21B Specialty IPA: Red IPA
West Coast RIPA I
ABV7.0% OG1.063 FG1.012 IBU89Grain bill
| Gladfield American Ale Malt | 4.2 kg | 62.7% |
| Gladfield Vienna Malt | 1.6 kg | 23.9% |
| Gladfield Shepherds Delight Malt | 0.4 kg | 6% |
| Gladfield Aurora Malt | 0.3 kg | 4.5% |
| Gladfield Rye Malt | 0.2 kg | 3% |
Adjuncts
| Yeast Nutrient | 2 g @ 10 min |
| Whirlfloc | 1 g @ 10 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 10 min | 0 min | WP 80°C | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mosaic | 15g | 20g | 25g | 20g | 80g |
| Riwaka | · | 25g | 25g | 20g | 100g |
Yeast
| LalBrew BRY-97 | 1 packet |
Fermentation profile
Gravity
Temperature
About This Beer
First iteration of a recurring Red IPA series, on an American Ale base with a substantial Vienna contribution to balance the coloured malts, and a near-equal split of Mosaic and Riwaka across the schedule. It continued with II on a different yeast and III with Nectaron added.
Aurora and Shepherds Delight build the red colour and malt complexity, with rye adding a dry spicy mouthfeel. Vienna at nearly a quarter of the grist is the anchor, softening the hop-forward character and stopping the coloured malts dominating.
Mosaic runs from bittering through to dry hop, with Riwaka entering at 10 minutes and carrying through equally. The dry hop is split slightly in Riwaka’s favour, a deliberate choice to give its grapefruit and tropical character space to lead.
This was also the first brew on the conical fermenter with its trub collector, which changed how the hop addition and transfer were handled.
Brew day
Flameout additions at zero minutes, then rapid cooling to 80°C and a hold there for the whirlpool additions before chilling to pitch. Good oxygenation on transfer into the conical. Spent grain went to chickens and bread.
Fermentation
18°C under light pressure, 3 to 4 psi. Well underway within 24 hours and near the end of primary by day 4. Day 3 saw very high krausen close to the top, higher than expected at 26 litres in the vessel at 18°C.
Day 5, the trub was dumped from the collection jar twice under CO2 purge, the first time using that process, and the dry hop went in. Gravity read four points lower a few hours after the hops landed, since floating pellets disturb the Pill.
Days 7 to 12 stepped up to 20°C for the rest then cooled gradually to 3°C, with a second trub dump at day 10. Self-carbonated to 26 psi at 20°C, dropping to 14.9 psi at 3°C.
The result
Bottled on day 13 using the counter-pressure filler.
Not particularly red in the glass, a little lighter than the label suggests, but very drinkable. A slight fresh aftertaste at bottling, which is consistent with earlier batches and fades within a week or two of conditioning.