West Coast IPA best ABV

[Alf34]

Hello brewers

It's pretty obvious that the best IPAS in the market tend to have a rather high ABV, usually 6.5% or more. Any idea why is that? Are they just more complex and more flavourful?

I'm planning my next brew, a west coast IPA with Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial, and I was wondering what ABV should I aim for. I am generally not a fan of high ABV beers, but I also want to try to make the most aromatic and flavorful West Coast IPA as possible considering all factors, including alcohol. I would love to read your thoughts on the subject.

 

[HM-2]

Mid 6% range is where I target for most of my Westies. Between 6.2% and 6.8%.

Basically the only thing that distinguishes a West Coast IPA from a West Coast Pale Ale is the elevated ABV.

 

[redrocker652002]

Most of my beers, whether they be IPA or Pale ales clock in at 6% or more. I have not hit anything in the 7% range that I can remember. I don't have much to contribute as to why, but I am guessing the grain bill and overall recipe contributes to it. Anything over 6 and when it gets into the 7% range they start to get a bit too strong.

 

[fluketamer]

IMO

traditionally india pale ales. are higher . they had to be to survive the long distance transport to india without spoilage. lots of hops were added to preserve and balance all the malt that was needed to get to that higher abv. i think hops are antiodidants (which would make sense since they get oxidized.) which with oxidation and higher abv prevents bacterial contamination.


so to balance all the hops that they are trying to pack into the commercial IPAS today ( which lately i have had a problem obtaining fresh), the abvs are very high(7%) . sometimes ridiculously high like barley wine territory (10%)

i have recently started down a session PA route.

4-5 percent 6 at most with at least 8 oz of hops either wcpa or pilsners. cali or bry for the ales and 34/70 for the pilsners .

this makes a nice sessional super hoppy ( hopefully citrusy) west coast - for me at least.

commercially for crushable hoppy beers, founders all day is sometimes good if you can get it kept cold. 20 years ago when sam adams started to get popular there lager had a lot of hop flavor and a lot of the NE beers did. (like harpoon for example) that changed IMO.

my sessional ales can sometimes get a little too hoppy for the abv especially over 9 ounces, so you have to strike a balance of what suits your tastes,

IMO these are all prolly very fine difference that most non homebrewers wouldnt really notice .

i would aim for 4- 5 percent you should aim for what you want to drink then go from there . thats the beauty of homebrewing you descide.


btw simcoe amarillo centennnial

 

[Tony B]

I have one fermenting now that should finish around 5.8. I keep most of my beers under 6. I think the ideal abv is whatever you want it to be.

 

[day_trippr]

Coincidentally I've ventured down the same path recently and just put the first fruit of that effort on tap, a lighter version of my Juicy Bits DIPA clone. I was aiming for 4.8% ABV but it came in at 5.1% - because my BeerSmith BHE was still set for the big daddy recipe. NBD, it's still a third lower ABV than usual, still tastes great, and has enough mouthfeel to handle the hops.

I'm going to do the same to the HBT Julius clone next...

Cheers!

 

[worlddivides]

4% to 5% here. In the first 5 or so years that I brewed, I typically did IPAs from 5.5% to 7%, double IPAs from 7% to 9%, and triple IPAs from 9% to 11% with most of the IPAs I made being in the 6% to 8% range. Nowadays, I rarely ever make an IPA that's stronger than 5%. I feel like around 4.0% or 4.5% is where I really like them.

 

[bike2brew]

IMO

traditionally india pale ales. are higher . they had to be to survive the long distance transport to india without spoilage. lots of hops were added to preserve and balance all the malt that was needed to get to that higher abv. i think hops are antiodidants (which would make sense since they get oxidized.) which with oxidation and higher abv prevents bacterial contamination.


so to balance all the hops that they are trying to pack into the commercial IPAS today ( which lately i have had a problem obtaining fresh), the abvs are very high(7%) . sometimes ridiculously high like barley wine territory (10%)

i have recently started down a session PA route.

4-5 percent 6 at most with at least 8 oz of hops either wcpa or pilsners. cali or bry for the ales and 34/70 for the pilsners .

this makes a nice sessional super hoppy ( hopefully citrusy) west coast - for me at least.

commercially for crushable hoppy beers, founders all day is sometimes good if you can get it kept cold. 20 years ago when sam adams started to get popular there lager had a lot of hop flavor and a lot of the NE beers did. (like harpoon for example) that changed IMO.

my sessional ales can sometimes get a little too hoppy for the abv especially over 9 ounces, so you have to strike a balance of what suits your tastes,

IMO these are all prolly very fine difference that most non homebrewers wouldnt really notice .

i would aim for 4- 5 percent you should aim for what you want to drink then go from there . thats the beauty of homebrewing you descide.


btw simcoe amarillo centennnial

What are you targeting for IBUs @ 8oz of hops? Lately I've hopped @ 60, 30 min and whirlpool w/ dry hop around bottling time.

