New Beer Brewdays: IPA's and Hopbursting

What a week it has been! At the end of this week, we will have used about 5 tons of malt and 600 lbs of hops as we wrap up a week of brewing 4 different IPA's. 2 of the IPA's are new to us and one of them, we hope to make a year round beer. These 4 IPA brew days have given us the opportunity to brew Weedy's Double for the second time in a month (a first for us with that beer), revisit the Peach IPA that we brewed a year ago, and we've been given the challenge of creating a India Session Ale as well as a new American IPA. These new beers have given us the opportunity to use some new products, do a lot of testing, and use some production methods that are pretty advanced for a brewery of our size.

Brewing an IPA has been a project that we have been working on for the last 2 years. From the day we discontinued Corduroy Rye, I have bugged Mike about wanting to introduce a year round IPA. However, we wanted to make sure we got it narrowed down and great from the day of its release. There are so many good IPA's that, at this point, any commercial IPA has to be truly great to really succeed. We knew that this style was one that we really wanted to perfect before releasing it. A lot of challenges presented themselves along the way in the development of the recipe and we have had to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way.

First, what happened to all the hops that were available when I was homebrewing in 2009? There are so many varieties that I had used as a home brewer that I fell in love with and are now unavailable in large quantities due to high demand from craft brewers. Luckily, many new varieties exist, but the problem is, I hadn't used many of them and most of them were only available in low quantities as the hop growers adjust their acreage to support all the new hops. We have been lucky to get samples of some of the hops that were available and brew some 5 gallon batches to test out what we could get.

Using a 12 member tasting panel that we have been training for the last 8 months, we got our hands on 12 different IPA's that have experienced a significant amount of success and we tried to narrow down just what it is that makes those IPA's more special than others. Using their results, we were able to narrow down the balance that is most desirable between malt and hops, as well as the flavor profiles that were most desirable. Then, using our test batches of single hop experimental beers, the tasting panel was able to tell us which new hop varieties were favorable, or unfavorable for the perfect IPA. With their help, we ended up selecting a recipe that will feature a blend of 17 (yes, I said 17) different hop varieties. The varieties include, Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Citra, Crystal, CTZ, and more.

Once we had the flavor profile in place, it was time to start actually building the recipe. We knew from our tasting panel results, that people favored a clean tasting, smooth bitterness, with a lot of hop flavor and aroma. To achieve that smooth bitterness, we decided that this IPA would be hopbursted. I discussed the hop bursting technique a little bit in a different blog post on our Double IPA, but for those that missed it, hop bursting is a technique where all the hops are added towards the end of the boil. The hops are in contact with the boiling wort for a lesser amount of time, and as a result, the acids in the hops do not fully isomerize (which is what causes hoppy bitterness) and the essential oils which gives the hoppy aroma and flavor gets trapped in the beer. For this beer, all the hops are added in the last 15 minutes of the boil and dry hops. The total amount of hops used in this beer will be 4 lbs per barrel (for you homebrewers doing the math, that is about 11 ounces of hops for 5 gallons). I believe that anyone that has tried brewing a hopbursted beer will love the results, but I think most brewers opt to do a more traditional hopping schedule as it requires less amounts of hops to get to the same bitterness levels... However, I don't want to use less hops. I want to use MORE hops... Much more. One of my favorite IPA's is Firestone Walker's Union Jack which is brewed in a similar manner and is one of the few commercial IPA's that I know of which is hopbursted. In fact, the only others that I know of are Stone's Enjoy By and Go To IPA's.

In addition to the massive amount of hop pellets, we wanted to augment the flavor as much as possible. In an effort to do so, we are using a pure form of the essential oils found in cascade that has been steam distilled. The hop oils can effectively add flavor without adding any bitterness as there are no acids to isomerize. In addition, there are no polyphenols to create harsh flavors and no vegetal matter to give grassy or earthy flavors. It is just pure oils with a very citrusy, floral taste, used in a very small amount. The hard part of using the oils in this form is to not over do it. That is why about 95% of our from hop pellets and then the oils will be used just to help the beer get to its maximum hoppy flavor and to give the hoppy aroma a longer lifespan.

For the malts in this beer, we found that even a little bit of caramel malt could wreak havoc on the hoppy flavors, so this beer used Weyermann's Pale Ale Malt, Vienna Malt, and a small amount of Wheat Malt to aid in head retention. Weyermann's Pale Ale Malt has a more full flavor than the more common American 2-Row and it will provide a better stage for the hoppy flavor to dance on as it will leave a nice smooth finish. Without any caramel malts, this IPA will be nice and dry, making it more easily drinkable and will help to showcase the hops. The color of the beer will be light orange.

So today is the brewday and in about 3 weeks, we will get to see the culmination of 2 years worth of research, test batches, and tastings come to fruition. Is there anyone as excited as I am right now?