Skip to main content

In the Fermenter: Help me like the Haze

The New England/Hazy/Juicy IPA is a beer style I've been having great trouble getting into. 

Part of it might be a "get off my lawn" issue regarding what my brain thinks an IPA is supposed to be. I grew up with two IPA styles: an English IPA that is bitter, amber, moderately strong and uses English hops, and an American IPA that is bitter, amber, moderately strong and uses American hops. In the case of the American (now considered West Coast, blech) the more "C" hops the better, damn it. The clarity had better be good too, because I must be able to see through my glass. Pale and hazy is the realm of Wits and Weizens, not the IPA gosh darn it. And by the way, who took all of my VHS tapes?  

All that said, now that I'm on the wrong side of 50, it's time to open up the mind a bit. 

The brewing process of the Hazy IPA is what intrigues me most. It's probably the main reason I'm taking a stab at the style. 

Most everything regarding hops happens late in the brewing process. From what I've tasted and read, high IBUs are a no-no. Instead, it's all about the flavor and aroma. This means avoiding the big bittering additions of the West Coast IPA that defined the American IPA style back in the 80s and 90s. It also means Hop Stands, dry hopping during primary fermentation, and yet more dry hopping in the secondary. In my beer, I'll also dry hop a couple of days before bottling as well, because why not? 

What I find even more interesting is how little time these dry hop additions remain in contact with the beer. My schedule is basically put the hops in, leave them for two days and then take them out. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Another big part of why I've had issues getting into Hazy IPAs has to do with the Citra and Mosaic hops that seem to be part and parcel of the style. Unfortunately, neither of them offer flavors or aromas that truly appeal to my palate. Especially Mosaic. That said, Hazy IPAs are often built around newer hop varieties, so I figured that I could bend the rules with my beer and use neither of them. 

In my case, I've taken the "go with what you know" route for my first hop. Amarillo is relatively common to this style, and is a hop I've had good results with in other beers. My other hops are Cashmere and El Dorado. I've used neither of them before. Their expected profiles seem to be in the realm of Citra without being Citra, if that makes any sense. I'm hoping that I'll like both of them. 

My 5 gallon brew is below.

Fermentables:
7.5lbs Rahr Premium Pilsner
1.25lbs Weyermann Pale Wheat
1lb Rahr Red Wheat
12oz Flaked Oats

Hops:
3oz Amarillo (8.2% a.a.)
3oz Cashmere (7.5% a.a.)
3oz El Dorado (15% a.a.)

Original Gravity: 1.059
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV: 5.7%

IBU: 34
SRM Color: 3

Mash Schedule:
Saccharification Rest: 150F for 60 min
Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Hop thusly:

Add .5oz of each hop 20 minutes before Flameout.

Add .5oz of each hop at Flameout.

Cool Wort to 180F

Add .5oz of each hop and Hop Stand for 20 minutes.

Cool wort, transfer to Primary and pitch yeast.

Dry Hop with .5oz of each hop at High Krausen. Remove after 2 days.

Dry Hop with .5oz of each hop 2 days before transferring to Secondary. Remove before transferring.

Dry Hop with .5oz of each hop 2 days before bottling. Remove before bottling.

At bottling time, add one pellet of each hop to every bot........just kidding!


Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
3 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Out of the Bottle: Insert clever use of the word Wit here

My latest Wit was a hit at my friend's birthday party. He especially liked the beer's citrus components. Others found it to be light and refreshing. I heard no Blue Moon comparisons, which actually made me quite happy. Compared to My Wit's End , this beer is much closer to style. Unmalted Wheat is part of the reason, as there's much less grainy sweetness at work. Instead, the beer is crisp and dry. The bitter orange peel really does its thing. The peel's sharp flavor melds nicely with the sweet orange peel I also used. Coriander pushes the beer's spicy character along. If I were to change anything, it would be to dial it back a notch or two. Some light sourdough aromas round out the flavor and aroma. Despite the relatively low ABV of right around 5.0%, the beer sports a fairly hefty body. Overall, I'm quite happy with this Wit. Next time, I'll hold back on the coriander. Maybe I will even take a shot at a Turbid Mash, which sounds like a great sub...

In the Fermentor: Kitchen Sink Barleywine

The Leftovers It's time for a cleanup of leftover grains and partially used packets of hops from 2012. With the exception of the 2-Row base malt, everything in the recipe below has been sitting on the shelf, or in the fridge waiting to be used. I had several open hop packages, some leftover toasted malts and a half-full bottle of malt extract too. I also had yeast cultured from my White House Honey Porter . My decision was to use almost all of my leftovers and make a partial-mash Barleywine. The finished beer will be quite strong and quite bitter. A toasted malt backbone should nicely complement pine, spice and citrus hop flavors. Because of the beer's strength, it will not be ready for at least three months and should improve with age. The recipe has been scaled up to five gallons from the 2.5 gallons I actually brewed: Grains: 9 lbs Rahr 2-Row 8.5 oz Victory 7.5 oz Brown Hops: Bittering: 0.75 oz Chinook (11.1% a.a.): 60 min 0.5 oz Colum...

In the Fermentor: Flaming Pumpkin

I'll admit that I'm not a huge Pumpkin Beer fan. I didn't have one on my brewing calendar for this year and didn't have my sights set on one for next Fall either. Then my niece came along and threw down the gauntlet. She asked me to brew her a pumpkin beer and I accepted the challenge. I did a lot of reading to see how to best go about using pumpkin in beer. Some people mash it with the grains. Others add it to the brew kettle during the boil. Some add it to the primary or secondary fermentor. The consensus from professional brewers appears to be adding it to the mash, so I took the same approach. The pumpkin was cooked ahead of time by my girlfriend to soften it, convert some of the starch and help release some of its sugars. It then joined the grains in the mash. I really want the pumpkin pie effect here, so I've thrown in all of the requisite spices toward the end of the boil. I've also gone with just enough bitterness to balance the sweetness of the ...