, Blonde Ale, and Kolsch recipes. Why not just work from there?

scottland said:

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be calling this a Pale Ale, not a session IPA?

Click to expand...

I think calling it a session IPA is probably the closest name/description that fits, the recipe doesn't really fall under any of the BJCP style guidelines in regard to whether it is a pale ale or an IPA.

trigger said:

Woops, I forgot to mention that on brewday I knocked the 2-row back to #3 on the low ABV version.
OG 1.036
FG 1.010

Regular
OG 1.076
FG 1.022

I expect the regular to come down another 3 or 4 points in the next few days, but I'm really hoping the low ABV is done, if it gets any dryer it's going to be rough drinking it.

Click to expand...

What did this end up at?

RogueVassar said:

trigger, how did it end up turning out? Did it save itself or was it too watery in the end?

Click to expand...

Looking for this answer myself

I know this reply is about 6 months late, but you could use the Tasty
McDole method for quick session beers.

He has talked about how he does something like a 70/30 split between his Tasty APA and spring water, which is combined in a keg, force carbonated, and bottled from tap for quick consumption.

It gets him to a beer just under 4% ABV, perfect for a long golf day. The nice things about this method are that it is super easy, doesn't require a dedicated batch, and it stretches your pipeline out a bit. I know it is not what the OP was gearing toward, but you can't argue with the simplicity. You could really do this with any beer, but something with a big hop character and simple grain bill probably stands up better to the dilution. The final product may have the body and ABV of coors light, but the flavors and aroma will be lightyears ahead.

Joe

Skibb, I really like the recipe you posted on page 2. However, I'm curious what kind of Caramunich you used. Trying to put together a recipe in Beersmith and there are four kinds listed (Caramunich I, II, III, and Caramunich malt). Also, is the .09 oz of Magnum at 60 minutes listed correctly? .09 oz...seems like a really, really small amount.