Need help with a WW2 IPA series

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plustroy63

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So I am thinking about doing a WW2 themed Ipa series. I want to do an IPA representing each of the major countries involved in WW2. So I thought I would do an American IPA and call it the Garand. I will do a British IPA and call it the Enfield. Still undecided on doing an Italian IPA but...

I have a recipe for a German IPA using pilsner malt, german hops and kolsch yeast called the k98. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/k98-german-ipa

My Japanese themed IPA called the Arisaka will be include some rice in the mash, sorachi ace hops and an addition of green tea in the boil. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/arisaka-japanese-iipa

Where I am having trouble is the Russians. The closest hop additions I can get are Slovenia or Poland which seem much more German than Russian. I could go against theme and do a RIS but I don't really want to just yet. I can't really find a starting off point with this recipe i.e. a Russian grain bill or hops or specific yeast and build the recipe around it. The closest I have is the idea that I could use a lager yeast in place of an ale like a Baltic porter does. Or maybe do a less roasty RIS with some very west coast hops that people associate with IPAs but then that just seems like a CDA or black IPA and not very Russian.

So I am looking for any advice on the German and Japanese IPA and also looking for ideas on how to make an IPA Russian since most my searching just keeps telling me that they drink a lot of pale lagers.
 
What about adding the "Russian" aspect by altering different elements than the hops. You could use a small amount of beet juice to create a red color and (you wouldn't have to use so much that it created a noticeable flavor, and you'd be using a very Russian ingredient!). You could give it a higher alcohol content to create a "cold weather" feel to the drink. These are just ideas. But again, maybe toying with these kinds of elements could achieve the effect you want.

Also, as a side note, Cascade hops came from an open seed collection of UK Fuggles, "a Russian Serebrianker hop," and an unidentified male hop (the actual identity of the Russian hop is also a mystery). So, while being decidedly American in character, Cascade actually has a Russian heritage.
 
Those are some very good ideas and some great info Jordan. I could do something like a red ipa by adding some beet juice. red army IIPA? maybe aim for the maltier side and a higher abv (not by adding vodka, though it is very Russian).
 
Good luck! I hope it turns out as a good series!

Also, I say definitely go for the Italian one, too. You can never have enough beer, right? You could do an herbal IPA with some basil thrown in there, or something like that! :D
 
How about Rye. Certainly a Russian ingredient and we all know it works well in an IPA.

If you want to get crazy you could add flaked potato as well for a play on Vodka.

Hops wise the Polish Lublin or Czech hops might be the closest you can get.

Beet juice will help for Red, but look at the new Red X Malt from Best Malz to help.

Great idea and post your progress.


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Feurhund said:
How about Rye. Certainly a Russian ingredient and we all know it works well in an IPA.

If you want to get crazy you could add flaked potato as well for a play on Vodka.

Hops wise the Polish Lublin or Czech hops might be the closest you can get.

Beet juice will help for Red, but look at the new Red X Malt from Best Malz to help.

Great idea and post your progress.


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Click to expand...

+1 on the rye.

Feurhund, I considered using Red X for one of my own brews recently, but was unable to find it for sale from any of my go-to U.S. retailers. Can you recommend anywhere that I (and OP) could get my hands on some to try it out?
 
Thanks! I've never shopped with them before, and when I was looking for a place to buy this malt, their name didn't come up (or I missed it). But sure enough, I pulled up their website just now and there it is! Thanks for the info!
 
wow I really appreciate all the suggestions they are some good ones. I am working on a recipe for a red rye IPA now that I will add some beet juice to. Gonna use some cascade, saaz, lublin, and styrian goldings in it. probably just use a clean ale yeast 05 or maybe 04. we will see what looks good in this.
 
plustroy63 said:
Here is my Enfield english IPA as well. I did a tricerahops IPA clone it ESb yeast and it was great so I chose to do the same with this.

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/enfield-english-ipa
Click to expand...

If you're trying for a WWII theme why not use the hop varieties that were around at the time Fuggles and Goldings, I think the ones you have are all a result of post war breeding. Just a thought, easier than getting an authentic malt from the period.
 
well I really like the idea of doing a more traditional English IPA as far as hops go but I really want to try Admiral and challenger hops and from what I have read from their flavor profiles should go well with the Maris otter to make a nice toast and jam kind of flavor combo. I like English IPAs though and a more traditional one may not be soon behind.
As far as the Russian IPA goes here is my working recipe for now though it seems a bit complicated. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/mosin-russian-ipa . I am not sure of the diastic power of the red x malt though they say I can use it by itself. so to be sure and to get some bready back bone I also included some Maris otter. what do you guys think of the grain bill? the other thought I had for this beer is that I could possibly mash some Russian rye bread like they do with kvass.
the potato idea is very tempting but then I think I would have to sub in some 6 row to get conversion on this mash. I am tempted to make some other potato beers now though.
 
Back on the Russian IPA of yours. Consider geography. I'm pretty sure the Russians were in or around czechoslovakia. Maybe there's a hop there.
 
Yeah I am going to use some Slovenian goldings, some Czech saaz, and some Polish lublin to cover all of the east of Germany hops growers. some cascades because that is apparently where they originate from and some warrior since it is a clean bittering hop and I have some in the freezer.
 
I took a look at the recipe. Lots of hops! (In a good way) I think there's plenty of malt to back it up, too. Might I suggest, since this is a partial mash, that you add all the extract at the end of the boil (15 min or so)...that way you'll have a better shot at getting a really good red color from your grain bill, rather than having it turn brown in the kettle because of too much concentrated sugar.
 
