Brewing an all grain IPA with Warrior for bittering and a big charge of Amarillo for flavor and aroma seemed like a fun brew. A bright, punchy bitterness paired with aromas of sweet citrus. Plus, I haven’t brewed an IPA in a while (Late winter 2016 to be exact). With the aid of water chemistry and better mash temp stability, I was able to increase my efficiency on this batch by about 7 points. I also used some Carafoam to aid in head retention, which proved successful as well.

All Grain IPA:

Malt

93.5% – Pale Malt

3.23% – Crystal 15

3.23% – Carafoam

Mash at 152F for 1 hour.

Hops

0.2 oz / gal – Warrior @ 60 minutes

0.4 oz / gal – Amarillo @ 0 minutes

0.4 oz / gal – Amarillo – Dry Hop 5 Days

Yeast

Safale US-05

Ferment at 67F for 2 weeks

SG / FG / ABV

1.054 / 1.011 / 5.6%

Brew Day:

Brew day was fairly uneventful. I used Gypsum to adjust calcium and sulfate numbers, and reduce the mash pH some. I also used a negligible amount of salt for 10-15 ppm of sodium. The mash temp did drop several degrees to the mid 140s, so I did need to heat it back up half way through.

10 Days: Dry Hopping

I planned on only dry hopping for 4 days, but it did end up getting an extra day. I also got to test out a new toy with this batch, a BrewJacket Immersion. Using it was extremely easy, just plug it in and set your temperature. Gravity was terminal at this point (1.011).

After bottling and conditioning, this beer did pick up some grassy flavors, which seem to be reduced with a day or two of cold conditioning, revealing a nice hop profile, but it could use some more pop. Maybe in the form of white wheat malt and more hop variety (centennial and cascade come to mind. Call me old fashioned). The head retention on this IPA is spectacular. Every glass I’ve poured has had it linger throughout the life of the glass. It’s lasted about an hour on one particular pour.

Up next is a Baltic Porter!

Cheers.

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