Making the best, West Coast IPA

[oldschool]

Hi All,
I want to make the best west coast style IPA being that I love this style when done very well and without naming breweries, I think you are familiar with the bosses of this category.

I thought I would post some general guidelines and techniques that I have gathered from other brewers or that I have realized jives with the style. I’ll try to start with the flow of the brew process.
Some of these I have implemented and some not.

Feel free to comment, agree/disagree, correct me, add your opinion, and please add to the list!

Water- brewers are using various sources depending where they’re located. Some ground/city water and some RO. bottom line is low/lower alkalinity with sulfate heavy. Still using some Cl for flavor

Lactic or Phos acid for a normal mash pH. 5.2-5.4

Mostly Pils malt and/or pale American 2-row with sometimes 5-10% vienna, munich, or very light crystal. Crystal seems to be less and less popular for this style.

Short, higher mash temps (157) to maintain high enough finish gravity with hop creep. Some brewers report lower mash temps (152) but this os something which needs to be optimized based on specific recipe.

Sugar unnecessary with modern hop creep issues?

Moderate high bitterness hop charges with additions mostly at 60 minutes in the kettle and whirlpool. Whirlpool amounts at ~1oz/gal
Some brewers “coolpooling” to 80c before whirlpool addition.

Lupulin enriched pellets used as much as possible for all late kettle additions and in fermenter.

Possible utilization of “incognito” or other hop aroma extracts?

Hop back with whole cones on the way to the wort cooler seems popular.

Keep wort pH low but this applies to all sorts of styles.

Can anyone add which yeasts are ideal in addition or which is most used?
US05, 1056, 001, US04?, etc

Addition of ALDC necessary with dry hop loads.

Split dry hop some early in fermentation and bulk at the end or at terminal gravity. Some brewers harvest yeast before dry hop and forego the early addition. Apparently both work well.

High dry hop rates. 1oz to 2.5oz per gallon.

Maybe short contact times? As in, dry hop, drop them out the bottom after some days and dry hop again, etc.
This is almost impossible for us homebrewers. Only shot is moving the beer and that doesn’t usually end well.

Again as mentioned seems like everyone prefers lupulin enriched when possible. Sometimes impossible due to variety.

Double check for diacetyl after the creep stops since I got bit now a couple times. This also why I went to using ALDC.

Clarify and carb high to maybe 2.7.

What else did I miss?

Cheers!

 

[mashpaddled]

I'd recommend going back in time to threads in the early 2010s discussing IPA techniques. That was the time when brewers were really getting away from the old crystal malt heavy recipes of yore and some of the newer hop varieties were popular but you can still find the classic C hops, too. Around 2013-2014 you see the recipes get real lean and favor pilsner malt over pale malt as you describe, but that seems sort of a short lived fad before haze wiped it all out.

Chico is almost obligatory for any west coast hoppy style.

 

[Brewsmith]

My only critique would be that the malt would not necessarily be pils malt. To my knowledge, most west coast recipes are mostly 2-Row pale malt of the US/Canadian varieties, but not necessarily Pilsner malt. There are a few that do use pils and Vienna malts, but I wouldn’t want new homebrewers to read this and assume they should use a German Pilsner malt as the go-to for a classic West Coast IPA.

 

[BeerAndTele]

Good replies above, and I’ll add that if you’re looking for a crisp, dry finish, consider mashing on the cool side, say 150F or maybe even less. I prefer to mash at 152F but I don’t think you’d want it to go up into the 154 and above range.

 

[brewbama]

High dry hop rates. 2-5 lbs/bbl.

Why use the term “bbl” (barrel)? Not many homebrewers brew 31 US gal.

BTW, is that a US BBL (31 gal) or UK (36 gal)?

Assuming US; 2-5 lb/bbl ≈ 32-80 oz/31 gal ≈ 1.03-2.58 oz per gal.

just simplify it and say 1-2.5 oz/gal (US). Homebrewers understand that.

 

[Steveruch]

Good replies above, and I’ll add that if you’re looking for a crisp, dry finish, considering mashing on the cool side, say 150F or maybe even less. I prefer to mash at 152F but I don’t think you’d want it to go up into the 154 and above range.

A 2 degree difference in mash temperature is barely noticeable. Mashing for a longer time makes a more fermentable wort.

 

[BeerAndTele]

A 2 degree difference in mash temperature is barely noticeable. Mashing for a longer time makes a more fermentable wort.

Yes, fair point on a 2 degree difference. But I do think there is a difference between "150 or less" and "154 and above". Cheers.

