American IPA The New West Coast IPA

[ihavenonickname]

@Dgallo - thank you for help and advice earlier. Followed it and my cold IPA won our clubs July IPA challenge. One experienced judge told me it was clearly the best IPA there. Only 8 entries, but still. This was my first time doing a few things, including closed transfers and using biofine. Recipe and writeup below.

“Thanks everyone for participating in the IPA contest. Here are the results:

1. Cold IPA brewed by Bill W
2. American IPA brewed by Bob M
3. SMASH IPA brewed by John D tied with Hazy IPA brewed by Pat L”

View attachment 880815

I wanted to brew Cold IPA for this because its the antithesis of Hazy IPA. Its creation is largely credited to Kevin Davey of Wayfinder Brewing in Portland, Oregon, Though its not an “official” BJCP style, he says he is a GABF judge, and he wrote his own style guideline. Here’s the guideline from their website.

https://www.wayfinder.beer/cold-ipa

Here’s an interview with Kevin where he talk s about it, hosted by Northern Brewer:



Key points:
- Adjunct grain bill - pilsner + 20% - 40% corn or rice + 10% sugar in boil (I used 20% Minute Rice)
- Aim for light color, no crystal or character malts
- Mash low for attenuation
- All hops late, they say put all in the whirlpool. I used Citra, Centennial, and Mosaic mixed and did 15 then 5, then dry hop.
- Shoot for 1:1 BU:GU with all late hop additions. Should not be as aggressively bitter as West Coast IPA..
- Dry hop at high krausen - I waited til it dropped 10-15 points. There *might* be some biotransformation, (not sure if 34/70 does that?) but I think the point of this is really to minimize
oxygen uptake.
- Ferment with lager yeast warm OR with ale yeast cold (We’ve done previous presentations on using 34/70 warm)
- Use Biofine, gelatin, or other fining. Its supposed to be clear - opposite of a hazy

I brewed 3 gallons in a 5 gallon Cornelius keg and did closed transfers.

I spent alot of time reading and researching it. This was the first time I brewed it. Its the first time I ever brewed any beer with rice, first time using Minute Rice. This is the first time I fermented in a keg and the first time I did closed transfers. My 5 gallon keg I ferment in has the bottom inch and a half cut off the dip tube. The keg I closed transferred to has a floating dip tube and I went in through that.

Really different from anything I brewed before. It’s not IPL because it’s not lagered and the use of adjuncts. It’s not really a west coast IPA, as there is no crystal malt and the hops don’t have to be the C hops. Though people say it is a variation off a West Coast IPA.

I converted my recipe to 5 gallons:

Cold IPA
Date: 6/12/25

Size: 5.0 gal

Targets:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Terminal Gravity: 1.010
Color: 3.02 SRM
Alcohol: 6.69%
Bitterness: 61.2

Ingredients:
5.75 lb (50.5%) Pilsner Malt - (I have Montana High Country Pils)
1 lb (8.8%) Breiss Distillers Malt - (I decided to add this for some extra enzymes with these adjuncts)
6 oz (3.3%) Cara-Pils® Malt - (I like Carapils for foam and head retention)
2.25 lb (19.8%) Minute Rice - (pre-gelatinized, add straight to the mash)
.75 lb (6.6%) Rice Hulls -(Sparge aid for 2.25 lbs of rice - YMMV)

1.25 lb (11.0%) Corn Sugar - boiled 60 m - you could also add this late

.75 oz Citra (13.2%) - 15 m
.75 oz Mosaic® (13.2%) - 15 m
.75 oz Centennial (10.4%) - 15 m

.75 oz Citra (13.2%) - 5 m
.75 oz Mosaic® (13.2%) - 5 m
.75 oz Centennial (10.4%) - 5 m

1 ea Fermentis W-34/70 Saflager W-34/70

.75 oz Citra (13.2%) - dry hop at high krausen
.75 oz Mosaic® (13.2%) - dry hop at high krausen
.75 oz Centennial (10.4%) - dry hop at high krausen