Good suggestion Jordan. That is what I usually do when I am limited by my 5 gal mash tun and have to end up using a fair amount of extract because I like my beers big. Nelson is a good idea on the Italian IPA. Adding grapes/ wine to beer seems to be very popular these days so that is an avenue worth exploring. A little red wine in an IPA might not be so bad. Or maybe I could age an Italian IPA on some oak chips soaked in wine. I did see some Ethiopian hop powder in someones catalog not too long ago and since the Italians attempted to invade and got their butts whooped by the Ethiopians that might be relevant.
 
I also just noticed on your Russian that you have 1/2 gallon of beet juice. I stand by that suggestion, but 1/2 gallon is a lot in a 5.5 gallon batch, so I would recommend adding it little by little until you get a color that is just a shade or two lighter than what you are after (in my experience, those Maillard reactions continue all the way through primary fermentation, which will darken it a bit). Beet juice acts as a VERY intense dye, and you probably won't need that much of it (esp. if that Red X works as advertised!).

Also, the idea for Nelson in the Italian is very clever. I wonder what the polenta would be like!
 
Is the Ethiopian hop powder you saw made from gesho? That's what is used in tej (sort of an Ethiopian mead-like drink) and it's got a really awesome flavor.
 
Thanks for telling me about the beet juice. I really had no clue how much to use and kinda of through .5 a gallon out there as an arbitrary number thought it would top up some of my lost volume from the boil. I tend to boil more off than I think. I will start with a small amount like you said and work on it till I get the right color maybe .5 cup at a time.
And yes that gesho powder. I was reading about how they use it. SO maybe for an Italian IPA I could do a black IPA since Mussolini lead the blackshirts and use some gesho and nelson then perhaps age on some wine soaked oak chips. Or does that just sound busy and awful?
 
To be honest, I think it sounds great as long as you approach the "black" part of the IPA as a color thing only. I think that astringent dark flavors wouldn't complement the other combination of things well. Maybe try some debittered black malt, just to get some color in there?

My only other thought is that nelson sauvin hops have a taste more akin to white wine than red (hence "sauvin"), and you might take that into consideration when choosing the wine to soak your oak chips in. I think that this could turn out very interesting. (And since it's part of a series, that's what you want -- character! Not just several generic IPAs with slightly different hop choices.)
 
Yeah If I go black with the Italian IPA I will probably cold steep some carafa 3 debittered and maybe add just a touch of midnight wheat to the mash. That should help avoid the roasty astringent flavors pretty well.
I will have to see how the beer turns out and then taste some wines and see what pairs up well. Tough job but somebody has to drink the beer and wine;) I think a black beer that taste like white wine will blow some minds to say the least.
 
plustroy63 said:
Tough job but somebody has to drink the beer and wine;) I think a black beer that taste like white wine will blow some minds to say the least.
Click to expand...

Tough job indeed :drunk: And yeah, I think a beer that looks like a stout but tastes like oaked white wine and gesho might turn some heads!
 
There is a thread where a guy used cooked pasta in the mash and it worked like any other adjunct to thin the beer and add gravity.

Italian anyone?


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Feurhund said:
There is a thread where a guy used cooked pasta in the mash and it worked like any other adjunct to thin the beer and add gravity.

Italian anyone?
Click to expand...

I saw that too. What an interesting idea! I think he said it performed similarly to using raw wheat. I actually haven't used raw wheat before, so I don't know quite what he means, but if anyone else has used it, maybe they can describe what it did so we could estimate what the pasta would do... :mug:
 
Polenta is basically corn meal, I'm thinking it would be like using the same equivalent of flaked maize if you didn't want to go the pasta route.
 
well here is a work-in-progress Italian IPA http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/carcano-italian-ipa
I will be cold steeping the carafa 3 to extract color. I figured that Citra might pair well with the nelson to give it a little more of a distinct pleasant flavor that people will not expect. Since I really want to push the white wine and fruity flavor I will probably only use a touch of the Gesho kitel powder to kind of even out the aroma. I really am not sure on the grain bill yet we will see what happens with it.
I am pretty sure I am gonna brew the K98 German IPA next week and will report back on it
 
I think you're missing a few countries.

France, although I can see leaving them out (Strisselspalt and French Ale yeast)
Canada, where barley comes from (Bramling Cross and Unibroue yeast)
Australia (Any Aussie hop with Cooper's Ale yeast)
 
I hadn't considered Canada yet. They were using what the ross rifle and the enfield then? I have been considering the French IPA but have nothing on paper I thought I might use strisslespalt amd aramis hops and maybe saison yeast and brew it in a few months when stuff warms up a bit. I am not sure how many countries I am gonna include I mean I could also do an aussie and maybe a finnish style IPA think sahti IPA...and of course there is the Belgians so I could do a tripple IPA. But I may stick with the beers at hand since I usually brew every two weeks or so and if I do a 10 beer series I will hardly remember the one I started with and with these hoppy beers they will be better fresh. but who knows. Right now I seem to alternate an IPA to a non IPA brew since that is what I like to drink the most.
 
I'm pretty sure that the Molotov Cocktail is the Finnish IPA. The Canadians and Australians both committed over 1 million soldiers to the effort. I suppose the French, Belgians and Dutch certainly had their share of soldiers involved, but given that they all were out of the war in less time than it would take for your beer to be ready, it would be a little like Saturday Night Live's 48-volume Time/Life history of the Granada invasion.
 
I brewed mt k98 German IPA yesterday the final recipe here http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/k98-german-ipa
Had to make a few substituions at the brew store. Everything went well, hit 1.072 going into the fermentor but topped up with some cold bottled water to help cool it and took it down to roughly 1.069. Pitched this on to a slurry from my kolsch I just brewed. Started going quick and is very active now. Trying to keep it cool since it wants to be 72 or more so I got it in some water now.
7ae2.jpg
 
Since the US of A supplied most of our allies by way of the Lend Lease program in WWII you could get by with all US ingredients.
 

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