IPA / Mitch Steele

Anyone listen to this episode of The Sunday Session a few weeks ago? I was very interested in the discussion about the book he wrote about this history of IPA's and the "huge myth" that IPA's originally were hopped a lot to avoid spoiling on the long journey to India.

I was pretty surprised no one, that I know of, really did in depth research about the IPA before this.

Discuss.

Expecting delivery of the book today--pumped to read it.

I received my copy late last week. I'm a out 1/3 of the way through it & it is an excellent read with a terrific historical perspective on the English brewing industry and the development of IPA's and how they've changed over the centuries.

Wow, I did not know that. I have been telling people a lie them! :|

I guess that the higher alcoholic content of the IPA's is what made them not go bad too early?

I'm looking forward to picking it up. Unfortunately I joined AHA right after they were doing their presale for it, so I'll probably grab it from Amazon at some point.

Got it in my hands, starting to read it now. I'll be back in like a month when I'm done.

sweed said:

Wow, I did not know that. I have been telling people a lie them! :|

I guess that the higher alcoholic content of the IPA's is what made them not go bad too early?

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In the book it states, they were aged in the barrel 8 to 12 months before the voyage, so the whole concept of it having high alcohol or high ibus for stability is false. Also porters were right along side of the IPA's during the voyage. There is a great deal of information that totally negates everything I, and most people, have learned about the history of the IPA.

Maxkling said:

In the book it states, they were aged in the barrel 8 to 12 months before the voyage, so the whole concept of it having high alcohol or high ibus for stability is false. Also porters were right along side of the IPA's during the voyage. There is a great deal of information that totally negates everything I, and most people, have learned about the history of the IPA.

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Actually from what I garnered most of the original IPAs went through two fermentations. The first was directly pitched yeast and then the beer aged, carbonation was then bled out and the second fermentation actually occurred during the voyage from the wild yeast that permeated the wooden casks. Because the alcohol content was already high infections were not a concern during the long sea voyage.

I just downloaded this episode excited to listen to it.

This book was an excellent read and was hard to put down. Its interesting to read how different IPAs were affected by different factors. The rise and fall of abv and hopping rates, aging time, etc. The recipes are not super straight forward but it they provide enough detail to get you in the ballpark of some of the historical IPAs. It really made me wish I could try one of the ultra bitter historical IPAs.

duboman said:

Actually from what I garnered most of the original IPAs went through two fermentations. The first was directly pitched yeast and then the beer aged, carbonation was then bled out and the second fermentation actually occurred during the voyage from the wild yeast that permeated the wooden casks. Because the alcohol content was already high infections were not a concern during the long sea voyage.

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Yea, I haven't read the book, so this is just going by what Mitch said about the content that was in it. IRC about the multiple fermentation is that, the primary stopped short because of seasonal change, and fired back up when the weather warmed up. So the barrels had a very long slow fermentation, and that to avoid the barrels from blowing up on the boat they needed to age up to a year to avoid a fermentation on the boat. He also stated something does happen on the boat and he wasn't sure what it was, caused the beer to carb. He stated that the beer was flat when loaded onto the boat, and when tapped it was sparkling. There was question of the motion of the ocean causing it, a third fermentation due to the extreme temperatures in the hold of the boat, or possible an infection of some sort.

I really need to get the book, and read it and compare what he talked about to the more technical details he wrote in the book.

so it focuses more on the history IPAs? (Not more of current tips and recipes)

BillBeer247 said:

so it focuses more on the history IPAs? (Not more of current tips and recipes)

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It gives tips/grain bills/recipes, but it is more of a big book on the style, how it came about and historical accounts.

The brewing network's Sunday Session recently did a show with him where they discussed the book.

Maxkling said:

I was pretty surprised no one, that I know of, really did in depth research about the IPA before this.

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I heard something about this years ago (It may have been a tour at Lakefront brewery in Milwaukee). The myth gets propagated because it's a quick story that explains the style in a manner that could be plausible, even if it has nothing to do with how the style actually came about.

Here's a list of the recipes included. The recipes are all in the normal format they're mostly in percentages including hops. Some have a mystery hop (Odell) and some don't get super specific but should be able to get you in the ballpark to something close. I think a lot has to do with the fact the recipes constantly change at the actual breweries.

