Session IPA II

My recent session IPA turned out to be a really remarkable beer: aromatic, full of flavor, and all at 3.4% ABV. Since it was so easy to make and had such a quick turnaround, I decided to give it a second run, changing just one variable, though it was a big one: the base grain.

While I'm still fond of beers with significant percentages of rye in the grist, it's high time I reached the end of the sack of Weyermann rye malt I've been working through. So on this batch, Vienna was out and rye was in. All other variables remained the same: the grist (including the base malt percentage), the hopping, the yeast (though it was a repitch of the washed cake from the first batch), and the fermentation conditions.

My past with rye has been sortid, and the runnings were predictably slow to emerge from the mash. I ended up heating the first runnings and adding it back as well as adding wetted rice hulls and giving it several hours to run off. I added a small amount of sparge water when the kettle volume came in low...which ended up pulling out the missing wort and giving me a higher than intended boil volume. The OG came in a bit higher than the first batch because of it.

I was surprised that the final gravity ended up being so high, but the beer isn't overly sweet. It is, however, incredibly thick and, to incorporate my favorite word for rye's mouthfeel, viscous. I bottled the batch with just a small charge of sugar to aim for a cask conditioned quality. In addition, I filled three one-gallon cubitainers; one went in as is, one received a half ounce of Centennial, and the third received a half ounce of Amarillo. After several days to carbonate, I took them in to BrewChatter, my LHBS, to share with the good folks there. The results were quite interesting: the straight version was very decent, the Centennial version seemed to accentuate the rye qualities, and the Amarillo was the most aromatic. I'll definitely continue to mess with the cubitainers for experimenting with dry hops and other late addition ingredients.

While this batch wasn't sweet, the rye is overwhelming; despite the low ABV, it's difficult to consume more than a glass at a time. I find the session IPA concept as a whole to be very sound, though: keep it malty by using characterful grains, mashing high, and not sparging; go with big late hopping; and use a yeast with a lot of its own character. This definitely fulfills a hop jones without nailing the drinker with an overabundance of alcohol. I suspect there will be more of this around as the weather continues to warm.

Session IPA II - The Rye (also posted at Brewtoad)

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.043
Projected SRM: 8
Projected IBU: 43
Boil time: 60 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 71%

Grains
83.3% - 7.5 lb Weyermann Rye malt
11.1% - 1 lb Flaked oats
5.6% - .5 lb Belgian Caramunich 80L

Hops

2.0 oz Amarillo (10.7%) (10 min)
.5 oz Columbus (15.6%) (10 min)
.5 oz Centennial (11.3%) (10 min)
1.0 oz Amarillo (0 min) 30-min steep
.5 oz Columbus (0 min) 30-min steep
.5 oz Centennial (0 min) 30-min steep
.5 oz Centennial (Dry hop - 5 days) - Cask #2
.5 oz Amarillo (Dry hop - 5 days) - Cask #3

Yeast
Wyeast WY1469 West Yorkshire Ale - no starter

Water
Profile: Reno
9 g Gypsum
3 g CaCl
2 ml Lactic acid (88%)

Brewday: 15 February 2015
Mash: 154F for 60 minutes
No sparge (mostly) - added 5 qts @ 212F to get out
Pre-boil volume: 7.8 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 9.7P (1.039)

Runoff was sticky; lautered about 2/3 before it stuck hard. Heated runnings to 185F & added back to mash tun. Also tried blowing out hose & adding two wetted handfuls of rice hulls.

Fermenter volume: 5.4 gallons
Fermented at 64-66F, raised to 70F near the end of fermentation.

Bottled: 28 February 2015

FG: 1.020!

ABV: 3.0%

Bottled with 2.1 oz table sugar. 3 gallons went into cubitainers: one plain, one with .5 oz Amarillo, one with .5 oz Centennial.