So... What is it?
The India Pale Ale (IPA) is a hop-forward beer style with higher alcohol content (typically average 7-7.5%). It originated in the 18th century during British colonization of India, when brewers added extra hops and increased alcohol to preserve beer for long journeys. George Hodgson's "October beer" gained popularity in India, leading to the term "India Pale Ale." Now the IPA has evolved, and is largely responsible for the boom of the new era of craft beer, with breweries the world over experimenting and creating various sub-styles of amazing and unique IPA’s!
What's our like?
So what the heck is a “Mid-Coast” IPA? Well to be honest… it's not really a thing! but it's our tongue and cheek joke at an IPA that sits somewhere in the worlds between a West Coast and an East Coast style. For our “Mid-Coast” the grain bill leans towards a west Coast style, whereas the hop schedule leans more towards an East coast style, almost NEIPA-esque, with low bitterness but big bold citrus, berries and tropical juice hop character! Clocking in at 7.2% it sits in the average ballpark for the IPA style and the crystal backbone makes it a very balanced and smashable IPA!
Batch Size & Stats
- 38L (2 19L corny kegs) / 10 gal finished beer
- 48L (12.7 gal) wort
- For a smaller 19L (5 gal) batch size simply half the ingredients of this recipe
- Starting gravity – 1.067
- Final gravity 1.012
- ABV – 7.2%
What ingredients?
Water
With sparging
- 30L (7.9 gal) strike water approx. mash temp of 66°C (151°F) for 60 mins
- 35L (9.2 gal) sparge water at 78°C (172°F)
Without sparging
- 60L (15.8 gal) strike water approx. mash temp of 66°C (151°F) for 60 mins
-
Malts
Total Grain Bill 7kg (15.4lb)
- Pale Ale – 11.2kg (24.7 lb)
- Medium Crystal – 800g (1.76 lb)
- (I would recommend adding some carapils / cara foam for better body, maybe swap out 500g (1.1lb) from the pale ale malt)
Hops & whirlfloc tablets
Galaxy
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 60 minutes left in the boil
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 10 minutes left in the boil
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 5 minutes left in the boil
- 60g (2.1 oz) - 20 minutes whirlpool after boil at 75 °C (167°F)
Lotus
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 10 minutes left in the boil
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 5 minutes left in the boil
- 60g (2.1 oz) - 20 minutes whirlpool after boil at 75 °C (167°F)
Lupomax Sabro
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 10 minutes left in the boil
- 10g (0.35 oz) - 5 minutes left in the boil
- 60g (2.1 oz) - 20 minutes whirlpool after boil at 75 °C (167°F)
- 100g (3.53 oz) - Dry hop near end of fermentation (around day 7 & 1.013 gravity)
Lupomax Mosaic
- 100g (3.53 oz) - Dry hop near end of fermentation (around day 7 & 1.013 gravity)
Whirlfloc
- 1.5g granulated or 2 tablets – 15 minutes left in the boil
Yeast options & fermentation temperatures
- LalBrew Verdant IPA – ferment at 20°C (68°F) to 25°C (77°F) 22g (0.77 oz) / (2 packet)
- lallemand west coast ale – ferment at 20°C (68°F) to 25°C (77°F) 22g (2 packet)
- US-05 – ferment at 20°C (68°F) 23g (0.81 oz) / (2 packets)
- AUS-05 – ferment at 20°C (68°F) 23g (0.81 oz) / (2 packets)
- S-04 – ferment at 18°C (64.4°F) 22g (0.81 oz) / (2 packets)
Step by step process
Step 1 – Milling
- Mill grains to medium crush (set mill rollers to a gap of approx. 1.00mm / 0.039 inches (credit card width)
- Just keep in mind roller gap settings are not universal so as you brew more batches you will find the ideal crush size for your setup
- Alternatively if you don’t have a grain mill you can order your grains crushed from most homebrew stores, both online and in person
Step 2 – Mashing
Mash for 60 minutes at 66°C (151°F)
- Set your strike water to a few degrees above the target mash temperature (you can use the calculator in our website for this)
- ensure you mix in the grains thoroughly with a mash paddle to prevent dough balls from forming (big spoons, spatulas or whisks will also work)
- its easier to mash the grains and prevent dough balls if you add a little grain at a time, mix, add more grain and repeat until all the grains are mixed
if you don’t have a mash tun with heating then ensure after you have finished mixing the grains in to insulate your mash tun (thick neoprene or heavy blankets both work well)
Step 3 (optional) – Sparging