 

[oldschool]

My only critique would be that the malt would not necessarily be pils malt. To my knowledge, most west coast recipes are mostly 2-Row pale malt of the US/Canadian varieties, but not necessarily Pilsner malt. There are a few that do use pils and Vienna malts, but I wouldn’t want new homebrewers to read this and assume they should use a German Pilsner malt as the go-to for a classic West Coast IPA.

Edited in original post now. That said I know of a lot of pro brewers using pils in the modern IPAs. I assume mostly due to generalized paler color.

 

[oldschool]

Why use the term “bbl” (barrel)? Not many homebrewers brew 31 US gal.

BTW, is that a US BBL (31 gal) or UK (36 gal)?

Assuming US; 2-5 lb/bbl ≈ 32-80 oz/31 gal ≈ 1.03-2.58 oz per gal.

just simplify it and say 1-2.5 oz/gal (US). Homebrewers understand that.

Haha fair point. US Barrel. I just get a lot of feeback using that unit/rate.
Edited in original post.

 

[mrcastellino]

A couple thoughts…Im not familiar with mashing high to account for the desired fg due to hop creep. Typically, at least commercially, processes are such that hop creep is avoided to begin with. Therefore, one would mash low to get that much needed dryness for the style. Hopping for west coast ipas didn’t typically occur during fermentation. Yeast would be soft crashed and then dry hops added but these days the lines have been blurred so technically anything goes in the name of big hop aroma.

advanced hop products such as incognito, cryohops, etc. are very much great options but one would argue that they cant replace regular pellets in their entirety. Sensory evals seem to point to a blend or combination as being preferred.

 

[oldschool]

A couple thoughts…Im not familiar with mashing high to account for the desired fg due to hop creep. Typically, at least commercially, processes are such that hop creep is avoided to begin with. Therefore, one would mash low to get that much needed dryness for the style. Hopping for west coast ipas didn’t typically occur during fermentation. Yeast would be soft crashed and then dry hops added but these days the lines have been blurred so technically anything goes in the name of big hop aroma.

advanced hop products such as incognito, cryohops, etc. are very much great options but one would argue that they cant replace regular pellets in their entirety. Sensory evals seem to point to a blend or combination as being preferred.

I have also heard that some of the cryo and other hop products can't always replace T90s in terms of flavor and aroma.
But my question is why do you say that the commercial brewing process avoids hop creep?

 

[mrcastellino]

I have also heard that some of the cryo and other hop products can't always replace T90s in terms of flavor and aroma.
But my question is why do you say that the commercial brewing process avoids hop creep?

It's in a commercial brewery's best interest to minimize hop creep because its results in a longer dry hop time to have VDKs back within acceptable levels. If FVs are occupied longer it affects production schedules and therefore the bottom line. Hop Creep can take as long as 2 weeks to properly clear with some beers. Different breweries approach it with different strategies. Some try to minimize it while others may attempt to prevent it from occurring by soft crashing yeast and dry hopping cold with limited hop contact time. Point is it's a pain for commercial breweries as much as it is for homebrewers and therefore there has been a lot of focus as of late amongst different IPA focused breweries on how to effectively deal with it. For reference, here is an interesting slide deck put together on exploring different strategies related to hop creep. Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River talks about some other strategies to prevent/minimize hop creep which includes mashing low to limit dextrins in the beer that will be broken down by hop creep, removing dextrin malts from grain bill (carapills, carafoam, etc.) and then adjusting the water to grain ratio during the mash to compensate for lack of body. Check out the video here

 

[oldschool]

It's in a commercial brewery's best interest to minimize hop creep because its results in a longer dry hop time to have VDKs back within acceptable levels. If FVs are occupied longer it affects production schedules and therefore the bottom line. Hop Creep can take as long as 2 weeks to properly clear with some beers. Different breweries approach it with different strategies. Some try to minimize it while others may attempt to prevent it from occurring by soft crashing yeast and dry hopping cold with limited hop contact time. Point is it's a pain for commercial breweries as much as it is for homebrewers and therefore there has been a lot of focus as of late amongst different IPA focused breweries on how to effectively deal with it. For reference, here is an interesting slide deck put together on exploring different strategies related to hop creep. Vinnie Cilurzo from Russian River talks about some other strategies to prevent/minimize hop creep which includes mashing low to limit dextrins in the beer that will be broken down by hop creep, removing dextrin malts from grain bill (carapills, carafoam, etc.) and then adjusting the water to grain ratio during the mash to compensate for lack of body. Check out the video here

I get what you’re saying but means to mitigate this does just that. There is no way to avoid hop creep. All the breweries experience it even if it goes unnoticed.

