Merge three styles

[NorwegianAle]

Hey. I read an interesting recipe in a brewing book by George Hummel. He talked about combining elements of three styles - IPA, Wheatbeer and pilsner. The grainbill of a wheatbeer, OG and hoppyness of an IPA and the bitterness of a pilsner- preferably also fermented as cold as one can with an ale yeast. Thinking about using us05 as this gives a relatively clean taste and good fermentation. Anyone heard of and/or done this before??

 

[whatsleftofyou]

So...a wheat IPA? I don't see where the pilsner comes in, as IPAs are more bitter.

I've done something similar to this in that I made an IPA using all Hallertau, so it was a "German IPA". Add some wheat to the grain bill and you should be good to go.

 

[NorwegianAle]

He did not argue in detail as to why it in any case resembles a pilsner. Just briefly mentioned this as a "style" invented by modern microbrewers. I think the reason for his mentioning of the pilsner style was the choise of noble hops, preferably saaz, and probably as i mentioned a low fermentation temp that a traditional ipa or especially wheat beer do not have... but these are only speculations on my behalf. I do not know exactly where, how and why he came up with this recipe. So your IPA tasted alright?

 

[whatsleftofyou]

Ah, OK. You didn't mention the hop choice, which is what I was getting at. I've made it three times, slightly different each time. One was an English IPA hybrid, one was an American IPA hybrid, and another a 100IBU American IPA hybrid. I made them at least a year apart so I couldn't tell you which was my favorite, but I did enjoy all three. I can't say how well it'd work with a different noble hop, but using a ton of Hallertau was surprisingly pleasant.

As for the fermentation temp, I can't imagine that you'd get much appreciable character by fermenting S-05 cold.

 

[Yooper]

I would reconsider S05 cold as a good choice. It's annoyingly "peachy" at under about 64 degrees. I'd go with something like nottingham at 59 or 60 for a lager-like crispness, or with WLP001 at 64 degrees for a still neutral but not lager-like feeling.

 

[NorwegianAle]

I, ve successfully used us05 in other beers at around 58-59F, and they turned out great. Thought i could go a bit further to harvest the experience. As for the recipe/ingredients, i have a s.load of hallertau that i think will be my choice. Other thoughts aswell as the ones already posted are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I'll share the recipe from the last time I brewed this, so you can reference it:

6 gallons
49IBU
OG: 1.058
72% efficiency

10lb (76.9%) Pilsner malt
2lb (15.4%) Munich malt
1lb (7.7%) Carapils
4oz (44IBU) Hallertau @ 60 min
1oz (5IBU) Hallertau @ 15 min
1oz Hallertau @ 0 min
90 min boil
1 packet US-05