"Juicy" Pale Ale (100% Galaxy)

Since my New England style IPA turned out so well I wanted to brew it again. Although the beer was very drinkable, it did clock in at around 7.3% ABV, which made drinking a lot of it while remaining functional difficult. I was curious if I could replicate that beer at a lower ABV. Along those lines, I’ve been curious to see if the New England style IPA is due to the yeast, the grain bill, or the hops, as has been much analyzed in beer forums. I’m personally on the side of the type of hops and when they are added that provides the “juicy” flavor and aroma. I also think that the yeast is providing much of the body that is talked about for this style and the hazy appearance.

To test my theory I changed a few things from my juicy IPA recipe. Obviously the lower ABV will affect aspects of this beer so it’s not a true comparison, but I can still get a pretty good idea of what is different and what’s the same. I also changed the hops and went with a 100% Galaxy hopping schedule. The grain bill is built more off of what I would think to be a West Coast style, yet the hops are fruitier than traditional West Coast style IPAs. I chose to use the same yeast and bittering addition, yet I removed the fermentation hop prior to pitching yeast and added a late dry hop after fermentation. I felt that my NE IPA could have used more aroma, which I think it lacked because it didn’t have a traditional dry hop. I’m also not sure what if anything the fermentation hop prior to pitching did for the beer.

What I’m looking for in the end is a similar hazy beer, which is dry but has a fluffy full mouthfeel, with low bitterness and more fruity hop flavor and aroma.  Will a different grain bill affect mouthfeel and hop flavor?

Beer Stats

Batch size: 5.5 Gallons

Boil time: 60 minutes

Est Original Gravity: 1.050

Measured Original Gravity: 1.046

Measured Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 4.45%

SRM: 9.8^o

IBU: 39

Grain Bill

5lbs Briess Pilsner malt

2lbs Pale Ale malt

2.75lbs Maris Otter

1lb – CaraRed

0.33lb - CaraPils

0.5lbs Acid malt

Hop Schedule

60 minutes – Hop Extract – 2 ml

30 minutes – Whirlpool - Galaxy – 1.5 ounce

15 minutes – Hopback – Galaxy – 1.5 ounce

12 Days - Fermentation hops – Galaxy – 1 ounce (added after 4 days of fermentation)

7 Days – Dry hops – Galaxy – 2.5 ounces

Mash Schedule

155^oF single infusion for 60 minutes

Yeast

Slurry from NEIPA 1318 London ale III

Notes:

5/20/16 – Brewed by myself. Using RO water I added 5 grams of CaCl and 0.5 grams of gypsum to the mash. Mash pH was 5.25 and my target was 5.28. Sparged with RO water. Wort chilled to 78F and oxygenated with pure O2 for 60 seconds, then placed in chest freezer for 4 hours to chill to 60F. Yeast pitched after additional chilling.

6/1/16 – Added fermentation hops

6/4/16 – Removed from chest freezer to finish out fermentation

6/6/16 – Added dry hops

6/11/16 – Placed in chest freezer to cold crash

6/12/16 – Racked to keg and set pressure at 25psi

6/14/16 - Reduced pressure to 10 psi for serving

Quick Lager Method (Pilsner)

The last time I brewed a pilsner (and the first time) I wasn’t particularly pleased with the results. I blamed that mostly on the base malt that I used. Maltsters use different malting techniques, which provide different flavor profiles to their grain. On top of that, grain from different parts of the world will also taste different. The best way to get an idea of your grain is to chew on it. Before I brewed my pilsner I was aware of this, but I didn’t really think it would make that much of a difference. I was wrong. For certain styles it probably doesn’t matter that much, unless you’re brewing on a large scale, but for a subtle style of beer your base grain is important. 

