Here is my recipe for session IPA. (There’s no shrimp in the recipe, the name is just “jumbo shrimp” and “session IPA” — two combinations of words that seem nonsensical to some — jumbled together.) This recipe is based on my Roswell IPA, a “regular” American IPA. The way I converted my AmericanIPA recipe to a session IPA recipe should work with any American IPA. My ideas on what a session IPA should be like are spelled out in a previous article, and should explain the decisions I’ve made during recipe formulation.
To start with, I took my original grain bill and subtracted pale malt until I hit a “sessionable” range, in this case 4.6% ABV. I kept the same amounts of crystal malt (and Vienna malt) as in the original, but double checked that the percentage of crystal was definitely under 7.5%. (It was.) My second, and final step, was to lower the amount of bittering hops to keep the BU:GU ratio (at least roughly) the same. My Roswell IPA had an OG of 1.068 and 67 IBUs, for a BU:GU ratio of 1.01. My new session beer had an OG of 1.044, so I adjusted the IBUs down to 44 for a BU:GU ratio of 1.00. I only changed the amount of the first hop addition. I left the amounts of late addition hops and dry hops the same, as I definitely wanted all the flavor and aroma of hops in my session IPA. That’s it. If you have an IPA you like, performing these two steps should deliver a session IPA that you like. You might have to do some tweaking after you first brew it. Then again, if you liked the original IPA, it might just deliver a dry “sessionized” beer with a big hop character that’s your cup of tea . . . or plate of shrimp.
Jumbo Session Shrimp IPA
by Chris Colby
All-grain, English units
DESCRIPTION
A session IPA based on my own Roswell IPA recipe. A dry, session beer (4.6% ABV) with a boatload of flavor and aroma from American hops.
INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)
Water
dilute water with distilled or RO water, if needed, to below 50 ppm carbonates (in water report, this may be reported as bicarbonate ions (HCO3–) or “alkalinity as CaCO3”)
add calcium, if needed, to make 75 ppm Ca2+
use 3:1 ratio of gypsum and calcium chloride for adding calcium ions
Malt (for an OG of 1.044 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 7)
7.5 lbs. US 2-row pale malt
13 oz. Vienna malt
5.0 oz. crystal malt (30 °L)
Hops (for 44 IBUs)
Warrior hops (37 IBUs)
5/8 oz. (at 16% alpha acids), boiled for 60 mins
Centennial hops (7 IBUs)
3/8 oz. (at 10% alpha acids), boiled for 15 mins
Cascade hops (0 IBUs)
0.75 oz., boiled for 0 mins
Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)
0.50 oz., boiled for 0 mins
Cascade hops (dry hops)
1.0 oz., added in keg or secondary
Amarillo hops (dry hops)
2/3 oz., added in keg or secondary
Yeast (for a FG of 1.009 and 4.6% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
make a 1.5-qt. yeast starter
Other
1 tsp. Irish moss, boiled for 15 mins
0.25 tsp. calcium chloride, boiled for 75 mins (conditional)
0.50 tsp. gypsum, boiled for 75 mins (conditional)
5.0 oz. corn sugar (to prime for 2.5 volumes of CO2)
PROCEDURE
Make yeast starter 2–3 days ahead of brewday. Aerate starter wort well. On brewday, heat 12 qts. of brewing liquor to 161 °F and mash grains at 150 °F for 60 minutes. Stir every 8 minutes or so, if you can do so without losing a significant amount of heat. Mash out to 168 °F. Recirculate the wort for 20 minutes, or until wort clears significantly. Collect around 5.5 gallons of wort. Add 0.5–1 gallon of hot water to bring pre-boil wort volume to 6–6.5 gallons. Keep sparge water heated so that the grain bed temperature remains at 168 °F. Boil the wort hard for 60 minutes, to reduce the wort volume to about 5 1/3 gallons. If hot break does not appear as big, fluffy flakes after first 15 minutes of boil, add calcium chloride and gypsum as indicated in ingredient list. Add hops and Irish moss at times indicated. Chill wort to 65 °F. If using an immersion chiller, swirl chilled wort and let sit for at least an hour (covered) to let hop debris settle. If using a counter-flow chiller, transfer initially to a sanitized bucket and let sit for at least an hour (covered) to let hop debris settle. Transfer to fermenter, leaving as much hop debris and trub behind as possible, and hopefully yielding 5.0 gallons. Aerate the wort thoroughly and pitch sediment from yeast starter. Ferment at 68 °F. If dry hopping in a keg, let beer fall (at least mostly) clear before racking. If dry hopping in a secondary fermenter, rack beer while still lightly fermenting (and for best results, rack to a carboy with little headspace). Dry hop for 7 days. Avoid exposing beer to oxygen as much as possible when transferring wort and dry hopping after fermentation.
