Roswell IPA

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This is a by-the-numbers West Coast IPA. Moderately dry, firmly bitter and very floral, it’s more drinkable than it’s 7.1% ABV would suggest.

As an example for the series on American hoppy ales, here is my American IPA recipe. It’s a straight ahead West Coast-style IPA that features three American hops — Centennial, Cascade and Amarillo — that work together. (It’s bittered with another American hop, the high-alpha variety Warrior.) Everything in the recipe is designed to prominently feature the hops while still delivering a very quaffable beer. Both all grain and extract (partial mash) versions are given, in both English and metric units.

Roswell IPA

American IPA

All-grain, English units

by Chris Colby

 

DESCRIPTION

A golden-colored IPA with classic floral/citrus American hops and just enough malt to keep it from being unbalanced. This beer finishes moderately dry and exhibits a wonderful hop aroma from lots of late hops and dry 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 1.068 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 8)
12 lbs. US 2-row pale malt
13 oz. Vienna malt
5.0 oz. crystal malt (30 °L)

Hops (for 67 IBUs)
Warrior hops (60 IBUs)

1.0 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 1.013 and 7.1% 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 18 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 7.5 gallons of wort over 90 minutes. Keep sparge water heated so that the grain bed temperature remains at 168 °F. Boil the wort hard for 90 minutes (or up to 120 minutes, if required), 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. Adding 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 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.

 

 

Roswell IPA

American IPA

All-grain, metric units

by Chris Colby

 

DESCRIPTION

A golden-colored IPA with classic floral/citrus American hops and just enough malt to keep it from being unbalanced. This beer finishes moderately dry and exhibits a wonderful hop aroma from lots of late hops and dry hops.

 

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 1.068 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 8)
5.4 kg US 2-row pale malt
370 g Vienna malt
140 g crystal malt (30 °L)

Hops (for 67 IBUs)
Warrior hops (60 IBUs)

28 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 1.013 and 7.1% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast

make a 1.5-L. 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 g 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 18 qts. 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 28 L of wort over 90 minutes. Keep sparge water heated so that the grain bed temperature remains at 76 °C. Boil the wort hard for 90 minutes (or up to 120 minutes, if required), 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. Adding 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.

 

 

Roswell IPA

American IPA

Malt Extract, English units

by Chris Colby

 

INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)

 

Water

for partial mash:

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

for dilution of wort:
carbon filtered tap water

Malt (for an OG of 1.068 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 8)
1 lb. 14 oz. US 2-row pale malt

13 oz. Vienna malt

5 lb. 14 oz. light dried malt extract

5.0 oz. crystal malt (30 °L)

Hops (for 67 IBUs)
Warrior hops (60 IBUs)

1.0 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 1.013 and 7.1% 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. On brewday, heat 4.1 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. Collect around 1.75 gallons of wort. Add water to make at least 3.5 gallons of wort. Stir in roughly 1/3 of the malt extract, hold at 150 °F for 5 minutes, then bring to a boil. Boil the wort for 75 minutes. If hot break does not appear as big, fluffy flakes after first 10 minutes of boil, add calcium chloride and gypsum as indicated in ingredient list. Adding hops and Irish moss at times indicated. Add water, if needed, so boil volume never drops below 3.0 gallons. Dissolve remaining malt extract in wort and stir in with 10 minutes left in boil. (You can do this in shifts.) 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 wort to fermenter, leaving as much hop debris and trub behind as possible. Add water to yield 5 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.

 

 

Roswell IPA

American IPA

Malt extract, metric units

by Chris Colby

 

INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)

 

Water

for partial mash:

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

for dilution of wort:
carbon filtered tap water

Malt (for an OG of 1.068 at 70% extract efficiency and an SRM of 8)
850 g US 2-row pale malt

370 g Vienna malt

2.7 light dried malt extract

140 g crystal malt (30 °L)

Hops (for 67 IBUs)
Warrior hops (60 IBUs)

28 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 1.013 and 7.1% ABV)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast

make a 1.5-L 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 g corn sugar (to prime for 2.5 volumes of CO2)

 

PROCEDURE
Make yeast starter 2–3 days ahead of brewday. On brewday, heat 3.9 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. Collect around 6.6 L of wort. Add water to make at least 13 L of wort. Stir in roughly 1/3 of the malt extract, hold wort at 66 °C for 5 minutes, then bring to a boil. Boil the wort for 75 minutes. If hot break does not appear as big, fluffy flakes after first 10 minutes of boil, add calcium chloride and gypsum as indicated in ingredient list. Adding hops and Irish moss at times indicated. Add water, if needed, so boil volume never drops below 11 L. Dissolve remaining malt extract in wort and stir in with 10 minutes left in boil. (You can do this in shifts.) 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 wort to fermenter, leaving as much hop debris and trub behind as possible. Add water to yield 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Chris,
    I just bottled a 2 gallon batch of this. Got 13 16.9oz bottles out of it. Hit all my numbers and did it BIAB. It smelled and tasted great. Can’t wait for the bottles to condition. Thank you for the great recipe and blog!

