Have you heard of this style yet? According to a few Google searches, Brut IPA originated from a brew dude named Kim Sturdavant, the head brewer of San Francisco’s Social Kitchen and Brewery. Mike and I had heard of the style and we were interested in brewing it ourselves.

When I saw a kit was available on Northern Brewer, I jumped at the chance to buy it so I could try it out. It was a low effort way to source all the ingredients and step-by-step process. Watch as we tasted and discuss the details of this Brut IPA brewed from an extract kit.

Ingredients In The Kit

I swear I bought an all grain kit but when it arrived at my house, I was surprised to find malt extract when I opened the box.

The kit came with:

  • 6 pounds of Gold malt syrup
  • 1 pound of Golden Light dry malt extract (DME)

I’ll tell ya, I do not like liquid malt extract. I find it hard to work with during the brew process and it makes for beers that are darker in color than what you’re aiming for.

This style is supposed to be very light in color. I knew that wasn’t going to the case as I was racking the wort into the fermentor.

Here are the hops with the instructions of when to add them to the brewing process:

  • 2 oz Nelson Sauvin (10 min hop stand)
  • 2 oz Hallertau Blanc (10 min hop stand)
  • 1 oz Nelson Sauvin (dry hop)
  • 1 oz Hallertau Blanc (dry hop)

For the hop selection, my preference would be to use other varieties to get the fruitiness that this style deserves. I went with the what the kit gave me.

The unique ingredients to this kit are the enzymes that came with it.

  • Amylase Enzyme
  • Amyloglucosidase Enzyme

These two are added at different times in the brewing process to aid in the breaking down of starches to sugars, make the yeast really happy, and dry out the beer.

Beer Tasting Notes

Mike seemed to get some of the tropical notes from it, but that was only after he mentioned the aroma of “orange powder from macaroni and cheese”. The color was off and the hops may not have been our favorites but this style is one that we think homebrewers should try.

For sure, I will be brewing this style again using grains not extract, other hop varieties, and a different yeast strain or at least a powerful punch of yeast to have a strong ferment.

Brew On!