American IPA
by the numbers
OG: 1.056–1.075 (13.8–18.2 °P)
FG: 1.010–1.018 (2.6–4.6 °P)
SRM: 6–15
IBU: 40–70
ABV: 5.5–7.5%
All IPA sub-styles are “hoppy,” but there is a vast difference in the level of hops between them. On the lower end is English IPA, which, while hoppy, does not have quite as bold a hop character as is found in American IPA. In an American IPA, the hop character should always be up front and the bittering obvious. The West Coast variant takes that hoppiness further and the hop character can be sometimes almost overwhelming.
The malt character for American IPA is generally much less pronounced than in English IPA. This style is more about hops, so a clean, subtle malt character is all that is required. Some examples might include some toasty or caramel flavors, but that tends to detract from the hop character, so
the use of specialty malts is less common in the West Coast examples. Mouthfeel is medium-light to medium-bodied and while there is a prominent bitterness, it is never harsh or astringent.
The BJCP style guide lists the color as medium gold to medium reddish copper, but I think the color has shifted lighter, maybe light gold to light copper. Many examples are hazy from high levels of dry hopping.
The base malt for American IPA is often North American two-row, although use of North American pale ale malt or even a British pale ale malt is acceptable. The slightly higher kilning provides a richer biscuit-like malt character that can help add balance to a highly bitter beer.
All-grain brewers should use a single infusion mash. A temperature in the range of 149 to 154 °F (65 to 68 °C) works well, although one fine commercial example, Lagunitas IPA, uses a mash temperature of 160 °F (71 °C). Use a lower temperature when using lower attenuating yeasts or higher starting gravities. Use a higher mash temperature when using the higher attenuating yeasts or lower starting gravity beers. If you are unsure, a great starting point is 152 °F (67 °C).
I like the clean, light malt character of American-style IPAs brewed with pale malt only, but some folks might prefer a richer character and will include specialty malts such as crystal. While some examples may have a touch of caramel character, I think caramel sweetness is best reserved for the smaller, less hoppy IPA versions. Do not try to balance high levels of bittering with high levels of sweetness, which results in a heavy, less drinkable beer. The type of crystal malt also makes a difference. Darker color crystal malts add richer colors, as well as some dark caramel, toasty, roasted, and raisin flavors. Lighter color crystal malts add sweeter caramel notes. The crystal malt can range from 0 to 10% of the grist. However, the darker the crystal, the less you should use. An IPA with 10% 150 °L crystal malt may not be cloying, but it can be too intense a flavor for this style. On the flip side, an IPA with all light color crystal malt will tend to be sweet and lack depth of character. Just keep in mind, though, that American IPA is not about specialty malts, but rather clean malt flavor in the background and hop character up front.
If you are looking for more complexity or increased head retention, you can add other malts as well. Wheat malt, Munich, Vienna, Victory®, biscuit and more are common additions in many recipes, but restraint is important so that the beer does not become too malt heavy. In general, keep the total of all specialty grain additions to less than 15% of an all-grain grist.
To brew an American IPA you need hops with “American” flavor. Pretty much any hop that starts with a “C” is fair game, but there are a lot more that work well to produce that citrusy, piney, floral, resin, fruity and even dank character that people have come to love. Other hops that are frequently used in this style are Amarillo and Simcoe. Again, the most important aspect of this style is the character of the hops. The current version of the BJCP style guide mentions that the character is from American hops, but there are new hop cultivars from New Zealand and Australia that reportedly work quite well.
The bittering level for American IPA is in the range of 40 to 70 IBU (and West Coast styles can be higher still). While the bitterness should be firm and obvious, it should not be harsh. Keep in mind that there are many factors at play in the final impression of bitterness for the drinker. The starting and final gravities, water sulfate levels, the character of malts selected, the type of base malt, the yeast strain, the pitching rate, and even the yeast cell size have an impact on the perceived bittering. For most American IPAs, a bitterness to starting gravity ratio (IBU divided by OG) between 0.75 and 1.0 gives the proper result. As a general rule of thumb in determining late hop amounts, include at least double the amount of bittering hops. If you are making more of a West Coast-style IPA, then use double what you would in an average IPA. Keep in mind this is just a generalization, since using very low or high alpha acid hops makes the equation faulty. For an American IPA, include two or more late hop additions using two different hop varieties, totaling around 2 to 4 oz. (28 to 85 g) for a 5 gallon (19 L) batch at 20 minutes or later. You can use more than two varieties, but do not go crazy. A couple of varieties creates an interesting complexity; ten different hop varieties creates an indistinct “hoppiness.” Dry hopping and the use of a hop jack are also good ways to develop hop character for this style and dry hopping is almost required for a West Coast version. Dry hopping for a week at 62 °F (17 °C) is common.