 

[mrcastellino]

I get what you’re saying but means to mitigate this does just that. There is no way to avoid hop creep. All the breweries experience it even if it goes unnoticed.

If we are defining hop creep as a change in gravity post dry hop then its not accurate to say there is no way to avoid it. For example, its been well documented that crashing out yeast and dry hopping cool/cold goes a long way to prevent hop creep. Scott Janish discusses that in his ‘New IPA’ book and it has also been done successfully by many homebrewers, myself included. There are a lot of variables at play so I dont think there is one silver bullet but you can absolutely dry hop and not get hop creep every time.

 

[skibb]

Speaking as a commercial brewer and talking with others in the industry - we do what we can to avoid hop creep/jamming up fermenters for longer than we need to. For West Coast IPA, a lot of us are mashing low and trying to make the beer as fermentable as possible so when hop enzymes enter the game they have as minimal impact as possible. The only brewery I know that mashes hot is Alvarado St, and that is because they add hops at KO and get the full contact time with hop enzymes/yeast activity - the beer still ends up sub 2 plato

 

[Group W]

I like to keep the mash and ferm temp low. Chico yeast. WCIPA has changed over the years. If going old school, 4% c40 is okay. 50% of IBUs from bittering hops @ 60 with the remainder at 0, WP @ 165 and DH. I also like to start the mash with a 10 min protein rest at 135. RO with around 100-120 ppm Ca. So4/Cl ~ 3/1. C hops. Whirlflock. I disagree with dry hops early in fermentation on a WCIPA. Just once during fermentation closer to FG. Just a few thoughts. Cheers.

 

[skibb]

Here is a great overview of the style and how modern day West Coast is composed - definitely reflects lots of things said in this thread.

https://beerandbrewing.com/podcast-episode-286/

 

[mrcastellino]

Here is a great overview of the style and how modern day West Coast is composed - definitely reflects lots of things said in this thread.

https://beerandbrewing.com/podcast-episode-286/

Tons of great info in that podcast. Thanks for sharing @skibb !!!

 

[oldschool]

This was the best CB&B episodes in a while. I wish I could try the North Park or Green Cheek beer.

I noticed they didn’t go much into yeast and fermentation.

An interesting bit though was that they all talked about how the malt needs to stay out of the way (umm obviously) but then at least a couple of them said they blend pale base malts. I assume the blend is for flavor complexity (but then malt wouldn’t be getting out of the way) but I assume a good portion of the reasoning is due to price.

 

[dirty_martini]

This was the best CB&B episodes in a while. I wish I could try the North Park or Green Cheek beer.

I noticed they didn’t go much into yeast and fermentation.

An interesting bit though was that they all talked about how the malt needs to stay out of the way (umm obviously) but then at least a couple of them said they blend pale base malts. I assume the blend is for flavor complexity (but then malt wouldn’t be getting out of the way) but I assume a good portion of the reasoning is due to price.

Couple of things

Most of the west coast brewers I know are using US-05 dry yeast. I know that’s what GreenCheek states in all the recipes they give CB&B.

As for blending base malts, there’s lots of factors. Maybe they have a silo with a core base malt for other beers, but they blend something else for their west coasts. Different Pilsner malts can vary in fermentability. Multiple brewers have said Gambrinus Pils is a sure fire way to get bone dry as it’s super fermentable. Some just like plain 2 row for ease. It just depends on what you like.

 

[dirty_martini]

So here’s what I know from my brewer friends to make modern west coasts easy.

Malt: base malt only. Pils or 2-row. No Vienna or Munich. If you use any English malts like golden promise or Pearl, keep them to 10-15% (no maris…to strong a flavor). If you want to use wheat for head retention, keep it to 5%.

Yeast: us-05. You don’t need liquid yeast. Save money. Also, a Super industry secret…Even before cold IPAs became a thing, there are a bunch of breweries using dry 34/70 for their IPAs too. It’s ferments clean around 60-65 so one less house yeast to deal with). If they don’t tell you, there’s no wasted time arguing IPA vs IPL. Aim to ferment to 1.006-1.010. That means start lower too to hit your 6.5-7%abv.