- if your setup has the capability to sparge then do so with 35L (9.2 gal) sparge water at 78°C (172°F)
- if you are not sparging and using a BIAB (brew in a bag) method then remove grains from mash tun and twist and squeeze the bag to get as much liquid out of the grains as possible
- as you start sparging (or straining your BIAB bag) begin raising the temperature of your wort to a boil
Step 4 – Boiling
- once your wort begins to boil start a timer for a 60-minute boil and add your bittering hops, 10g (0.35 oz) of Galaxy
- at 15 minutes left in the boil add 2 whirlfloc tablets / 1.5g of granulated whirlfloc
- at 10 minutes left in the boil add 10g (0.35 oz) of Galaxy, Lupomax Sabro & Lotus
- at 5 minutes left in the boil add 10g (0.35 oz) of Galaxy, Lupomax Sabro & Lotus
- once wort has been boiling for 60 minutes in total bring the temperature of the wort down to 75 °C (167°F) and add 60g (2.1 oz) each of galaxy, lotus, & lupomax sabro and hold temperature here for 20 minutes
Step 5 – Whirlpooling / cooling
- after your 20 minute hop steep / whirlpool off your heat source and begin chilling wort down to yeast pitching temperature
- once you’ve reached yeast pitching temperature take an original gravity reading of your wort
Step 6 – Yeast Pitching
- It is best to make a yeast starter before beginning your brew day (ideally 1 day before) to ensure your yeast are as active and healthy as possible before pitching, but not completely necessary – you could also just rehydrate yeast 30 minutes before pitching.
- Wort Aeration (Optional) if you have a paint mixer give your wort a quick blitz before pitching yeast to help add more dissolved oxygen into the wort to help the yeast have a healthier kick start into fermentation
- Now add your tincture of Vanilla extract! (or you can wait till end of fermentation if you prefer)
- Pitch yeast in wort a degree or two higher than the target fermentation temperature to help yeast take off more aggressively
- To make a yeast starter you can use either:
- DME (dry malt extract) at a ratio of approx. 100g per 1L water (3.5 oz per 33 fluid ounces) for gravity of approx. 1.040
- some unfermented wort kept cold and sanitary from a previous brew day
- 70g of table sugar per 1L water (2.5 oz per 33 fluid ounces) – however, it is best to use malt sugar (wort / DME) whenever possible to reduce the chance of shocking the yeast with a different food source from starter to wort pitching
- To rehydrate yeast
- Add yeast to approx. 10 times as much room temperature water as the weight of the yeast e.g. 10g yeast in 100 ml water (0.35 oz yeast in 3.5 fluid ounces water)
Step 7 – Fermentation & Dry Hopping
- Allow yeast to ferment over the next two weeks (aprox)
- If you have a temperature-controlled system keep the fermenter temperature to the recommended fermentation temperature for each yeast strain (stated in the yeast ingredients section above)
- Monitor the fermentation activity over the first 5-7 days by the bubbling of the blow-off tube/airlock of your fermenter, as the bubbling slows down (roughly around day 5-7) take a gravity reading. When the gravity reaches around 1.015 raise the temperature of your fermenter by 1-2 degrees for 2 days for a diacetyl rest (if you don’t have temperature control don’t worry about this step, it's not the end of the world!)
- whilst you start your diacetyl rest add your dry hops, 100g (3.53 oz) each of lupomax mosaic & lupomax sabro!
- It's important to note that fermentation times will vary based on your circumstances like temperature, amount of yeast pitched, the healthiness of yeast, the gravity of the wort, pH, etc. so don’t stress be patient and know that these times are just a rough guide
- On day 2 of the diacetyl rest (once gravity reaches roughly 1.012) & gravity is the same 2 days in a row move onto cold crashing! (If you can’t / don’t want to cold crash go straight to kegging/bottling your beer!)
Step 8 (optional) – Cold crashing
- begin cold crashing your fermenter (bring the temperature of your fermenter down to as close to 0°C (32°F) as possible, for 2 days to a week depending on how patient you are
- If you don’t have a temp-controlled fermenter, you can cold crash by putting your fermenter in a fridge or temp-controlled chest freezer
- After you have finished cold crashing it's time to keg/bottle your beer! If you are bottling your beer from the fermenter uncarbonated, remember to add about 5-7 grams (0.17 - 0.24 oz) of priming sugar to your bottles to carbonate your beer.
