Brothers wife has breast cancer.... she LOVES New England IPA.... been a few years since i brewed.....gonna try and make her "favorite beer ever" HELP

[Bronco1500]

So, I am currently staying one week with my bothers family (while she gets a round of chemo), then back at my family the next week. This is the roller coaster for the next 6+ months, and its subject to change as her condition develops. She is excited to witness the brew process and smell the hops being boiled...bless her heart.

Its been 5 years since I brewed and 1 year since I retired. I am not a noob, but i have been out of the loop. My equipment is as follows:
-two kegs, tops cut but not drilled yet
-one 8g brew pot, thick bottom, valve & temp welded in
-fridge with controller for fermenting
-coil chiller & therminator
-coolers 5g, 10g, 15g (with one falsebottom grain filter thingy)
-two burners (big & bigger) one for 8g other for 15g
-random: refractromotor, stir plate, steelhead pump

Its not the worlds best set up but im willing to upgrade as needed to get her a good beer and build some family memories in the process.

Her favorite beers are;
-contains no juice -alvarado street brewing
-electric lettuce, the holy hermit - moonraker
-pulp-fieldwork
-seasquatch-humble sea

Next week we are going to attempt Northern Brewers Fruit Bazooka as a "ice-breaker brew" ...

How do i start with recipe research and development ? dont mind spending money, but dont wanna waste it either.

To all who read this far... thank you, god bless. All answers, replies, etc are greatly appreciated by this humble brewer.

 

[Kickass]

I wish I could offer more for such a heartfelt post. The greatest advice I can lend is crank up the late addition hops (flameout, whirlpool, dry hop), about 16oz for a five gallon batch, and do everything imaginable to limit O2 exposure. God bless you and your family.

 

[marc1]

This thread has a lot of reading but is helpful:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/northeast-style-ipa.568046/

 

[Velnerj]

I'd like to help but I'm afraid my only experience with making neipa is theoretical, that being said, here's what I know.

Grain bill usually consists of 80-90% pale malt a touch if caramel malt and flaked oats for that pillow mouthfeel and cloudiness.

Hops are to be used sparingly for bittering, but profusely at flameout and whirlpool. You'll likely double the amount of hops used in the hot side with dry hops. If you used 4oz in the boil you could use up to 8 oz in dry hopping. (Those numbers are for example only).

I like to use something strong and cheap for bittering (magnum) and then go with Three hops varieties for the flavor/aroma additions. Pick a hop you really like then look for two hops to compliment it. Balance them out based on their flavors, Alpha acids, cohumulone etc.


When dry hopping and transferring you'll need to be extremely careful about 02 as this style is very sensitive to cold side oxidation. Feed your fermenter co2 (from the bottom?) before opening fermenter for dry hopping and try to push any air out that got in while pitching your hops in.
Close transfer to a keg. I've heard bottling is difficult with this style.

Good luck to you and your family.

 

[Dgallo]

So, I am currently staying one week with my bothers family (while she gets a round of chemo), then back at my family the next week. This is the roller coaster for the next 6+ months, and its subject to change as her condition develops. She is excited to witness the brew process and smell the hops being boiled...bless her heart.

Its been 5 years since I brewed and 1 year since I retired. I am not a noob, but i have been out of the loop. My equipment is as follows:
-two kegs, tops cut but not drilled yet
-one 8g brew pot, thick bottom, valve & temp welded in
-fridge with controller for fermenting
-coil chiller & therminator
-coolers 5g, 10g, 15g (with one falsebottom grain filter thingy)
-two burners (big & bigger) one for 8g other for 15g
-random: refractromotor, stir plate, steelhead pump

Its not the worlds best set up but im willing to upgrade as needed to get her a good beer and build some family memories in the process.

Her favorite beers are;
-contains no juice -alvarado street brewing
-electric lettuce, the holy hermit - moonraker
-pulp-fieldwork
-seasquatch-humble sea

Next week we are going to attempt Northern Brewers Fruit Bazooka as a "ice-breaker brew" ...

How do i start with recipe research and development ? dont mind spending money, but dont wanna waste it either.

To all who read this far... thank you, god bless. All answers, replies, etc are greatly appreciated by this humble brewer.

Sorry to hear about the situation and sending my best for the fight.


as @marc1 stated, that NEIPA thread is the best source of anecdotal and scientific evidence out there currently. You can easily just brew the OP’s recipe and will make a solid ipa. Tht being said, the recipes is not as important as the cold side process for NEIPA. You’ll need to read through and follow the anti-oxygen practices. Good luck to you

 

[IslandLizard]

So sorry for your sister in law, and the whole family, having to go through this. Hope her recovery is speedy. Do anything to keep her spirits up.