 

[fluketamer]

IMO
i have come to learn there is a difference between ibus and "percieved bitterness" .

so for many many years i would target 30- 40 ish ibus on brewersfriend. for almost everything i brewed except american or mexican lagers. which i would sometimes go as low as 18 ibus. i would always bitter with an ounce of hops at 60 mins. i was raised this way. i would just change the hops based on aa to get to where i want. plus or minus a 5 or 10 min flavoring hop ususally .5 to 1 oz.

then i brewed morebeers citra session which had a .5 oz magnum bittering charge with an ounce of aroma hops at 10 mins and 2 ounces at FO then an ounce dry hopped.

so now i just bitter with a small .5 oz bittering charge ( i have used magnum, chinook, perle , and saaz) and get most of what i have read is called "percieved bitterness" from large amounts of hops at the 5 to 0 min mark. and after.

so for example the one i got now which is so good had .5 oz of perle at 60 . then and ounce of citra at 10 and ounce of mosaic at 5 and at FO i added 2 of citra and 1 of mosaic.

then i dry hopped it with an ounce of citra mosaic and galaxy. its i think 8.5 oz total. in breewers friend the ibus was i think around high 2o's, but its very well balanced for me.

so now i just use a small .5 oz bittering charge with a large amoutn of hops(1/4 to half pound) after 10 mins. this makes it plenty bitter for me. sometimes the hops can taste a little sweet tho and i am still working out the perfect shcedule.
it is true that its harder to guage the ibus this way then traditional bittering additions. whirpool was even harder for me to reproduce decently

i would try moving any bittering hops at 45 30 or 20 to 10 or less it was reccomended here and it seems to give me more benefit flavorwise then bitteringwise.


ymmv

 

[TLaffey]

Hello brewers

It's pretty obvious that the best IPAS in the market tend to have a rather high ABV, usually 6.5% or more. Any idea why is that? Are they just more complex and more flavourful?

I'm planning my next brew, a west coast IPA with Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial, and I was wondering what ABV should I aim for. I am generally not a fan of high ABV beers, but I also want to try to make the most aromatic and flavorful West Coast IPA as possible considering all factors, including alcohol. I would love to read your thoughts on the subject.

Seems many of us want to reduce the ABV of our WC IPAs. My attempts have been disappointing--I can't get the combination of flavor and aroma with ABV below, say, 6.5-7.0%. Alcohol is a solvent. I'm coming to the conclusion that high levels of hops flavor requires a certain amount of alcohol to get the flavors (i.e. hop oils) into the beer, especially at DH.

 

[mac_1103]

There is no "best ABV." If I was one of those crazy people with a 12-tap keezer, I'd make sure to always have a 4.5% session IPA and a standard 7% WCIPA and a 9% DIPA and a 12% imperial in there. Having said that, since my daughter moved to San Diego I have come to believe that this is just about the perfect beer. Simple grain bill; 7% ABV; 70 IBU.

 

[bike2brew]

IMO
i have come to learn there is a difference between ibus and "percieved bitterness" .

so for many many years i would target 30- 40 ish ibus on brewersfriend. for almost everything i brewed except american or mexican lagers. which i would sometimes go as low as 18 ibus. i would always bitter with an ounce of hops at 60 mins. i was raised this way. i would just change the hops based on aa to get to where i want. plus or minus a 5 or 10 min flavoring hop ususally .5 to 1 oz.

then i brewed morebeers citra session which had a .5 oz magnum bittering charge with an ounce of aroma hops at 10 mins and 2 ounces at FO then an ounce dry hopped.

so now i just bitter with a small .5 oz bittering charge ( i have used magnum, chinook, perle , and saaz) and get most of what i have read is called "percieved bitterness" from large amounts of hops at the 5 to 0 min mark. and after.

so for example the one i got now which is so good had .5 oz of perle at 60 . then and ounce of citra at 10 and ounce of mosaic at 5 and at FO i added 2 of citra and 1 of mosaic.

then i dry hopped it with an ounce of citra mosaic and galaxy. its i think 8.5 oz total. in breewers friend the ibus was i think around high 2o's, but its very well balanced for me.

so now i just use a small .5 oz bittering charge with a large amoutn of hops(1/4 to half pound) after 10 mins. this makes it plenty bitter for me. sometimes the hops can taste a little sweet tho and i am still working out the perfect shcedule.
it is true that its harder to guage the ibus this way then traditional bittering additions. whirpool was even harder for me to reproduce decently

i would try moving any bittering hops at 45 30 or 20 to 10 or less it was reccomended here and it seems to give me more benefit flavorwise then bitteringwise.


ymmv

Good point. I was just revisiting an ipa i brewed last year and had to look up the notes to see my hop additions were 60, 10, and dry. The perceived hop bitterness was substantial without much puckering. Probably a good idea to review what works periodically.