Single Tap IPA (4.0) Recipe and Review

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Brewhouse pug Daisy striking a less-than-impressed pose.

Single Tap is my constantly evolving attempt to brew what I consider to be the perfect IPA . I’ve now brewed iterations of this beer on four different occasions. The recipes have constantly evolved, converging towards a unified goal – making an extreme IPA where the process and recipe are tuned to produce the brightest and most intense hop aromatics possible. I question whether any beer, commercial or made at home, can ever be hoppy enough to satiate the most extreme hop heads. This is my attempt.

Let’s talk strategy. The more times that I’ve brewed this, the more I’ve realized that it would be difficult if not impossible to over-attenuate a beer like this. The drier I’ve pushed this beer, the more easily I’ve been able to get the hop aromatics to jump to the foreground. This beer went from 1.072 to 1.012 — 83% apparent attenuation, and could easily be pushed a bit further. Copious additions of simple sugar and low mash temps are key, and produce none of the oft-cited negative flavors that many brewers attribute to brewing with sugar. The grain bill derives a touch of malt complexity through the use of lightly kilned base malts (Vienna) and a token addition of low lovibond crystal. The malt character should be in the background and provide a clean backdrop for the hops.

Hopping levels in this beer are a bit absurd and dramatically loaded to the back-end whirlpool. In selecting the hop varieties, I focused on tropical fruit-forward hops. I’m not a huge fan of the more resinous/dank IPAs out there (like Stone Ruination), so I avoided certain hops like Columbus, Simcoe, and Chinook which can be a bit abrasive. During the boil, there was a small addition at the beginning to help keep the kettle foam down and lay down a low base of bitterness. The amount of bitterness required to balance this beer is minimal due to the low residual sugar levels. The key is obtaining nearly all of the bitterness during the whirlpool rest, which has the added benefit of imbuing a high level of hop flavor and aroma to the beer. Once kegged, I treat the beer with a huge dry hop. I tend to limit the contact-time with dry hops since I’ve found that only bad flavors (grassiness) are gained after day three. It is important at this stage to thoroughly flush the vessel you’re dry hopping in with CO2 as oxidation in hoppy beers can seriously impact the life of the beer.

Single Tap IPA 4.0 Recipe

Recipe Specs:
Size: 4.25 gal
Efficiency: 75%
Attenuation: 83%

Original Gravity: 1.072
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 8.16 SRM
Alcohol: 7.9% ABV
Bitterness: 32.6 IBUs (Doesn’t account for significant bitterness obtained during the whirlpool)
Mash Temp: 147 °F

Grain Bill:
4.25 lb (43.0%) Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt
4 lb (40.5%) Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt
12 oz (7.6%) Weyermann Vienna Malt
8 oz (5.1%) Briess White Wheat Malt
6 oz (3.8%) Briess 2-Row Caramel Malt 40L

Hopping:
8 g Citra™ (13.7% AA) – added first wort
0.5 oz Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA) – 10 m
0.5 oz Centennial (10.5%) – 10 m

2 oz Citra™ (13.7% AA) – Whirlpool 25m
2 oz Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA) – Whirlpool 25m
1 oz Amarillo® (8.7% AA) – Whirlpool 25m
1 oz Centennial (10.5% AA) – Whirlpool 25m

3 oz Amarillo® HOPBACK (8.7% AA) – Hop Back

0.5 oz Centennial (10.5% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days
1 oz Citra™ (13.7% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days
1.5 oz Amarillo® (8.7% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days
1 oz Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA) – Dry Hop 3 Days

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m
1.25 lbs Table Sugar – 10m

Yeast:
WYeast 1056 American Ale™ – Build appropriately sized starter
Pitch yeast once beer is at 62°F. Keep beer at 64°F during the start and peak of fermentation. Slowly raise to 70°F as signs of fermentation taper off.

Water Treatment:
Soft NYC municipal water with 6g Gypsum and 3g Calcium Chloride added to the mash.

Tasting Notes:

Judged as a BJCP Category 14B American IPA

Aroma (11/12):
This is quite possibly the hoppiest IPA I’ve ever stuck my nose into. The intensity of the hop aroma could very well have surpassed the limits set by the best commercial hoppy beers out there. Huge amounts of tangerine-like citrus, mango, and sweet orange jump from the glass. The hopping levels exceed the levels described in the BJCP guideline which currently doesn’t reflect the intense aromatics found in the best examples of contemporary IPAs. A low bready malt character is barely apparent behind all the hops.

Appearance (1/3):
The beers pours a light golden hue with a high level of murky hop haze. A fluffy white head forms and easily persists to the bottom of the glass. This is not a pretty beer… and I’m okay with that.

