American IPA Base Pale Ale Recipe for Single hop Beers

[Adam Zerwick]

Decided to brew this up with some Enigma hops I've been meaning to use. This beer is fantastic!!! Thanks for the recipe

 

[hopfenstopfen]

I’m thinking about brewing this, but using BRY-97 instead of US-05. Anyone have experience with BRY-97 in this recipe or other hop forward pale ale?

 

[popquizkid]

I’m thinking about brewing this, but using BRY-97 instead of US-05. Anyone have experience with BRY-97 in this recipe or other hop forward pale ale?

I just did this recipe with BRY-97 and Strata. It came out great.

 

[hopfenstopfen]

I just did this recipe with BRY-97 and Strata. It came out great.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[hopfenstopfen]

hey @Dgallo & others who have brewed this recipe a few times. If you have adjusted mash ph with acid to ~5.45, what range of volumes have been required given your starting water & salt additions?

I have been comparing outputs from EZ water, Bru'n water, & MpH on the last few brews and I'm getting some disagreement on this recipe. Prior to adding lactic acid in the spreadsheets, EZ water is predicting ph=5.64 and MpH=5.47. Not drastic, but 0ml vs 2-3ml lactic acid to get in the desired range. I may be worrying about this too much, but would appreciate your input.

 

[Dgallo]

hey @Dgallo & others who have brewed this recipe a few times. If you have adjusted mash ph with acid to ~5.45, what range of volumes have been required given your starting water & salt additions?

I have been comparing outputs from EZ water, Bru'n water, & MpH on the last few brews and I'm getting some disagreement on this recipe. Prior to adding lactic acid in the spreadsheets, EZ water is predicting ph=5.64 and MpH=5.47. Not drastic, but 0ml vs 2-3ml lactic acid to get in the desired range. I may be worrying about this too much, but would appreciate your input.

I don’t think your worrying too much. Mash ph is certainly an important component. So It’s going to completely depend on what people are using for brewing water. I use my Dechlorinated tap water since my water is good. With said, I have 130 bicarbonate so I need a decent amount of acid to get my mash ph to 5.4, usual need about 5 ml or more for mash. Some people using RO water will be pretty close to target mash ph and only need very little acid.

have you ever used Bru’n water. One of our very own HBT members created it and it’s extremely accurate. Usually Within 0.02

 

[hopfenstopfen]

I don’t think your worrying too much. Mash ph is certainly an important component. So It’s going to completely depend on what people are using for brewing water. I use my Dechlorinated tap water since my water is good. With said, I have 130 bicarbonate so I need a decent amount of acid to get my mash ph to 5.4, usual need about 5 ml or more for mash. Some people using RO water will be pretty close to target mash ph and only need very little acid.

have you ever used Bru’n water. One of our very own HBT members created it and it’s extremely accurate. Usually Within 0.02

Thanks for the reply. I've tinkered with Bru'n water, but not used it as my primary spreadsheet for ph adjustments. One reason I have been comparing various spreadsheet calculators is due to reading conflicting reports on the accuracy of each from folks on HBT and other sites. For some reason I'm getting circular reference errors in the free Bru'n water sheet today. So, thats not helpful right now.

I assume to 0.02 accuracy are your own brews? I just got my 1st ph meter, so it looks like I'll be putting the spreadsheets to the test tomorrow am.

 

[BrewMan13]

Fixing the circular reference errors is pretty easy; there's even an answer in the bru'n water FAQ's: Frequently Asked Questions and Bru'n Water Troubleshooting | Bru'n Water.
Bru'n water has by far been the most accurate for me. Cheers.

 

[hopfenstopfen]

Fixing the circular reference errors is pretty easy; there's even an answer in the bru'n water FAQ's: Frequently Asked Questions and Bru'n Water Troubleshooting | Bru'n Water.
Bru'n water has by far been the most accurate for me. Cheers.