Notes

Mash at 149 degrees

Predicted Ph: 5.38

Calcium Magnesium Sodium Chloride Sulfate Ratio
91 10 24 60 179 .33

34/70 at basement temp

I hit gravity a little high at 1.066 and decided to go with it. Yeast went down to 1.004, I guess because of the adjuncts - rice + 10% corn sugar. And I used Distiller’s malt for extra enzymes, plus I mashed low per the instructions. You want this beer to attenuate well. This beer fermented quickly, 1.066 on 6/12, 1.004 on 6/15. So this is actually a little over 8%.

That’s a great sounding double! Did it have enough bitterness? All your details sound great and I like how dry it got, just the abv makes me think more IBUs would help balance. Never seen a double cold ipa, but it makes sense similar to how many doubles use dextrose.

 

[bwible]

That’s a great sounding double! Did it have enough bitterness? All your details sound great and I like how dry it got, just the abv makes me think more IBUs would help balance. Never seen a double cold ipa, but it makes sense similar to how many doubles use dextrose.

I like and it won by a club vote. Everybody tasted them and had 5 marbles to vote with.

I didn’t intend for it to be 8%. Just how it happened. Minute Rice works beautifully, first time I used it and I didn’t know what to expect. Like I said I think I went overboard looking for the enzymes but got away with it. Kevin says in the video he thinks 7% is about the sweet spot. The alcohol adds some sweetness and he thought it was not as good when it was less than that. The video is worth watching.

 

[duelerx]

I like and it won by a club vote. Everybody tasted them and had 5 marbles to vote with.

I didn’t intend for it to be 8%. Just how it happened. Minute Rice works beautifully, first time I used it and I didn’t know what to expect. Like I said I think I went overboard looking for the enzymes but got away with it. Kevin says in the video he thinks 7% is about the sweet spot. The alcohol adds some sweetness and he thought it was not as good when it was less than that. The video is worth watching.

I like the idea of using distiller malt, I can source some CMB Bourbon Malt, this will be handy for my next Cold IPA

 

[bwible]

I like the idea of using distiller malt, I can source some CMB Bourbon Malt, this will be handy for my next Cold IPA

I had been looking at the different enzymes like ultraferm, clarity ferm, etc. Read people’s experiences on here. I never distilled alcohol but its been an armchair interest, something I would like to do one time just to be able to say I did it. Make a small batch of bourbon. Bourbon is a large % of corn, many mash bills are 80% corn or more. So I was aware they use distillers malt. This is the first time I used that, I took a guess at how much to use. People use 6 row in some recipes when they want a little more power. So it makes sense. And I figure its more controllable too than something like ultraferm by the amount you use. I’m thinking of trying some in a pre-pro lager next time.

Maybe one of our resident science guys can weigh in on distiller’s malt, whats a good amount to use with different adjuncts, and the best way to use it brewing beer instead of in a bourbon mash. I’m no expert, its something I just wanted to try.

 

[FringeDweller]

Our next HBC Contest is Double or Triple IPA. Asking for the best hop combo and ratio.

Available Hops:
Citra
Nelson
Mosaic
Strada
Riwaka
Cashmere
Galaxy
Bru-1

I was thinking I'd brew two and see which one is the best. Right now I'm thinking Nelson and Riwaka with possibly 3.5oz of Nectron
Other option a Ghost Town Nose Goblin clone: Mosaic, Nelson and Strada

 

[Dgallo]

Our next HBC Contest is Double or Triple IPA. Asking for the best hop combo and ratio.

Available Hops:
Citra
Nelson
Mosaic
Strada
Riwaka
Cashmere
Galaxy
Bru-1

I was thinking I'd brew two and see which one is the best. Right now I'm thinking Nelson and Riwaka with possibly 3.5oz of Nectron
Other option a Ghost Town Nose Goblin clone: Mosaic, Nelson and Strada

Citra, strata nelson

Citra, Nelson, galaxy if your galaxy is good

Citra/strata hotside 1:1 and then dryhop 1:1:1

Citra hotside, then 2:2:1 for the second

 

[Dgallo]

Our next HBC Contest is Double or Triple IPA. Asking for the best hop combo and ratio.