Flavor (17/20):
The hop bombardment carries through to the flavor, leaving only just a hint of any malt behind. The hop flavor fills your mouth with intense fruit flavors and a hint of pine resin. A touch of grassiness was apparent when the beer was initially kegged, but eventually dropped off as the beer aged out. A bit of warm alcohol is apparent and reminds me that this beer pushes the alcoholic boundaries for a standard IPA. The bitterness is medium high and lingers a touch in the finish, along with a huge amount of hop flavor. Very dry malt, with fruity hops giving a slight impression of sweetness.

Mouthfeel (5/5):
Somehow this beer manages to feel dry and round at the same time. My suspicion is that the hop oils contribute a beautiful silky mouthfeel.

Overall Impression (10/10):
This beer goes above and behind the levels of hops that the BJCP describes for American IPAs. That said, it truly reflects contemporary examples of the best IPAs currently produced in the commercial craft market. The beer is dangerously quaffable. A world-class hop delivery vehicle.

Excellent (44/50)

SMaSH Mandarina Bavaria vs Hallertau Mittelfruh Pilsners

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Both SMaSH pilsners were brought the annual NYC Hombrewers Guild picnic — the perfect beer on a hot summer day.

About 6-weeks ago I brewed a couple of SMaSH pilsner lagers, inspired by Firestone Walker Pivo Pils, and featuring 100% Weyermann Pilsner malt. For hopping, one was brewed solely with a new German varietal called Mandarina Bavaria, where-as the other was brewed with the more traditional Hallertau Mittelfruh.

Rather than do a full BJCP-style evaluation of each beer, I’ll describe the malt and yeast character present in both beers, and then attempt to describe the real hop character differences that exists between the beers.

Malt Character:
Clean and crisp is the best way to describe this malt. I was able to achieve 80% + apparent attenuation which lends a nice lean character without becoming watery. Although I missed the very high level of attenuation found in Pivo Pils (88%), this beer still captures the dryness that makes Pivo so great. The standard Weyermann Pilsner malt I used has a nice light bready, and ever-so-slightly grainy character that is very nuanced. This is a great neutral malt that begs to be set down as a base to bounce other flavors against. The Weyermann malt does not feel as round and bready as other pilsner malts I have used, in particular Dingemans pils from Belgium which features an almost honey-like sweetness. Using this malt in this manner clearly illustrates how similarly colored malts from different maltsters can have dramatically different characteristics.

Yeast Character:
Unfortunately, the homebrew shop I purchased from did not have the Wyeast 2124 lager yeast used by Pivo Pils in stock. As a back-up, I brewed with my go-to lager yeast WLP833 from White Labs. This yeast performs superbly, attenuating well, and cleaning up any residual diacetyl. There is a very light fruity ester present in the beer, but other than that, the beer is clean and neutral, setting the table to showcase the hops and malt.

Hallertau Mittelfruh Hop:
This hop look you straight in the eye and without blinking proudly proclaims its German heritage. This hop features a classic, and very nuanced herbal quality. When searching, there is a low white pepper note as well. On the finish is a slightly grassy, almost tea-leaf like flavor which I attribute to the fact that I needed to use nearly twice as much of this hop to hit the same IBU levels provided by the higher alpha Mandarina Bavaria. The quality of the bitterness in this beer is very smooth, and does not linger.

Mandarina Bavaria Hop:
Mandarina Bavaria is often cited as a next generation German varietal being bred to compete with the novel hop varieties being grown in the Pacific NW. True to its name, this hop has a nice round sweet mandarin and tangerine flavor that comes across almost as candied orange that while present, is much more subtle than the citrus displayed by other types of hops. Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be any of the bitter, pithy citrus character that is found in many varieties. There is none of the pine or resin flavors which dominate other hops. This hop does not match the brash intensity and massive oil levels found in the newer American hops. This hop works really well in this beer, providing a sweet citrus component without dominating the malt or other lager characteristics. Mandarina Bavaria shines in more nuanced beers, but probably won’t be able to stand up to the Simcoes, Citras, or even brasher South Hemisphere hops that dominate the IPA world. That said, there is a definite place for this hop in the ever-expanding tool chest of hops modern brewers have access to.

SMaSH Pilsners – Recipe Inspired by Pivo Pils

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of Firestone Walker’s Pivo Pils. This beer delivers a terrific hop punch set against a modest amount of alcohol and absolutely dry fermentation character. An immensely drinkable beer during the dog-days of summer. Firestone Walker classifies this beer as a ‘hoppy pilsner’; a short and simple sub-title, but perhaps a bit light on providing a comprehensive description of the beer. In many ways, this beer reminds me of a fresh German pils, mainly due to its austere dryness. If you take a classically lean German pils and then beef it up with late kettle and dry hopping as well as a bit firmer bittering, you’ll likely get pretty close to the character of Pivo.