Thanks for that! I'm very familiar with excel, but have never needed to allow a circular reference to stand.
Now that I've fixed Bru'n water, it looks like the mash ph prediction was spot on.

 

[secretlevel]

OK, reporting back as I kegged the Waimea pale ale a week ago. As a reminder, I ran the grain bill and yeast choice per @Dgallo recipe but the hop schedule was a tad different as I WP lower at 155 to pull more fruit out of it. This beer is fully carved now and think its great. It has high AA so many use it for bittering but I think it also has a very bright fruity flavor thats great. Mangoes mangoes mangoes! Its almost "candied" mangoes actually as its pretty sweet. A little lime as well but mangoes are dominant. Even though I used 1oz total in boil (.5oz at 60min and .5oz at 5min) the bitterness is there but not overpowering at all. I describe the bitterness as a mix between grapefruit and a little bit of pine, but not much pine. Overall the mango type fruit flavor is definitely dominant. This hop is very bright overall, but not as intense as the other NZ hops and I get nothing in regards to diesel or anything like that. Even at kegging, it never was really that "green"/harsh. Smooth as hell, bright and well polished from the beginning. This hop is well balanced (good for bittering and/or pulling some great fruit flavor) but not that complex - I imagine I would've gotten more pine if WP higher and used the 10min boil perhaps.

Had a friend over yesterday and she's not that huge of an IPA fan (mostly because of the bitterness) but likes pale ales a lot. She loved this as does my wife. It won't last long lol.

This is definitely a hop that could stand on its own in a single hop NEIPA or add a nice sweet fruit flavor to balance out more potent type of hops I think. I am thinking it could play well with a ton of other hops. Very pleased overall and ordered some more already - when I ordered some riwaka earlier this week!

Sorry, 2 months late to the party. And now off-topic. I've used Waimea alongside Citra in a blonde ale and then in a Motueka/Citra IPA. Really loving it so far as well. It's cheaper than most other "banger" hops, but it definitely fits into that category for me, especially with the high AA. I never got much pine out of it, but yes, lots and lots of mangos. 5/5!

 

[Immocles]

Unless something screws up my day, I'll be whipping 3G of this up with talus hops tomorrow. I hope no one holds it against me too badly for using whirfloc though!

 

[Immocles]

It's in the fermenter. Never used talus before, but it smelled damn nice. Even my wife commented that it was one of the better smell brew sessions she's had to deal with. Dunno when I'll get around to it but also planning on using this recipe with an impulse buy of galaxy. Otherwise I always end up resorting to 100% 2 row, or adding in a little C40 and that gets...boring.

 

[Immocles]

Kind of a bad pic, but solid beer. Passion fruit, grapefruit, and something else we can’t quite place. This recipe has much, much better body than most of my pale ales.
Talus hops:

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Kind of a bad pic, but solid beer. Passion fruit, grapefruit, and something else we can’t quite place. This recipe has much, much better body than most of my pale ales.
Talus hops:
View attachment 709606

perhaps a hint of coconut? The first time I had it, it was from a local craft brewery which makes great beers and it had Nelson along with HBC 692 i.e. Talus. When I tasted it I got a faint taste of coconut. Then I looked HBC 692 up and found out it had been named Talus and its the product of sabro and open pollination. I hate coconut, therefore I have never had a sabro beer Ive liked, even if its not prominent. I can taste coconut a mile away! I "tolerated" it in the beer with nelson i.e. I drank the rest of the beer but my wife loved it. lol

 

[Immocles]

perhaps a hint of coconut? The first time I had it, it was from a local craft brewery which makes great beers and it had Nelson along with HBC 692 i.e. Talus. When I tasted it I got a faint taste of coconut. Then I looked HBC 692 up and found out it had been named Talus and its the product of sabro and open pollination. I hate coconut, therefore I have never had a sabro beer Ive liked, even if its not prominent. I can taste coconut a mile away! I "tolerated" it in the beer with nelson i.e. I drank the rest of the beer but my wife loved it. lol

mhmm could be, I’ll have to see what I detect later. That was an early pull off a ukeg, rest are in bottles. I lean towards herbal, wife saysit’s more of a woody/floral thing. I can’tpinpoint it, but I really like it. I’d like to taste what some better brewers with more dialed in processes could do with it. But for an impulse buy, I regret nothing!

