American Red IPA
Introduction
Looking for a big bold citrusy American Red IPA? This is it!
This is an amped-up version of our American Amber Ale with 20% more grain to bump up the alcohol and three times the hops, including two rounds of dry hopping. Result is a big hoppy beer with floral, tropical, and citrus notes. The crystal malts add a beautiful ruby red colour and slightly more caramel malt presence than a classic American IPA, but the amounts are low enough to ensure that it's still crisp and very drinkable (as an American IPA should be).
Originating out of the West Coast, Red IPA is one of the newest sub-styles to break off of the American IPA style category per BJCP 2015.
Brew up a batch and let us know how you like it!
American Red IPA
Size: 12 US gallons (post-boil @ 68F)
Mash Efficiency: 95%
Attenuation: 81.8%
Calories: 200 kcal per 12 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.061 (style range: 1.056 - 1.070)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (style range: 1.008 - 1.016)
Colour: 14.6 SRM (style range: 11 - 19)
Alcohol: 6.5% ABV (style range: 5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 70 IBU (style range: 40 - 70)
Mash:
17.4 lb Pale ale malt (2.5-3.3L) (77.5%)
1.8 lb Dark Munich malt (9L) (8.0%)
1.45 lb Crystal malt (40L) (6.5%)
0.9 lb Crystal malt (120L) (4.0%)
0.9 lb Victory malt (28L) (4.0%)
Boil:
2 oz Magnum hops (11.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min [35.6 IBU]
1 Whirlfloc tablet (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
3 oz Centennial hops (11.2%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min [21 IBU]
3 oz Amarillo hops (7.3%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min [13.7 IBU]
Post-boil:
3 oz Centennial hops (11.2%) - added immediately after boil
3 oz Amarillo hops (7.3%) - added immediately after boil
Yeast:
Fermentis Safale US-05 dry yeast* (42g recommended or make an equivalent starter)
Dry hop:
1.5 oz Centennial hops (11.2%) - dry hop #1 (added to fermenter near end of fermentation, steeped 3 days)
1.5 oz Amarillo hops (7.3%) - dry hop #1 (added to fermenter near end of fermentation, steeped 3 days)
1.5 oz Centennial hops (11.2%) - dry hop #2 (added to brite tank, steeped 3 days)
1.5 oz Amarillo hops (7.3%) - dry hop #2 (added to brite tank, steeped 3 days)
*If you prefer to use liquid yeast, Wyeast 1056 American Ale or White Labs WLP001 California Ale are excellent choices as they are the same clean fermenting Chico strain as US-05. You'll need ~680 billion cells or an equivalent starter.
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Notes / Process
- Add 500mg potassium metabisulfite to 20 gallons water to remove chlorine / chloramine (if required).
- Water treated with brewing salts to our Hoppy flavour profile: Ca=110, Mg=18, Na=16, Cl=50, SO4=275 (Basically Randy Mosher's ideal Pale Ale numbers with slightly less sulfate). For more information on how to adjust your water, refer to our step by step Water Adjustment guide.
- 1.25 qt/lb mash thickness.
- Single infusion mash at 152F for 90 mins.
- Raise to 168F mashout temperature and hold for 10 mins.
- ~90 min fly sparge with ~5.6-5.8 pH water (measured at mash temperature).
- Boil for 60 minutes, adding Whirlfloc and hops per schedule. Lid on at flameout, start chilling immediately.
- Cool the wort quickly to 66F (we use a one-pass convoluted counterflow chiller to quickly lock in hop flavour and aroma) and transfer to fermenter.
- Oxygenate the chilled wort to a level of 14 ppm dissolved oxygen. For more information refer to our Aerating / Oxygenating Wort guide.
- Pitch yeast and ferment at 66-68F (wort temperature). We use modified stainless fermenting buckets in wine fridges.
- Add dry hops #1 once fermentation is nearing completion (i.e. 5 points from final gravity) and raise the temperature to 70-72F. In our case we simply turn off the fermenting fridges and allow the beer to naturally rise to room temperature. Steep for 3 days while fermentation finishes. Assume fermentation is done if the gravity does not change over ~3 days.
- Add dry hops #2 to brite tank (we use 5 gallon glass carboys), purge with CO2 to avoid oxygen pickup, then carefully rack in the beer on top of the hops. Allow to steep for 3 days at 70-72F room temperature. We do not recommend using hop sacks or containers as you'll get the best extraction if you let the hops roam free. You may also consider adding dry hops #2 directly to the fermentation vessel and skipping the use of the brite tank. In most cases we recommend skipping the use of a brite as the less you handle the beer and potentially expose it to oxygen, the better.
- After 3 days of contact with dry hops #2, package as you would normally. We rack to kegs that have first been purged with CO2, and then carbonate on the low side (around 2 volumes of CO2) to minimize carbonic bite and let the hop and malt flavours shine through. We chill the kegs to near freezing while carbonating at the same time in a 6-keg conditioning fridge. After ~1-2 weeks at serving pressure the kegs will be carbonated and ready to serve. Like most hop forward beers this IPA is best consumed fresh so feel free to raise the CO2 pressure temporarily to 30-40 PSI to carbonate quickly over a 24 period, and then turn back down to serving pressure. Some hop bits will have invariably made their way into the keg during transfer so we use a Hop Stopper Keg Edition filter to ensure that hops do not clog the dip tube and/or end up in the glass. Force carbonating at high pressure and using a Hop Stopper filter allows us to serve this beer 24 hours after kegging. There's no need to wait a few days for any hop bits that made their way into the keg to first settle out.
- We do not recommend using finings such as unflavoured gelatin as it may "round off" hop flavours / aromas.
For detailed brewing instructions, see our Brew Day Step by Step guide.
Enjoy!
Questions? Visit our American Red IPA forum thread.
Pictures / Videos
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