Intrigued by Pivo, I set out to design a beer that captures this malt character, and then use it as a platform for testing out a couple of different German hop varieties. With a little research from Firestone Walker’s website, and an interview with Matt Brynildson during a podcast on The Brewing Network, a few key recipe spec’s could be ascertained:

Original Gravity: 1.048 SG (calculated from terminal gravity and ABV)
Terminal Gravity: 1.005 SG (from TBN podcast)
Attenuation: 88% (calculated)
Alcohol: 5.3% ABV (from Firestone Walker website)
Bitterness: 40 IBU (from Firestone Walker website)
Color: 4 SRM

Other Key Points:

6 week turn-around time (from TBN podcast)
100% Weyermann malts (from TBN podcast)
Mash Regiment: 122° > 145° > 155° > 168° (from TBN podcast)
Calcium Chloride water treatment (from TBN podcast)
Wyeast 2124 yeast (from TBN podcast)
Magnum bittering (from TBN podcast)
Spalter Select mid-boil addition (from TBN podcast)
Saphir dry hop (from TBN podcast)

With these details in mind, I set out to formulate a recipe that captures the spirit of Pivo Pils. I selected two German hop varieties which symbolically depict the tradition of German hop growing and the direction it may be heading. Hallertau Mittelfruher is about a classic as it gets in the German brewing world, where-as Mandarina Bavaria is a new cultivar bred by the Hop Research Institute in Hull which has a Cascade hop lineage and is described as having tangerine and mandarin orange characteristics.

In determining the bittering levels for each beer, I used the Hallerau Mittelfruher beer as my base, and then scaled down the amount of hops used on the hot-side of the Mandarina Bavaria beer to achieve a comparable amount of hop bitterness.

SMaSH Hallertau Mittelfruher / Pilsner Recipe

Recipe Specifications:
Size: 3.25 gal
Efficiency: 68%
Attenuation: 88%

Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.006 SG
Color: 4.26 SRM
Alcohol: 5.53% ABV
Bitterness: 28.0 IBU (does not take into account bitterness achieved during whirlpool)

Grist:
6.75 lb (100.0%) Weyermann Pilsner Malt

Water Treatment added to Strike Water:
Soft NYC Water
4g Calcium Chloride
1g Gypsum

Mash Regiment:
0m – 122° F – Mash in at 122° F and immediately ramp up to next step
50m – 145° F – Beta Amylase Rest
10m – 155° F – Alpha Amylase Rest
5m – 168° F – Mash Out

Hopping:
60m – 20 g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4% AA)
30m – 20 g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4% AA)
Whirlpool 20m – 80g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4% AA)
Dryhop 3 Days – 26 g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4% AA)

Kettle Additions:
15m – 0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablet
10m – 0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient

Yeast:
White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager – 1400ml starter on stir plate

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 46° F and let rise to 48° F
2. Ramp temperature as fermentation slows up to 58° F for diacetyl rest
3. Crash to 32° F
4. Keg and lager at 32° F for 4 weeks.

SMaSH Mandarina Bavaria / Pilsner Recipe

Recipe Specifications:
Size: 3.25 gal
Efficiency: 68%
Attenuation: 88%

Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.006 SG
Color: 4.26 SRM
Alcohol: 5.53% ABV
Bitterness: 28.0 IBU (does not take into account bitterness achieved during whirlpool)

Grist:
6.75 lb (100.0%) Weyermann Pilsner Malt

Water Treatment added to Strike Water:
Soft NYC Water
4g Calcium Chloride
1g Gypsum

Mash Regiment:
0m – 122° F – Mash in at 122° F and immediately ramp up to next step
50m – 145° F – Beta Amylase Rest
10m – 155° F – Alpha Amylase Rest
5m – 168° F – Mash Out

Hopping:
60m – 12 g Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA)
30m – 12 g Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA)
Whirlpool 20m – 44 g Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA)
Dryhop 3 Days – 26 g Mandarina Bavaria (7.2% AA)

Kettle Additions:
15m – 0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablet
10m – 0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient

Yeast:
White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager– 1400ml starter on stir plate

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 46° F and let rise to 48° F
2. Ramp temperature as fermentation slows up to 58° F for diacetyl rest
3. Crash to 32° F
4. Keg and lager at 32° F for 4 weeks.

Spawn of Duvel Goes to Michigan

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Brewday went nearly perfectly — gravity was spot on at 1.061.

Update: Unfortunately, the beer didn’t place in the second round of NHC. It did get pretty good scores however. I’ve uploaded the score sheets, in case you’re curious.