 

[ChihuahuaTN]

Dgallo another one using your IPA model - galaxy hops (8.25oz +) ...US-05
Cheers....

 

[Noob_Brewer]

So Im planning on another one of these but with Riwaka this time but seem to have run into a little snag. I typically have been following the hop schedules as the OP posted but modifications to adjust IBUs. However, with riwaka Aa listed at 6.3% on my YVH packages, the highest I seem to get for IBUs is about 33 whereas the other hops used for this base recipe have always been about 40-42 IBUs so thats quite a difference and OG is 1.058 on all of these. Thus far, Im adding:

1.5oz to 60min boil (25.2 IBUs) and 1.0oz to 10min boil (10.3IBUs), and 3.0oz steep at 160 for 45 minutes (5.0 IBUs) = 40.5 IBUs total : 2oz DH at 3 days.

So seems Im just upping the boil additions to get the IBUs while still steeping at lower temps like I want. All my IBUs are beersmith estimates. These IBUs seem right? Im usually NOT adding this much to the boil, but do want the IBUs to be in the neighborhood of 40 for this receipe.

 

[Dgallo]

So Im planning on another one of these but with Riwaka this time but seem to have run into a little snag. I typically have been following the hop schedules as the OP posted but modifications to adjust IBUs. However, with riwaka Aa listed at 6.3% on my YVH packages, the highest I seem to get for IBUs is about 33 whereas the other hops used for this base recipe have always been about 40-42 IBUs so thats quite a difference and OG is 1.058 on all of these. Thus far, Im adding:

1.5oz to 60min boil (25.2 IBUs) and 1.0oz to 10min boil (10.3IBUs), and 3.0oz steep at 160 for 45 minutes (5.0 IBUs) = 40.5 IBUs total : 2oz DH at 3 days.

So seems Im just upping the boil additions to get the IBUs while still steeping at lower temps like I want. All my IBUs are beersmith estimates. These IBUs seem right? Im usually NOT adding this much to the boil, but do want the IBUs to be in the neighborhood of 40 for this receipe.

The Riwaka I have from 2020 is really potent. That’s definitely a really cool thing to have such low of an alpha but a lot of potency. You could always deviate and use a clean bittering hop like magnum or horizon. Either way it will make a good beer

 

[Noob_Brewer]

The Riwaka I have from 2020 is really potent. That’s definitely a really cool thing to have such low of an alpha but a lot of potency. You could always deviate and use a clean bittering hop like magnum or horizon. Either way it will make a good beer

Yeah thats what Ive heard. I don't have any magnum or horizon but I do have some warrior, so I might do that.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

just kegged this Riwaka pale ale today. Force carbed the left overs, and its great! Difficult for me to pick out all the flavors, but it seems to me that this is the NZ version of Citra. Strong citrus (has that sweet fruity citrus on the end of palate) but with a little NZ-esque punch in the middle of the palate. Love it! Poor lighting on the pictures, but its great. I did deviate from the recipe given Riwaka's low AA. So I used warrior at the 60 minute, then did Riwaka additions the rest of the way: 10min boil (0.5oz), WP @ 160 (3oz), DH (2oz). VERY strong flavor. Although I said very Citrus (Citra) dominant, it also has some depth due to the "NZ punch" i.e a little diesel but not much given my schedule and addition amounts.

So, now that I have an idea of what this brings to the table and the fact that Ive done Citra, Nelson, Galaxy before, Im thinking my next NEIPA will be Riwaka, Nelson, Galaxy. Just got to figure out the bittering (boil) hops and the ratios now.

