Specialty IPA: Belgian IPA Texan Punk Monk

[EtchyLives]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

WLP 510 Bastogne Belgian Ale

Yeast Starter

Yes, 1.8L

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

No

Batch Size (Gallons)

5.5 gal

Original Gravity

1.062

Final Gravity

1.011 (1.009)

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

64 IBU

Color

6.6 SRM

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days @ 66°F

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7 days @72°F

Tasting Notes

Similar to Sierra Nevada\\'s Tropical IPA, light body, crisp, tropical hop aroma

This was originally posted by Brew Dog as part of their tranche of recipes they released in 2016. Due to a lack of Ahtanum hops at my LHBS I subbed out for Amarillo. It worked really well.

Malt:
12 Lbs Pale Malt (L.D. Carlson German Pale Ale Malt in my case)

Hops:
0.62 Amarillo @ 60min
0.50 Chinook @ 60min
0.62 Amarillo @ 15min
0.62 Crystal @ 15min
0.62 Chinook @ 15 min
1.0 Chinook Whirlpool
0.62 Crystal Whirlpool
0.62 Motueka Whirlpool
1.00 Chinook Dry Hop

WLP 510 - Bastogne Belgian Ale Yeast w/ 1.8L Starter

I mashed for 60 minutes @ 150°F, boiled normally. I only whirlpooled for about 5 minutes using my trusting mash paddle.

I fermented at 66°F for 7 days, then raised the temp to 72°F for a 7-day dry hop. Cold crashed for another 7 days @ 34°F. I didn't clear it with gelatin but if you like clear beer that will work pretty well.

It has a distinct background bitterness and quite a bit of malt flavor despite the mash temp and the fact that there was only 2-row used in this.

It's clear, crisp, tropical flavor and aroma with a deep background bitterness. Not that complex but a very good beer. If you raise the fermentation temp you will get more of the Belgian esters and fruitiness but as it stands it's a great beer.

I'm drinking this about as fresh as I can with my schedule after a week in the keg. A good beer with a healthy ~6.5% ABV. Mine came out a bit low because I missed my efficiency target by a bit (OG 1.058) and my yeast took it down to 1.009 as opposed to the target 1.011.

If you like light-bodies fruity hop bombs that aren't syrupy then this is for you.

 

[EtchyLives]

A quick update. I made a second batch of this and ended up using a less than the ideal pitch of yeast (drunken decanting: just say no). The result was a lot more yeast character (Minion levels of Banana). When pitched with the ideal amount of yeast (per beersmith) there wasn't a lot of yeast character but if you like a little more Belgian character I suggest using a single vial of yeast as opposed to a full starter worth of yeast.

It's still a great beer (just polished off keg #2 in just over a month) just completely different from the "proper" amount of yeast.

I encourage anyone else who has brewed this to post up their results. Great recipe.