    • Chris Colby says

      Glad you liked the recipe and Beer and Wine Journal!

      • Chris,
        About how long do you think I should bottle condition?
        I consider myself still a beginner, but I do have fermentation control and accurate measuring skills. It always seems the hoppier beers I make seem “green”. I have to this point bottle conditioned for about 2 weeks, maybe a couple days longer. All the lower hopped beers (I’m new to this somewhat so there aren’t a lot of batches under my belt) taste fairly normal at 2 weeks. The hoppy ones seem lackluster as far as the flavors coming together. They are getting better as I get my process done but I’d still rather buy my IPAS from the store.

        • Chris Colby says

          Bottle conditioning an IPA shouldn’t take long. A week or at the most two at “warm” temperatures [room temperature up to about 80 °F (27 °C)], then 2–3 days in the fridge and they should be ready to go. Hoppy beers deteriorate fairly quickly, so you want them to condition quickly. If they don’t, my first guess would be that upping your pitching rate would help. A quick fermentation by healthy yeast sets things up so the yeast can scrubs the “green” character from beer in a timely fashion.

      • By the way, your recipe tasted the hoppiest and most rounded so far, at least during bottling. And it could mean between process improvement nd recipe selection I may be getting to that point where I’ve brewed an IPA I’d choose over a store bought one.

  2. So the bottled conditioned beer came out tasting lackluster like the rest I’ve done. There’s barely any aroma and the flavor is devoid of any good h o p flavor. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and think could it be my water? I don’t know my water profile and only treat with Camden since we are on city water and can smell the chlorine as the water comes from the faucet. I have the powder from Northern Brewer and measure it out on a jewellers scale. Then treat the water as its coming up to strike temp. Chris, would you suggest using your distilled water recipe as an experiment? Could the water make such a difference? Could ph be at fault also, as I don’t measure that also. Or I’m missing something in the rest of my process?

    • Chris Colby says

      If all of your IPAs have tasted this way, the problem is something common to all of them. So yes, I think that using distilled water, treated with gypsum such that the sulfate level is about 150 ppm would be the best next step. (Or, use my IPA water recipe. The overall sulfate level there is about 80 ppm, so maybe double the amount of gypsum because doubling it isn’t going to hurt.)
      If it’s your water, that change should do the trick. (And of course, use fresh hops and be diligent about cleaning and sanitation.) With all the hops in the recipe, the hop character should not be lackluster. It should be on par with Stone IPA, Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA, Racer V and other American IPAs (but not as intense as a double IPA).
      Also, is there any chance your hops are old? Try to get some hops from this year’s harvest that have been handled properly, if you have any doubts. If they’ve been kept frozen, old hops may still smell fresh, but their alpha levels can drop to a small percentage of their original value. (You can still use aged hops that smell good for late additions, because you’re not expecting much alpha from them; but find fresh hops for your bittering hops, if that hasn’t been the case.)

      • Chris,

        Thanks for all your advice! So, I’m gonna do a another batch of this recipe and use your distilled water recipe, “Pale Ale, IPA or dIPA Water “From Scratch”.” Should I just use the distilled water recipe as is or add the suggested water additions from the Roswell recipe also?

        Another thing I’ve heard is to add some acidulated malt (up to 2%) to the malt bill in order to bring the mash ph down. I plugged in the distilled recipe water profile along with the grain bill into the Brewer’s Friend, “Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator.” Without the acidulated malt the predicted mash ph was 5.63 and with it it was 5.43. Should I bother with the acidulated malt?

        Again, thank you for all your help. I check in with you website every day and enjoy the updates!

        • Chris Colby says

          Use the water recipe as is, and add the acidulated malt if you’d like. Good luck with this. Hopefully this lets you turn the corner on your IPAs.

          Glad you like the site!

  3. Chris,

    Did the rebrew last night. Just did a 1 gallon batch. Included the acidulated malt. BIAB mashed in a warm oven and held 150 for an hour. Preboil gravity was 1.047 and the boil went fine except I didn’t hit target and had to add .26lbs of DME to reach 1.068. Cooled, transferred, added fermcap and shook for aeration. Pitched rehydrated yeast using the MrMalty calculator for the amount.
    I read your recent post on getting hop aroma and flavor. One thing you mentioned was that overpitching could strip some of the hop character out. I usually pitch a full tsp directly into the wort. By weight that usually measures out to around 4 grams or so. MrMalty calls for 3 grams and I know Jamil recommends rehydrating. So, I went for a more precise pitch and weighed out the yeast, rehydrated according to Fermentis, tempered it with some wort and crossed my fingers.
    I may have added one too many new variables but hopefully it comes out good.

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