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Jumbo Session Shrimp IPA
by Chris Colby
All-grain, metric units
INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)
Water
dilute water with distilled or RO water, if needed, to below 50 ppm carbonates (in water report, this may be reported as bicarbonate ions (HCO3–) or “alkalinity as CaCO3”)
add calcium, if needed, to make 75 ppm Ca2+
use 3:1 ratio of gypsum and calcium chloride for adding calcium ions
Malt (for an OG of 1.044 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 7)
3.4 kg US 2-row pale malt
370 g Vienna malt
140 g crystal malt (30 °L)
Hops (for 44 IBUs)
Warrior hops (37 IBUs)
18 g (at 16% alpha acids), boiled for 60 mins
Centennial hops (7 IBUs)
11 g (at 10% alpha acids), boiled for 15 mins
Cascade hops (0 IBUs)
21 g, boiled for 0 mins
Amarillo hops (0 IBUs)
14 g, boiled for 0 mins
Cascade hops (dry hops)
28 g, added in keg or secondary
Amarillo hops (dry hops)
19 g, added in keg or secondary
Yeast (for a FG of 1.009 and 4.6% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
make a 1.5-qt. yeast starter
Other
1 tsp. Irish moss, boiled for 15 mins
0.25 tsp. calcium chloride, boiled for 75 mins (conditional)
0.50 tsp. gypsum, boiled for 75 mins (conditional)
140 corn sugar (to prime for 2.5 volumes of CO2)
PROCEDURE
Make yeast starter 2–3 days ahead of brewday. Aerate starter wort well. On brewday, heat 11 L of brewing liquor to 72 °C and mash grains at 66 °C for 60 minutes. Stir every 8 minutes or so, if you can do so without losing a significant amount of heat. Mash out to 76 °C. Recirculate the wort for 20 minutes, or until wort clears significantly. Collect around 21 L of wort. Add 2–4 L of hot water to bring pre-boil wort volume to 23–25 L. Keep sparge water heated so that the grain bed temperature remains at 76 °C. Boil the wort hard for 60 minutes, to reduce the wort volume to about 20 L. If hot break does not appear as big, fluffy flakes after first 15 minutes of boil, add calcium chloride and gypsum as indicated in ingredient list. Add hops and Irish moss at times indicated. Chill wort to 18 °C. If using an immersion chiller, swirl chilled wort and let sit for at least an hour (covered) to let hop debris settle. If using a counter-flow chiller, transfer initially to a sanitized bucket and let sit for at least an hour (covered) to let hop debris settle. Transfer to fermenter, leaving as much hop debris and trub behind as possible, and hopefully yielding 19 L. Aerate the wort thoroughly and pitch sediment from yeast starter. Ferment at 20 °C. If dry hopping in a keg, let beer fall (at least mostly) clear before racking. If dry hopping in a secondary fermenter, rack beer while still lightly fermenting (and for best results, rack to a carboy with little headspace). Dry hop for 7 days. Avoid exposing beer to oxygen as much as possible when transferring wort and dry hopping after fermentation.
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