Historical Recipes:
Amsinck's India Pale Ale
Amsinck's No. 25 Burton East India Pale Ale
James Mccrorie's Original IPA
Worthington's White Shiled
Reid 1839 IPA
Fuller's 1897 IPA
Barclay Perkins 1928 IPA
Ballantine IPA No. 1
Ballantine IPA No. 2
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale
J.W. Lees Mancester Star

Early Craft-Brewing Recipes
Bombay Bomber IPA
Harpoon IPA
Blind Pig IPA

Contemporary US Recipes
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Burton Baton Brew No. 1: Olde Ale Thread
Burton Baton Brew No. 2: Imperial IPA Thread
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Deschutes Quail Springs IPA
Stone IPA
Pizza Port Carlsbad Wipeout IPA
Fat Head's Headhunter IPA
Avery Dugana IPA
Odell IPA
Goose Island India Pale Ale
Deschutes Inversion IPA
Demon's Hopyard IPA
Firestone Union Jack IPA

Contemporary British Recipes
Meantime London IPA
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA
Thornbridge Seaforth IPA
Fuller's Bengal Lancer IPA
Museum Brewing Company Calcutta IPA

Double IPA Recipes
Pliny the Elder
VIP Ale
Pizza Port Hop 15
Smuttynose Big A IPA
Brewdog Hardcore IPA
Stone Ruination IPA
Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA
Stone 10th Anniversary IPA

Black IPA
Vermont Pub and Brewerery Blackwatch IPA
The Alchemist El Jefe
The Shed's Darkside Black IPA
Pizza Port Carlsbad Black Lie
Stone 11'th Anniversary/Sublimely Self Righteous
Hill Farmstead James Black IPA
Deschutes Hop in the Dark

BillBeer247 said:

so it focuses more on the history IPAs? (Not more of current tips and recipes)

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Just finished reading the book, I definitely recommend it. The "history of IPA" section takes up about half the book, but I found that part fascinating. The aging process of historic IPAs means they were probably very, very different from what we think of an IPA today, and Steele speculates (as I was thinking myself) that they were probably refermented by Brettanomyces on the voyage. Which has a lot of interesting implications, and I'm not aware of any breweries attempting a historic IPA along those lines.

The techniques section is definitely helpful but not super long. It's got good pointers, but stuff you can all probably find online. The recipe section is pretty sweet, it's got a good mix of stuff, I think. It's definitely not so much of a "how-to" book as a general overview of the style, how it's changed, and how they're brewed today.

If anyone is interested, I've got a full review of the book up on my blog.

Just to clarify for those who haven't read it yet:

The book does not claim that the high IBU and high alcohol levels weren't critical factors in making IPA the primary export beer to india. It just makes the distinction that the style wasn't designed specifically for that purpose. Remember, this was pre-refrigeration and pre-modern sanitation and pre-high speed transportation. If you wanted to sell beer outside of your town, it had a lot of hurdles to overcome already. They were brewing a lot of IPA-like beers and highly hopped porters and stouts for domestic consumption before anyone even thought of shipping to india.

All of those styles were shipped abroad to varying degrees of success. The lighter beers were more popular in hot climates and the porters and stouts were more popular in cold climates. Brewers picked up on that pretty quickly and started marketing their products accordingly.

othellomcbane said:

Just finished reading the book, I definitely recommend it. The "history of IPA" section takes up about half the book, but I found that part fascinating. The aging process of historic IPAs means they were probably very, very different from what we think of an IPA today, and Steele speculates (as I was thinking myself) that they were probably refermented by Brettanomyces on the voyage. Which has a lot of interesting implications, and I'm not aware of any breweries attempting a historic IPA along those lines.

The techniques section is definitely helpful but not super long. It's got good pointers, but stuff you can all probably find online. The recipe section is pretty sweet, it's got a good mix of stuff, I think. It's definitely not so much of a "how-to" book as a general overview of the style, how it's changed, and how they're brewed today.

If anyone is interested, I've got a full review of the book up on my blog.

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Aged IPA refermented with Brett sounds like a fascinating experiment to try.

billl said:

Just to clarify for those who haven't read it yet:

The book does not claim that the high IBU and high alcohol levels weren't critical factors in making IPA the primary export beer to india. It just makes the distinction that the style wasn't designed specifically for that purpose. Remember, this was pre-refrigeration and pre-modern sanitation and pre-high speed transportation. If you wanted to sell beer outside of your town, it had a lot of hurdles to overcome already. They were brewing a lot of IPA-like beers and highly hopped porters and stouts for domestic consumption before anyone even thought of shipping to india.

