Journal of Brewing

My latest kit from Northern Brewer is on its way to my home. I’ll be attempting their India Pale Ale. Why an IPA, well I say to you, why not?

I really enjoy this style of beer for a variety of reasons. First, as a hophead, I love to be pelted in the nose by an overwhelming amount of hops when I get near a glass. Something about that just says beer to me. Next, IPAs always make me think of warm weather and sunny days. I can imagine sitting out on a warm evening drinking a pint. In the bar near college I used to have an IPA in the summer at happy hour while I ate wings. The hops really re-enforced the flavor in the sauce. That grassy flavor just reminds me of playing on a baseball field after the lawn was cut. I think this beer will be a perfect candidate for some aging (~2 months) before it’s ready to be consumed. With all that being said and my spidey senses tingling, let’s look at the lineup:

RECIPE

Specialty Grains

The notes say this malt is 30-37° L which would give the beer a reddish appearance? I may be wrong about this and I guess i’ll tell after I make the wort. The notes also indicate that this grain will contribute dextrins and add to head stability. Well, dextrins to boost body sound appropriate for an IPA. If a beer with this much flavor going on was missing body it would probably taste like wastewater.

Fermentable Sugars

I have used this much sugar in a recipe before. They must really be going for a serious O.G. in this recipe. Using this nifty homebrew calculator:

O.G. 1.064 to 1.075

That’s a nice big beer. I will certainly make a starter like I did last time. Fortunately, Northern Brewer ships Wyeast XL packs standard so my yeast will be off and running. Oh, there’s also the oxygen i’ll be injecting.

Hops

And did I mention it had hops? I’m still learning what these numbers actually mean. I was wrong in my previous post. The IBU for my last beer (Flagship Ale) was only 24.7. I’m looking at 2.4 times the amount of bitterness. Well, there’s alot more malt too, should be an experience.

I.B.U. = 59.4

I’ve worked with Kent Goldings and Fuggles before. I used the fuggles in the Original Porter and the Kent Goldings in either the Trippel or the Wheat Beer. The nugget are new ones for me. Here is what I found about those hop varieties:

Fuggle (UK) - AA% 4 to 5.5, robust and earthy
Kent Goldings (UK) - AA% 4 to 5.5, mild and pleasant, gentle
Nugget - AA% 11 to 14.5, heavy, herbal

Yeast

Medium flocculation, typical ale range, 72-76% attenuation. If all goes to plan that should give me a final gravity of 1.015 (76% attenuation). That translates into an ABV of 6.43%, not too shabby. We’ll see what the future holds for this one.