Realistically, the best shortcut is buying commercial, canned NEIPAs by breweries that know how to brew them. Sadly, some of the best and most notable do not distribute widely, only direct sales from the brewery or regional stores.

Do you know which breweries' NEIPAs are her favorites?

You’ll need to read through and follow the anti-oxygen practices.

That's probably also the single, most challenging part!
You don't need to read through the whole thread, once you get the gist, skip over posts that are more of the same, to get up to speed quickly.

Brewing NEIPAs
That style of beers are not that hard to brew, but the processes used are most important, some are critical, and determine outcome and ultimately quality.

Packaging and Serving
For homebrewers brewing NEIPAs, air/oxygen-free kegging is pretty much the only way to package and serve these beers, or the results will become compromised, especially over time. Bottles are out for these.

Review or learn the processes
If there's a homebrew club in your area maybe you could attend some good, modern-day brewers' brewing sessions. It may provide a faster start in reviewing and applying processes, especially if they're brewing NEIPAs themselves.
Then you take that knowledge home and brew your own. If your sister in law likes to partake in the brewing, and the smell of hops in the kettle as much as drinking the beer, it's an excellent therapy!

Brew kits
Brew kits in general are underwhelming, especially in the hops department, while their instructions tend to be generic, and hopelessly outdated. For example, secondaries are definitely not needed (with very, very few exceptions).

Hops
For a real NEIPA you need way more hops than that are supplied with the kit, at least double. They also need to be added at different timings and temperatures from their cookie cutter recipes.

Most of us buy those hops by the pound (or half pounds) from certain places, such as YakimaValleyHops and HopsDirect. There are others. They need to be kept (stored) in the freezer, and handled in certain ways after opening to keep them optimal. Air (oxygen) is bad for hops.

Yeast
The best yeasts to be used in NEIPAs come as liquid yeasts. I see you have a stir plate, so you probably know how to make a yeast starter. You need those.

 

[grampamark]

I realize this is a thread about brewing NEIPAs but, as the husband of a breast cancer survivor (4 years and counting), the OP and his family probably shouldn’t expect the introduction of homebrewing into the treatment/recovery process to be all that therapeutic.

The drugs most commonly used in breast cancer treatment, and the drugs whch are administered to minimize the side effects of the chemo drugs, create some really profound changes in the patient’s system. One of the most common is the loss of, or significant changes to, the senses of taste and smell. My wife found that many of her favorite foods tasted terrible during her treatment. Now, 4 years after her last chemo treatment, some of them still do. Oddly enough, some foods she didn’t like before, she now likes. She was advised not to drink during treatment. The chemical cocktail circulating in the patient’s system doesn’t need any help from other substances. When she did have a little wine she thought it tasted, and made her feel, like crap. At least wine is one of the things that tastes good to her again after treatment.

One of the most important discoveries regarding cancer treatment, made possible by the genetic research whch has mapped the genomes of the most common cancers, is that every cancer is unique to that patient, and there are no “one size fits all” treatments. So, the OP’s SIL may experience different reactions than my wife did. My wife’s experience was pretty common, however, when she compared notes with the dozens of other patients she spent a lot of time with during her treatment.

Not trying to dampen the OP’s enthusiasm, just providing a bit of a reality check. Best of luck to all involved. There will be better days ahead.

 

[Jag75]

Man so sorry to hear this . I hate cancer. Like the others said . Late hops addition , whirlpool about 155 -175 and be mindful of o2 . GY054 is my favorite yeast for NEIPA . Its a juice bomb.

Praying for her and your family . Best wishes !

 

[Bronco1500]

ahh... community love... much appreciated....serious

Christina is not allowed to swallow anything fermented, for now, but her senses havent "turned" yet. im bringing up samples of every hop i can buy for her to smell.... im guessing her nose wont leave the baggy for a long time... Then maybe a taste sip or 2 of wort etc...



Ok, i dont feel anywhere as overwhelmed as previously.
My research has begun! ...

Cheers 4 now

 

[couchsending]

More than happy to help you with any and all questions... brewed more than 200 “modern” hoppy beers over the last three years and have just about every stage of the whole process pretty dialed by now. More than happy to give you incredibly detailed instructions every step of the way.

You can find a clone recipe of “Contains No Juice” online that was supplied by Alvarado St. They also brewed I think two beers during Covid that had the Homebrew recipe right on the can. They also provide tons of malt and hop info on their website.

Feel free to shoot me a PM whenever. Happy to help.