This recipe is the evolution of a fruity and tropical IPA I’ve been tweaking for some time. Relatively low bitterness but packs a tonne of interesting hop characteristics with a clean and slightly sweet malt backbone.

A fantastic beer that has found a regular place on my home taps. Please give it a brew and let me know how you go!

Batch Details

Batch Size Boil SRM Est. OG Est. FG Est. ABV 30L 60min 5.2 1.057 1.009 6.2%

Using my Fermentasaurus I’m comfortable able to ferment 30L batches. You will probably need to adjust for your system.

Water

Water additions for this batch were 7g Gypsum and 3g Calcium Chloride. With my tap water this gives a slightly elevated Sulfate content but is still reasonably balanced.

Fermentables

Name Amount % Ale Malt (Gladfield) 6.8kg 85% Toffee Malt (Gladfield) 0.5kg 6.3% Flaked Barley 0.3kg 3.7% Dextrose 0.4kg 5%

It’s my understanding that Gladfield Toffee malt is quite similar to what’s known as “Honey Malt” in the US, so feel free to substitute there.

Mash

Single infusion mash @ 66C for 60min.

Hops

Hop Time Amt AA% IBU Dr Rudi 45min 22g 11% 20.9IBU Centennial Whirlpool – 15min @ 80C 45g 10% ?? Simcoe Whirlpool – 15min @ 80C 85g 13% ?? Vic Secret Dryhop – Day 6 (4 days of contact) 200g 19% ?? Simcoe Dryhop – Day 6 (4 days of contact) 60g 13% ??

Vic Secret is really the star of the show here, and is reserved strictly for the dry hop due to it’s absurd cohumulone content and AA%. It’s a wonderful and very pungent hop.

Fermentation

I pitched 2 packets of US-05 into 19C wort and placed in my fermentation fridge. After 72 hours of vigorous fermentation the temperature was ramped to 22C.

6 days in fermentation had completed, so I dry hopped the beer with a huge charge of Vic Secret and a dash of Simcoe. Using the Fermentasaurus I’m able to purge the headspace of O2 after my dry hop addition, which works wonders for reducing the possibility of oxidisation.

On the left is the beer 3 days in, and on the right is a few days into the dry hop.

As I’ve stated in a previous post, I’ll often swirl the fermenter several times during the dry hop to rouse everything back into suspension. When putting the fermenter under pressure it often forces the dispersed hop matter to sink to the bottom.

On the 10th day I set my fermentation fridge to 2C and let the beer cold crash for a few days. I then added a dose of Biofine in through the floating diptube of my fermenter. My process for doing this is quite simple:

Add appropriate amount of Biofine to a PET bottle, attach a Carb cap, and purge thoroughly to ensure no oxygen is present

Pressurise the bottle to a slightly lower pressure than my fermenter and attach it with a “jumper line” (beer line with two liquid QD’s attached). I’ll fill it with maybe 100-200ml from the fermenter

Disconnect the bottle from the fermenter, swirl the liquid to combine, and re-pressurise the bottle to a very high PSI

Re-attach the bottle to my fermenter and blast the solution through the fermenter’s floating diptube

After leaving the Biofine for 48 hours the beer was incredibly bright and ready for closed transfer to a keg.

Tasting Notes

Smell: The Vic Secret dominates the nose, as it should. Bright tropical fruit and citrus, with a hint of supporting pine. This is really the type of aroma I aim for as a homebrewer.

Appearance: Clear straw/gold that is very attractive in the glass.

Taste: The Simcoe/Centennial pairing work their magic – tropical fruits, lifted citrus and a hint of pine. Low bitterness with a sweet honey/toffee note. Finishes clean and dry. Absolutely delicious!