oldschool
Well-Known Member
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!
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!
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