Brew Your Own magazine has an article in the latest issue about different sub-styles of IPAs. The big one being black IPAs where I think there are a good number of commercial examples available. The one variation that caught my imagination was the Red IPA. I like the idea of having a red ale with a smooth hop burst balanced with a soft, malty foundation.
The challenges I found with formulating this recipe was finding the right specialty malts to get the red color (we’ve written about this issue before) and determining the right balance of crystal malts so the beer didn’t end up too sweet and detracted from the hoppiness.
I kept the crystal malts to a minimum, only adding one caramel malt. I am unsure if this is enough or not, but I am betting the Munich malt I put in the recipe will help with some of the perceived maltiness.
As an insurance policy, I added some sugar to the recipe to help dry the beer out. Again, I don’t if it is necessary but I am trying a few things to strike the right balance.
The hop schedule is where the real magic is. I picked non-piney varieties to blend well with the light caramel flavors. Here is my Red IPA recipe:
Boil size: 7 gallons
Final batch size: 5.5 gallons
Volume for fermentation: 5 gallons
Ingredients:
11 lbs American 2-row
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt 90°L
3 oz De-Bittered Black Malt
0.5 lbs Munich 10°L Malt
0.5 lbs White Table Sugar
0.75 oz Warrior Hop Pellets (16.00 %AA) boiled 60 mins.
0.5 oz Nelson Sauvin Hop Pellets (14.00 %AA) boiled 10 mins.
0.5 oz Citra Hop Pellets (12.00 %AA) boiled 1 mins.
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale
1 oz Nelson Sauvin Hop Pellets (14.00 %AA) dry hopped
1 oz Citra Hop Pellets (12.00 %AA) boiled dry hopped
Instructions:
Mash the grains at 152° F for an hour. Sparge until you have 7 gallons of wort for the boil. Boil for 60 minutes and add the hops when indicated in the ingredient list. The table sugar can be added with 15 minutes to go.
Cool the wort to 70° F and ferment for 2 weeks at that temperature. Rack the beer to a clean and sanitized carboy and add the remainder of the hops. Dry hop for a week. Bottle or keg as usual.
Predictions:
Original Gravity: 1.058
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 17.35° SRM
Bitterness: 63.0 IBUs
Alcohol % by volume: 6.0 %
If you are looking for a new look, different take on an IPA, take this recipe for a spin and let me know what you think.
Brew on!
Brian Murray
Good idea, using Munich malt. I’ve had good results by using crystal rye instead of, or added to a small amount of light crystal. Put together, the rye and light crystal malts are less than 10% of the grist. The colour is a deep red and the crystal rye adds subtle “Autumn” flavours, which may mean nothing to you unless you’ve been to England or New England in Autumn!
I used Cascade late hopped with Citra, but your recipe sounds a good idea. Amarillo may be worth a try. I tend to prefer plain roasted barley to black malt. It’s far less astringent. I’ll give your recipe a try. Thanks!