Shout out to @Dgallo for this recipe too. This is the 4th Ive done with this recipe (Idaho 7, Centennial, and Waimea were my others) and I am always stoked to see just how well these are drinkable on keg day (soft crash, DH, hard crash, keg procedures).

 

[Dgallo]

just kegged this Riwaka pale ale today. Force carbed the left overs, and its great! Difficult for me to pick out all the flavors, but it seems to me that this is the NZ version of Citra. Strong citrus (has that sweet fruity citrus on the end of palate) but with a little NZ-esque punch in the middle of the palate. Love it! Poor lighting on the pictures, but its great. I did deviate from the recipe given Riwaka's low AA. So I used warrior at the 60 minute, then did Riwaka additions the rest of the way: 10min boil (0.5oz), WP @ 160 (3oz), DH (2oz). VERY strong flavor. Although I said very Citrus (Citra) dominant, it also has some depth due to the "NZ punch" i.e a little diesel but not much given my schedule and addition amounts.

So, now that I have an idea of what this brings to the table and the fact that Ive done Citra, Nelson, Galaxy before, Im thinking my next NEIPA will be Riwaka, Nelson, Galaxy. Just got to figure out the bittering (boil) hops and the ratios now.

Shout out to @Dgallo for this recipe too. This is the 4th Ive done with this recipe (Idaho 7, Centennial, and Waimea were my others) and I am always stoked to see just how well these are drinkable on keg day (soft crash, DH, hard crash, keg procedures).

View attachment 713913View attachment 713914

Looks great man. I really like Riwaka. Such a cool hop and really supports a lot of different hops

 

[roosruus]

Brewed this recipe a week ago with Ella. I had the opposite problem to @Noob_Brewer and had to move the hop schedule later in the boil and whirlpool with the high 18.1% AA these hops are packing to keep the IBUs down. Based on how the hops smelled, though, I'm pretty excited for this beer.

I've been a little disappointed with how my NEIPAs have been turning out so I'm hoping to find hops that would help make a real fruit bomb.. Interested to see if this would be a good candidate.

 

[DVCNick]

I guess it's not the point, but I really just like this recipe in general, it is a nice drinking beer almost no matter what hop I've put in it so far.
I'm about to keg Amarillo, and Simcoe is on deck.

I did a slightly modified version of it around Thanksgiving, drank around Christmas: I did it with Galaxy, but swapped the initial bittering addition for a half oz of Horizon. Also I had a little bit left in the pack and dry hopped with about 3.5oz instead of 2. This version had a decidedly bitter finish that my first Galaxy batch (100% according to the original recipe) did not have. At first I thought it was some hop burn from the extra dry hop, but it never went away. Could this be the Horizon? I've used it in the same way before in some slightly different recipes and didn't notice this exactly; that was from a different pack of Horizon though.

 

[breweer]

Medusa hops - easy drinker. This recipe will definitely be used frequently going forward.

 

[Dgallo]

View attachment 715693
Medusa hops - easy drinker. This recipe will definitely be used frequently going forward.

I’m glad you’re enjoying. Just a really nice grainbill that helps support the hops

 

[secretlevel]

Shout out to @Dgallo for this recipe too. This is the 4th Ive done with this recipe (Idaho 7, Centennial, and Waimea were my others) and I am always stoked to see just how well these are drinkable on keg day (soft crash, DH, hard crash, keg procedures).

I love to see everyone's thoughts on various single hopped brews in this thread, you guys are definitely saving me a lot of work. @Noob_Brewer how would you rank the single hop ones you've done? It sounds like Riwaka is up there?
Everyone else's rankings are appreciated too!