All of those styles were shipped abroad to varying degrees of success. The lighter beers were more popular in hot climates and the porters and stouts were more popular in cold climates. Brewers picked up on that pretty quickly and started marketing their products accordingly.

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19th-century IPA's weren't high in alcohol by the standards of the day, only about the same strength as Mild Ale. Bass's Pale Ale had the lowest gravity of any beer they brewed - 1060, just like their weakest Mild Ale.

IPA wasn't the primary export beer to India. There was actually more Porter shipped to India. The officers drank Pale Ale, the ordinary soldiers Porter.

In some hot climates - like the West Indies - the main beers imported were Stout and Scotch Ale.

I'm pretty sure Mitch Steele got all this right, though I haven't had chance to read the finished book yet. Still waiting for my copy.

patto1ro said:

IPA wasn't the primary export beer to India. There was actually more Porter shipped to India. The officers drank Pale Ale, the ordinary soldiers Porter.

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..so should we refer Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale as "American East India Porter"? I think I like that name better

I've ordered the book but it hasn't come in yet. Is there any discussion or recipes for export india porters included?

gbx said:

..so should we refer Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale as "American East India Porter"? I think I like that name better

I've ordered the book but it hasn't come in yet. Is there any discussion or recipes for export india porters included?

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I'm not sure it's discused in the book, but I've just posted an East India Porter recipe here:

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.nl/2012/11/lets-brew-special-1859-barclay-perkins.html

Ron, you haven't read the book yet?? Your stuff is all over it. Half the tables are from your blog, it seems.

dogbar said:

Ron, you haven't read the book yet?? Your stuff is all over it. Half the tables are from your blog, it seems.

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Not got my copy yet. I did read the manuscript and I supplied Mitch with various tables and other bits of information.

patto1ro said:

Not got my copy yet. I did read the manuscript and I supplied Mitch with various tables and other bits of information.

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I got my copy and I'm about a third of the way through it. I love the tables, especially the ones that also include grists and hopping (Porter! has a several but I haven't run into any of those yet in this book). On the subject of tables, there is one in the recipe section comparing the different types of IPA's. The Scottish IPA lists only Kent Goldings for hop variety. Granted I haven't got to the section on Scotland yet but I was surprised it didn't list saaz, cluster and hallertau that were used in most of the Scottish Let's Brew recipes. http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/2011/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1885-ushers-ip.html Was this a common scottish IPA recipe? It also has a colour adjustment and from what I've read so far (the book and your blog), brewers were trying to make their IPA's as light in colour as possible. ...on a side note, I've been trying to order in 2lbs of saaz since you published those recipes. Its been a hard hop to get a hold of.

gbx said:

I got my copy and I'm about a third of the way through it. I love the tables, especially the ones that also include grists and hopping (Porter! has a several but I haven't run into any of those yet in this book). On the subject of tables, there is one in the recipe section comparing the different types of IPA's. The Scottish IPA lists only Kent Goldings for hop variety. Granted I haven't got to the section on Scotland yet but I was surprised it didn't list saaz, cluster and hallertau that were used in most of the Scottish Let's Brew recipes. http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/2011/11/lets-brew-wednesday-1885-ushers-ip.html Was this a common scottish IPA recipe? It also has a colour adjustment and from what I've read so far (the book and your blog), brewers were trying to make their IPA's as light in colour as possible. ...on a side note, I've been trying to order in 2lbs of saaz since you published those recipes. Its been a hard hop to get a hold of.

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The hops used depend on the brewery and the period. William Younger was a big fan of Saaz and used them extensively, not just in Pale Ales.

A colour adjustment sounds odd for a 19th-century beer. Though Scottish breweres did weird stuff with colours. They'd brew one base beer then colour 6, 8 or even 10 or more different ways for different matrkets. But that's more a 20th-century thing.

There's a good interview with Mitch discussing the book and IPAs on the Beer Smith podcast. #36 on this page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brewing-india-pale-ale-ipas/id398500515?i=255140722&mt=2