This time around I was able to get a bag of Wayermann Pilsner, as opposed to last time where I used Briess Pilsner malt, which I think has a toasty and malty flavor. I wanted to rebrew my pilsner anyway because I wasn’t pleased with it, still had yeast, and really enjoy a good pilsner. Luckily I recently finished all of the beer I had on tap and my homebrew club is able to serve homebrew at our competition (ACCF) award ceremony this year. It sounds strange, but we couldn’t serve homebrew because the award ceremony was hosted at a brewery and according to our TABC representative, that is illegal. This year, however, we changed the location and can serve homebrew. Being only three weeks out it gave me the perfect opportunity to test the quick lagering method that I’ve read about on Brülosophy. The basic concept is to use a lager strain that can ferment clean at elevated temperatures for a quicker fermentation, followed by an extended diacetyl rest to clean up the beer, and finally to clear the beer out with gelatin to avoid having to lager for an extended time. Using this method I should be able to crank out a pilsner in 3 weeks and be serving it for our award ceremony.

One of the best things about homebrewing is the ability to easily experiment with ingredients and/or processes. This is only the third time that I’ve brewed a lager, however, I really enjoy them. The only thing that has prevented me at this point was the time it would take for them to be ready, which ultimately ties up my keggerator for a long time as well.  If this method works out well I’ll definitely be brewing more lagers.

Beer Stats

Batch size: 10.5 Gallons

Boil time: 90 minutes

Est Original Gravity: 1.049

Measured Original Gravity: 1.051

Measured Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV: 5.6%

SRM: 4.5^o

IBU: 38

Grain Bill

20lbs Wayermann Pilsner malt

1.5lbs Carapils

1lbs Acid malt

Hop Schedule

60 minutes – Hop Extract – 8 ml

0 minutes - Saphir – 2 ounce

Dry hop (70F) 5 days – Saphir – 2 ounce

Mash Schedule

146^oF single infusion for 30 minutes

154^oF infusion with 5 quarts of boiling water for 20 minutes

Yeast

Slurry from my last pilsner (34/70)

Notes:

5/20/16 – Brewed by myself. Using RO water I added 5 grams of CaCl and 0.5 grams of gypsum to the mash. Mash pH was 5.25 and my target was 5.28. Sparged with RO water. Wort chilled to 78F and oxygenated with pure O2 for 60 seconds, then placed in chest freezer for 4 hours to chill to 60F. Yeast pitched after additional chilling.

5/25/16 – Increased temperature to 70F

6/3/16 – Lowered temperature to 45F and added gelatin for clarification, then lowered temperature to 34F

6/5/16 – Kegged and set pressure to 20psi

6/7/16 - Set psi to 10 for serving

6/17/16 - First tasting. Great clarity, clean and crisp.

Guava Sour

I stopped drinking while I brew a while ago in order to prevent making stupid mistakes. While I have mostly removed stupid mistakes from my brewing, it doesn’t mean I don’t still mess up. The first time I attempted to brew a New England IPA it didn’t go as planned. I didn’t account for the flaked oat addition or the RO water so I ended up acidifying my mash. My target for mash pH was 5.3 and I ended up at 4.9 unintentionally by adding acid malt as I normally do. Since I don’t have a way to raise the alkalinity of my mash (chalk doesn’t dissolve very well in water) I decided to change my plan during the boil.

I had a full carboy of a beer I soured for our club brew that I needed to keg so I decided to keg it during the boil and use the yeast cake to sour my already acidic wort. My normal process for souring beers involves mashing close to 145F in order to generate a quick lactic sour, however, since I was already mashing it was about 10F higher than normal. I wasn’t really worried about it because my bug blend will pretty much ferment and sour everything (I’ve never brewed a beer that I intended to sour that didn’t). Since I wanted to sour this beer I didn’t add the hops like I had planned for the IPA. The only addition was at flame out for aroma and I little bit of alpha acid to keep the bugs in check, but mostly let them go wild.