I’ve had some good luck in the first round of this year’s National Homebrew Competition. Both my Vienna Lager and Belgian Blond ended up taking first in their respective categories. I’ve always thought that placing 30% of your entries in a competition of this size is a great average, so I was pretty stoked to have pushed through half of my entries.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any additional fresh bottles of either ready to go, so re-brews were in order. My biggest concern brewing this beer is that the Duvel strain (Wyeast 1388) can be a bit finicky. The krausen almost always drops early, followed by a slow period of 5-10 days in which CO2 continues to be produced and the beer continues to dry out. Additionally, this yeast seems to produce a lot of banana ester early which dissipates and becomes much more mellow after a period of lagering at near freezing temperatures. I am a bit apprehensive that both of my second round entries will be younger than I would like.

As a Belgian Blond, my Spawn of Duvel recipe is well below the low end of gravity for the style. That said, it still tastes like a great version of the style. For my re-brew, I’ve slightly bumped up the gravity in hopes that it can stand-up to the higher gravity beers it will be competing against in the second round.

Spawn of Duvel 2.0 Recipe

Recipe Specs:
Size: 3.25 gal
Efficiency: 68%
Attenuation: 78.0% (anticipated)
Brew Date: 4/19/14

Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (measured)
Color: 6.09 SRM
Alcohol: 6.04% ABV (calculated)
Bitterness: 22.8 IBUs (calculated)

Grist:
7 lb (85.5%) Belgian Pils – Dingemans
.5 lb (6.1%) Pale Wheat Malt – Weyermann
4 oz (3.1%) Belgian Biscuit – Dingemans
3 oz (2.3%) Acidulated Malt – Weyermann
4 oz (3.1%) White Table Sugar – Added to Boil

Mash Schedule:
60m Saccharification Rest – 154 °F
10m Mashout Rest – 168 °F

Hopping:
23 g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4.0% AA) – 60 m
0.5 oz Saaz (3% AA) – 15 m
0.5 oz Saaz (3% AA) – 20m Whirlpool
1.25 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4.0% AA) – 20m Whirlpool

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablets – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
WYeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale™ (1400ml starter on stir plate)

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 62°F and keep at 66°F until activity slows.
2. Raise temp to 74°F until CO2 evolution stops.
3. Crash to 32°F 5 days.
4. Bottle condition. Once carbonated, store cold 2-3 weeks.

Vienna Lager 4.0 Homebrew Recipe

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Nick Ladd

Update: Unfortunately, the beer didn’t place in the second round of NHC. It did get pretty good scores however. I’ve uploaded the score sheets, in case you’re curious.

You can probably tell by my history of posting Vienna Lager recipes, that I love brewing (and drinking) the style. It is a great sessionable lager, and a lot of fun to brew. With that said, brewing this batch had ulterior motives.

My last batch of this beer turned out great. Judges tended to agree as it placed in both Homebrew Alley 8, and the first round of the National Homebrew Competition. Unfortunately, the bottles I have left are starting to show their age and will be well past their prime when the second round of the NHC occurs this June. With that in mind, I decided to brew up another batch. The recipe below was brewed on 3/30/14. This is pushing the time frame that I would normally be comfortable turning a lager of this strength around in. With careful yeast management and temperature control, it should be just enough time for the mid-June second round of the competition.

Recipe

Recipe Specs:
Size: 3.24 gal
Efficiency: 68%
Attenuation: 74%
Brew Date: 3/30/14

Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 SG
Color: 13.97 SRM
Alcohol: 5.07% ABV
Bitterness: 24.1 IBUs

Grist:
3.75 lb (51.3%) Vienna Malt – Weyermann
1.25 lb (17.1%) Pilsner Malt – Weyermann
2 lb (27.4%) Munich TYPE II – Weyermann
4 oz (3.4%) Carafoam® – Weyermann
1 oz (0.9%) Carafa® TYPE II – Weyermann

Water Additions (in Mash):
Soft NYC Water
4g Calcium Chloride

My recipe employs a single step decoction mash.

A quick single decoction enriches the malt character… and it’s a lot of fun.

Mash Regiment:
20m – 144°F Beta Rest
Decoct to Alpha Rest
20m – 156°F Alpha Rest
Direct Fire to Mashout
5m – 168.0°F Mashout Rest

Hopping:
24g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4.0% AA) – 60 m
14g Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (4.0% AA) – 10 m

Kettle Additions:
0.5 ea Whirlfloc Tablet – 15 m
0.5 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – 10 m

Yeast:
White Labs WLP833 German Bock Lager – 1800ml Starter on Stirplate

Fermentation:
1. Chill to 46°F and keep at 48°F until activity slows.
2. Raise to 58°F for diacetyl rest 24 hours.
3. Cool 6°F / day until back down to 32°F.
4. Rack to corny keg and lager at 32°F 3-4 weeks.