Available Hops:
Citra
Nelson
Mosaic
Strada
Riwaka
Cashmere
Galaxy
Bru-1

I was thinking I'd brew two and see which one is the best. Right now I'm thinking Nelson and Riwaka with possibly 3.5oz of Nectron
Other option a Ghost Town Nose Goblin clone: Mosaic, Nelson and Strada

I just realized this was the west coast thread not the hazy. Mosiac can be added or subbed to any of the combos above. Mosiac work great in a west coast. I love the flavor it carries when used hotside too

 

[ihavenonickname]

Our next HBC Contest is Double or Triple IPA. Asking for the best hop combo and ratio.

Available Hops:
Citra
Nelson
Mosaic
Strada
Riwaka
Cashmere
Galaxy
Bru-1

I was thinking I'd brew two and see which one is the best. Right now I'm thinking Nelson and Riwaka with possibly 3.5oz of Nectron
Other option a Ghost Town Nose Goblin clone: Mosaic, Nelson and Strada

Highly recommend my recipe on this page above with mosaic Nelson strata the recipe comes straight from Justin at ghost town. For a double, Nose goblin is the same hops but used differently and that recipe is on the CB&B website. It’s really similar to mine but more IBUS, all pils and dextrose for higher OG. It also finishes insanely low (1.003 I think) Definitely worth making something like that - it’s a world class beer.

Edit details.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I guess this is relevant here, and I don't think I've seen mention of it, perhaps because it only really applies to commercial brewers these days. Having identified a yeast gene responsible for haze, Omega are now selling "gene-edited" versions of their LA3, Voss and Chico equivalents with the haze gene knocked out under the branding of Lumina. Doesn't completely kill haze, but can reduce it by 90%
https://omegayeast.com/lumina-technology

All-barley grist with 2lb/bbl Citra dry hop with the edited (left) and regular versions of British Ale V (~London Ale III) :

 

[Bassman2003]

Very interesting. Omega is really innovating.

 

[jordanfrenzy]

I guess this is relevant here, and I don't think I've seen mention of it, perhaps because it only really applies to commercial brewers these days. Having identified a yeast gene responsible for haze, Omega are now selling "gene-edited" versions of their LA3, Voss and Chico equivalents with the haze gene knocked out under the branding of Lumina. Doesn't completely kill haze, but can reduce it by 90%
https://omegayeast.com/lumina-technology

View attachment 882141
All-barley grist with 2lb/bbl Citra dry hop with the edited (left) and regular versions of British Ale V (~London Ale III) :


View attachment 882142

Been waiting on an Omega Daybreak V homebrew pitch for ages. Dunno if it's even in the plans or not. Guess I should start calling breweries to try and find some.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Been waiting on an Omega Daybreak V homebrew pitch for ages. Dunno if it's even in the plans or not.

They stopped selling their gene-edited strains in homebrew form a while back, as a way to try and control where they end up. They made noises at the time about it being to protect their IP, but I suspect at least some of it was their lawyers getting uncomfortable at how homebrew packs branded with Omega were ending up in countries where gene edited products are still illegal.

So retail packs of Daybreak ain't going to happen in the near future.

 

[jordanfrenzy]

They stopped selling their gene-edited strains in homebrew form a while back, as a way to try and control where they end up. They made noises at the time about it being to protect their IP, but I suspect at least some of it was their lawyers getting uncomfortable at how homebrew packs branded with Omega were ending up in countries where gene edited products are still illegal.

So retail packs of Daybreak ain't going to happen in the near future.

I missed that. That explains why they've disappeared from homebrew stores around here.

 

[DrGMG]

Citra, Galaxy, Strata, for a club competition. 8.1% ABV