For my contribution to the thread, I did an HBC630 brew that YCH sent me for Virtual Hop Harvest. I only had 6oz of it though, so I had to pair it with Citra since I know exactly what that brings to the table.
Evaluating 630 pellets by smell, I got the exact descriptors that you'll find online - candied fruit, cherry notes and some mandarin. In terms of the beer itself, I got a whole plethora mandarin and pineapple. More than your standard citrus and cantaloupe that I usually get from Citra, I got a good deal of candied pineapple from this brew. Not much cherry as expected, but definitely candied fruit notes, maybe those candied orange slices you see in the candy stores. Not a bad hop - I wouldn't use it solo in a pale ale or even an IPA, I think Talus has been much better and more potent. 6.3% IPA definitely tastes like more of a pale ale.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

I love to see everyone's thoughts on various single hopped brews in this thread, you guys are definitely saving me a lot of work. @Noob_Brewer how would you rank the single hop ones you've done? It sounds like Riwaka is up there?
Everyone else's rankings are appreciated too!

For my contribution to the thread, I did an HBC630 brew that YCH sent me for Virtual Hop Harvest. I only had 6oz of it though, so I had to pair it with Citra since I know exactly what that brings to the table.
Evaluating 630 pellets by smell, I got the exact descriptors that you'll find online - candied fruit, cherry notes and some mandarin. In terms of the beer itself, I got a whole plethora mandarin and pineapple. More than your standard citrus and cantaloupe that I usually get from Citra, I got a good deal of candied pineapple from this brew. Not much cherry as expected, but definitely candied fruit notes, maybe those candied orange slices you see in the candy stores. Not a bad hop - I wouldn't use it solo in a pale ale or even an IPA, I think Talus has been much better and more potent. 6.3% IPA definitely tastes like more of a pale ale.

Its kinda hard to rank the ones Ive done with this base recipe because they all are so different and I chose them for kinda different reasons. To date, Ive done 4 of these: Idaho 7, Centennial, Waimea, Riwaka. My centennial one doesn't really count though as I promptly doused the keg with a Jalapeño tincture (my wife wanted a jalapeño pale ale and she got it!).

I did Idaho 7 because Id heard lots of people talking about "some" orange but also dank and/or black tea. The idaho 7 (2019) lot that I got was straight orange. VERY good, refreshing, but not as in your face as the big banger hops. Nonetheless, I was using it as a whirlpool hop primarily so was interested in what it brought to the party by itself.

Waimea was a great surprise. Descriptions state lots of pine needles with lots of citrus. But with the high AAs, most of what I saw commercially with Waimea was for the bittering (boil) additions. Given its a NZ hop, I was also curious if it had that similar NZ diesel/pepper. It didn't. This hop had a nice bright bittering, but the biggest flavor I got was sweet & bright mangoes. I wasn't expecting that, but again, great surprise.

Riwaka carries the diesel/spicey vibe some people love and others hate. Personally I dig it as long as its not overpowering. I did have to cheat on this one and used warrior for 60min because riwakas AAs are so low. I did this pale ale after I read Hill Farmstead's article of their "return of riwaka" Riwaka pale ale and they were going to experiment in using riwaka the way they used citra. So that convinced me to try it. Although Im 1000% positive, HF has better picks of riwaka than we get lol. Nevertheless, its a great citrus forward NZ hop. Out of the other hops Ive done with this recipe, Riwaka is the most multi-dimensional to me. My wife LOVED waimea, but thinks this one is just "good" because I think she's more of the fruit lover than the NZ spice. So individual preference is a big one.

Cheers!

EDIT: I will also add, that for all of these beers, Ive always studied/drank/guzzled my hydrometer sample after fermentation is done and before soft-crash and then dry hopping. I find it very cool to note what the hop gives me from the hot side only and then again after dry hopped in the finished beer. For example: I got barely any of the NZ diesel pre-dry hop from the riwaka, but in the finished beer, the it is prominent from only a 2oz DH. So this is how Ive been approaching these single hopped pale ales myself. I find knowing what the hop gives from the hot side and post-dry hop is very helpful in recipe formulation.

 

[ChihuahuaTN]

Hops: Citra, Amarillo with Framgarden Kveik Yeast.....

 

[lumbergh]

What is your fermentation temp?

 

[Dgallo]

@lumbergh For this recipe with US-05?