By Greg B.  So, I got it in my head to make an IPA again, this time to change things up from the last recipe and make something with a lower malt profile and a lot more hops coming through.  Having drank a lot more hoppy beers over the past 6 months, and obtained a bit more tasting knowledge of different hop characteristics, AND knowing that my local homebrew store has a supply of whole leaf simcoe hops, I set about making a nice bitter.

I wanted to accentuate the bitters in this hop, but also experiment with some different aromatics than I’ve used before.  I’ve been reading up on different varieties of hops, and was intrigued by the challenger hops which can give a nice ‘spicy’ character to the beer.  Also, having recently made a few beers using mostly grains rather than extracts, I was going to see what I could do with a nice grain bill, a better stove burner, and some new tasting knowledge.  So, for ingredients…

Grain Bill

• 5lbs US 2-row
• 2.25lb Marris Otter
• 1lb crystal 40
• .5lb Munich
• 3.3lb Pilsen light briess

Everything Else

• 2oz whole leaf Simcoe hops (12.7% aa)
• 2oz Challenger hop pellets
• 1oz Cascade plug**
• WL001 California ale yeast

My routine is to break up the mash into two parts, simply because I lack a large enough brew pot!  I try and bag about 1lb per bag of the grains, doing about 4-5lb per mash.  I keep the temp around 125-130F for 30 minutes, then bump it up to 155 for 45 minutes.  From here, I remove the spent grains and let the beer chill a few minutes, add the rest of the grains which drops the temp down to the 125-130F range again, repeat for 30 minutes, then 155F for 45 minutes, then 165F for 10 minutes.  I then remove the grains, hit the burner and add the Pilsen extract, keeping the temp right around 155F, then add the whole leaf Simcoe hops for 60 minutes.  For the last 15 minutes, I added the pellets of the Challenger hops, chilled the wort to 75F, moved it to the primary and added the vial of yeast in suspension.  Stir/mix vigorously to oxygenate the wort, seal and wait.

I will dry hop the secondary in a few days, after the primary is done and let this sit for about a week, then move it to another secondary for a day or two (To let any remaining stuff precipitate out) before bottling.  With IPA, it’s a good thing to remember that the nice aromatics you want are very volatile, and will leave your beer with ease or break down quickly.  So, this is one of the few beers you really want to get it ‘fresh’, if possible, from your favorite brewpub or microbrew, or in your home.  This beer will probably be something like 10 SRM for color and be about 122 IBU’s.  It should pack a punch!  The starting gravity when measured was about 1.046, and with this yeast I expect to get a final gravity of around 1.013 or so, so something like 4.5% abv.

**update**  The IPA has a gravity of 1.009 after the primary, and has an AMAZING nose.  If this is what simcoe and challenger hops give me for a nose, I am extremely impressed.  The homebrew store did not have Cascade plugs, so I bought Amarillo as a substitute, however, I decided NOT to use any plus, given how amazing the nose was on this beer right from the primary.  I’ll post more as I get towards bottling.