Hops: any American, New Zealand, and Australian “IPA” hops work. The modern hops like citra and mosaic are punchier than old school hops like cascade or centennial. Equal amounts of modern hops will give you a bigger hop aroma than the same amount of old school. Old school hops work great as complexity hops around the newer bolder varietals. Many west coast brewers refer to citra, mosaic, and simcoe as the holy trinity, with strata being a newcomer to threaten the top 3. As for hopping rate, it’s generally bittering via hop extract, 1lb/bbl whirlpool (around 2.75oz for 5g), and a 3-5lb/bbl dry hop (about 7.75oz-13oz for 5g). Add dry hops towards the last couple points of fermentation. Fermentation will help scrub any oxygen, but it also gets any hop creep enzymes working right away to help mitigate doing multiple diacetyl tests.

Water profile: it’s not as heavily sulfate as it used to be when breweries were pushing 200-300ppg with no chloride at all. Because breweries are focusing on drying it out more (usually 1.006-1.010 whereas crystal heavy west coasts of the past were more in the 1.012-1.014 range), they added chloride to add back body and mouthfeel so the beer isn’t too thin. I’ve seen anywhere from 75-150ppg. With sulfate, I’ve seen a lot more in the 100-150ppg range. They want less of that aggressive resiny bitterness of the past, with more of a smoother almost lager-like bitterness that lets the dry hops shine and finishes clean. The extra chloride, and slightly less sulfate softens the bitterness so it doesn’t get in the way while maintaining the bitter definition. Also, without the Crystal malt to fight through, you can back down the bitterness a bit. 50-70IBUs should be fine, mostly from the bittering addition which you can calculate how much based on what IBUs your whirlpool addition will give you.

That’s much if what I’ve learned from my pro brewer friends in CA. The hoppy beers they are putting out are so aromatic, yet way more drinkable than the west coast of the past that use to wreck your palate.

 

[Group W]

So here’s what I know from my brewer friends to make modern west coasts easy.

Malt: base malt only. Pils or 2-row. No Vienna or Munich. If you use any English malts like golden promise or Pearl, keep them to 10-15% (no maris…to strong a flavor). If you want to use wheat for head retention, keep it to 5%.

Yeast: us-05. You don’t need liquid yeast. Save money. Also, a Super industry secret…Even before cold IPAs became a thing, there are a bunch of breweries using dry 34/70 for their IPAs too. It’s ferments clean around 60-65 so one less house yeast to deal with). If they don’t tell you, there’s no wasted time arguing IPA vs IPL. Aim to ferment to 1.006-1.010. That means start lower too to hit your 6.5-7%abv.

Hops: any American, New Zealand, and Australian “IPA” hops work. The modern hops like citra and mosaic are punchier than old school hops like cascade or centennial. Equal amounts of modern hops will give you a bigger hop aroma than the same amount of old school. Old school hops work great as complexity hops around the newer bolder varietals. Many west coast brewers refer to citra, mosaic, and simcoe as the holy trinity, with strata being a newcomer to threaten the top 3. As for hopping rate, it’s generally bittering via hop extract, 1lb/bbl whirlpool (around 2.75oz for 5g), and a 3-5lb/bbl dry hop (about 7.75oz-13oz for 5g). Add dry hops towards the last couple points of fermentation. Fermentation will help scrub any oxygen, but it also gets any hop creep enzymes working right away to help mitigate doing multiple diacetyl tests.

Water profile: it’s not as heavily sulfate as it used to be when breweries were pushing 200-300ppg with no chloride at all. Because breweries are focusing on drying it out more (usually 1.006-1.010 whereas crystal heavy west coasts of the past were more in the 1.012-1.014 range), they added chloride to add back body and mouthfeel so the beer isn’t too thin. I’ve seen anywhere from 75-150ppg. With sulfate, I’ve seen a lot more in the 100-150ppg range. They want less of that aggressive resiny bitterness of the past, with more of a smoother almost lager-like bitterness that lets the dry hops shine and finishes clean. The extra chloride, and slightly less sulfate softens the bitterness so it doesn’t get in the way while maintaining the bitter definition. Also, without the Crystal malt to fight through, you can back down the bitterness a bit. 50-70IBUs should be fine, mostly from the bittering addition which you can calculate how much based on what IBUs your whirlpool addition will give you.

That’s much if what I’ve learned from my pro brewer friends in CA. The hoppy beers they are putting out are so aromatic, yet way more drinkable than the west coast of the past that use to wreck your palate.

Good summary! Same for so many breweries in the PNW. Although the use of Pils is a more recent trend. I like your comments on hops. The C hops being more traditional but Strata is one of my favorites.