The New England style IPA is a style that is gaining popularity across the globe. These Brew Dudes conducted research, mostly one can at a time, to discover the aspects of what makes this type of beer great and how we could brew one at home. See the results of homebrewing a New England IPA – NEIPA – in this video:

If you’re tired of waiting in line at your favorite brewery, try this recipe to brew a NEIPA at home.

NEIPA Recipe

Beer Name: Juicy AF

5 gallon batch
7 gallon boil size

Water:
6 gallons filtered tap
(Since we live in New England, our water is high in chloride and is appropriate for the style)
3 gallons distilled
(Our water is also high in sodium, which is just bad for beer so we added some distilled water to dilute our tap water)

Grains:
13 pounds Thomas Fawcett Pearl Malt
0.5 pounds Weyermann Munich Type 1 Malt
1 pound Briess Flaked Barley
1 pound Briess Flaked White Wheat
1 pound table sugar (added with 15 minutes to go in the boil)

Mashed with 4 gallons of water (3 gallons tap – 1 gallon distilled) at 155° F. Batch sparged with the rest of the water at 170° F

Boiled for 60 minutes

Hops:
Simcoe – 1 ounce -30 minutes to go in the boil
Simcoe – 1 ounce – Flameout
Amarillo – 1 ounce – Flameout
Galaxy – 1 ounce – Flameout
Simcoe – 1 ounce – Whirlpool
Amarillo – 1 ounce – Whirlpool
Galaxy – 1 ounce – Whirlpool
Mosaic – 1 ounce – Day 3 of primary fermentation
Amarillo – 1 ounce – Day 3 of primary fermentation
Galaxy – 1 ounce – Day 3 of primary fermentation
Mosaic 2 ounces – Day 7 of primary fermentation
Galaxy – 1 ounce – Day 7 of primary fermentation

Yeast:
Giga Yeast VT IPA – 1 pouch in a 3 Liter starter

Total fermentation time was 10 days at 66°F. Kegged right from primary fermentation vessel.

OG: 1.065
FG: 1.012
ABV: 6.96%

Thoughts on Improvements and Changes for Next Time

At posting, the BJCP does not have style guidelines for the NEIPA. From our research, these beers are cloudy in appearance and aggressively hopped but not bitter. The hop flavors express themselves as fruit forward with many notes of tropical, stone fruit, and citrus flavors.

Some people say it looks like gravy and tastes like juice. I think they’re right and I was able to hit those notes with this beer.

The amount and varieties of hops brought about the flavors I wanted. I would use this combination of hops again. I feel like Galaxy should be your lead hop for flavor with all the pineapple goodness it brings with Simcoe as your light bittering charge because of the dankiness it imparts.

The yeast starter was key. I had a quick fermentation and the yeast really made the hop flavors shine. The temperature was a little lower than I normally use but the pitch rate made sure everything finished completely.

I think the grain bill needs a little tweaking. I don’t think this beer needs any malts to enhance the color or the maltiness. If I brew this one again, I would remove the Munich. This beer is so out of balance towards the hops, I don’t think there is any way you can make a malt flavor pop in the finished beer. The flaked wheat and barley do a good job to keep the mouthfeel slick and the proceedings cloudy.

The pound of sugar is important as it does dry out the finish, leaving you with the need to take more sips of this excellent beer.

BREW ON!