Initially my plan was to add citrus to the beer post fermentation and dry hop, possibly orange, lemon or grapefruit, however, when I went to the store I found guava on sale. I’ve only had two beers with guava, Cigar City guava Jai Alai and Crooked Stave Petite sour with Guava, but I’ve always wanted to use them because of the amazing aroma.

Moral of the story is every brewer makes mistake, but improvisation is how you save a beer. Dumping a batch of beer is never fun.

Beer Stats

Batch size: 5.5 Gallons

Boil time: 60 minutes

Est Original Gravity: 1.072

Measured Original Gravity: 1.069

Measured Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV: 7.9%

SRM: 6.6^o

IBU: 33

Grain Bill

9lbs Briss Pale Ale Malt

5lbs Wheat Malt

2lbs Flaked Oats

0.5lbs Carafoam

Hop Schedule

Flame out – Galaxy – 1 ounce

Mash Schedule

154^oF single infusion for 60 minutes

Yeast

Yeast cake of bug blend

Notes:

3/26/16 – Brewed by myself. Added 6 grams of CaCl, 2 grams of gypsum to the mash. Mash pH was 4.9 and my target was 5.28. Pre boil gravity measured at 1.059 and I collected 7 gallons. Sparge water was RO water with no adjustments made. Wort chilled to 72F and racked onto the yeast cack.

3/27/16 – Fermentation started

5/11/16 – Added 6 lbs of guava to the carboy.

First Tasting: New England style Juicy IPA

The first time years ago when I had a Heady Topper it blew me away. Unlike the West Coast styles of IPA I was used to drinking, it was hoppy and yet not overly bitter. Don’t get me wrong, I like bitter and enjoy West Coast IPAs, but this was something different. Recently there has been an explosion of these kinds of IPAs (hop flavor forward), many of which are coming out of New England. I personally enjoy because they are incredibly drinkable, despite their high hopping rate and ABV. In direct contract to their West Coast cousins, they are usually medium to full bodied, with a creamy mouth feel and often times very hazy, to the point of being opaque. There are many theories around the intertubes involving achieving the same level of haziness and its importance in the flavor and aroma of “New England” style IPAs.

With all of the debate going on I figured I would go ahead and try and brew one for myself. I was targeting a hazy and hop flavor forward beer with a tropical fruit aroma. The most common term used to describe these beers is “juicy.” So that’s what I was going for in my hop selection. On top of choosing hops that are fruit forward I wanted to late hop the crap out of it to focus more on aroma and flavor.

Appearance: Opaque orange with some yellow hues, definitely turbid, topped off with a creamy white head that lingers and fades to a thin lacing on top of the beer. It passes the eye test for a NE IPA for sure. It is starting to clear up a bit now that it’s been in the keg a little while.

Aroma: Lemon lime, mango, orange, and a bit of the elusive berry note attributed to Mosaic. Lime is probably the most prominent aroma oddly enough. I’m disappointed that the aroma doesn’t burst out of the glass like some of the best versions I’ve had in the past, but my guess is because I chose not to dry hop again after fermentation was complete.

Flavor: Very minimal bitterness, much more fruit forward, citrus, berry, grapefruit, and mango round out the flavors. I would say it’s pretty juice forward with no real malt contribution.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation that provides a nice creamy mouth feel. Honestly if I was going to compare it to a commercial example I would say there is too much body. It doesn’t feel light enough. I might try next time to get the gravity down another two points to reduce some dextrins, while keeping the proteins from the oats for body. It finishes dry with no lingering bitterness. In fact it’s odd the way the bitterness just disappears on the palate.

Overall: For being over 7% ABV this beer is dangerously drinkable, without the lingering bitterness it keeps you coming back for more. There are a couple of things I would change, such as another dose of dry hops before kegging and after fermentation and maybe backing off of the Carafoam to dry the beer out a bit more, but other than that it’s one of my favorite IPAs I’ve brewed to date. I might increase the bittering just a touch, probably either through more extract or a slightly earlier hop addition. Right now it seems to sit right between IPA and Pale Ale.