The sulfate content of brewing water affects the character of hop bitterness to a significant degree. Brewing an IPA with water that has very low sulfate content results in a “flabby” bitterness. When brewing with low sulfate water you are forced to add a large amount of hop alpha acids to develop enough bittering. However, adding large quantities of hops to get a stronger bittering can result in a resin-like character. Cutting back on the hops and adding a moderate amount of gypsum (or what is known as “Burtonizing” the water), results in a sharper, crisper hop bitterness without the resin character. Most breweries add some amount of gypsum to their bitter beers, but it is easy to overdo mineral additions, resulting in a harsh character. Most water only requires a small amount of gypsum. If you do not know the sulfate content of your water, start low, with one gram of gypsum per gallon. Generally, you should need no more than three grams per gallon. It is usually better to add less gypsum than to add more, and it only takes a small amount to accentuate hop bitterness. You can add gypsum to the mash or, if you are brewing with extract, you can add it directly to your boil kettle water before you heat it.
The fermentation character for American IPA is usually clean, with restrained esters. Many brewers use a clean “Chico” strain for this style, but do not immediately rule out using the more character rich English-style yeast strains. I would not use any of the very low attenuating strains or the ones with huge esters, but there are many of them that you can ferment cooler for a less estery character and they also attenuate really well. My favorites are White Labs WLP007 Dry English and Wyeast 1098 Whitbread. Both attenuate well and, when fermenting at lower temperatures, provide a cleaner, character with just a touch more esters that help punch up the character of the beer. If you use dry yeast, Safale US-05 is a good choice.
At moderate temperatures (65–70 °F /18–21 °C), the American yeasts produce low levels of esters. You can go higher and still get good results, but the levels of compounds such as acetaldehyde and fusel alcohols will increase with temperature and can result in a less than pleasant beer. I start fermentation in the middle of this range (68 °F/20 °C), letting the temperature rise a few degrees, slowly, over a couple days. This creates the expected level of esters, helps the yeast attenuate fully, and keeps the amount of acetaldehyde in the finished beer to a minimum. If your situation restricts you to using less attenuative yeast, you will need to take steps to ensure enough attenuation. You can lower the starting gravity, lower the mash temperature, or replace a portion of the base malt with simple sugar to aid in drying out the final beer.
When you serve your American IPA, experiment with different carbonation levels and different
serving temperatures. Warmer temperatures will often allow the beer to express more of the hop aromatics. However, warmer is not always the answer. Depending on your blend of hops, cooler serving temperatures might suppress one hop character and let another shine, so don’t be afraid to test. The same goes for carbonation levels. While 2 to 2.5 volumes of CO2 is generally a good target, higher can help express hop aroma, but also can add an acidic sharpness that might not go well with the late hop character. If you have a draft system, you can start low and then try higher levels. You should be able to find the right level based on taste. While the perfect level may not be obvious the first time you try different CO2 levels, it is pretty obvious when the beer slips from perfect to some other level.
Hoppiness is an IPA
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.065 (15.9 °P)
FG = 1.012 (3.1 °P)
IBU = 65 SRM = 8 ABV = 7%
Ingredients
11.5 lbs. (5.2 kg) Great Western Northwest Pale Ale malt (or similar North American pale ale malt)
14.1 oz. (400 g) Great Western crystal malt 15 °L (or similar)
10.6 oz. (300 g) Best Malz Munich malt (or similar)
3.5 oz. (100 g) Great Western crystal malt 40 °L (or similar)
10.92 AAU Horizon hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 13% alpha acids)
(60 min.)
7.56 AAU Centennial hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 9% alpha acids)
(10 min.)
10.08 AAU Simcoe® hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 12% alpha acids)
(5 min.)
7.56 AAU Amarillo® hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 9% alpha acids)
(0 min.)
White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056 American Ale or Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast
Step by Step
Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts of water to 1 pound of grain (a liquor-to-grist ratio of about 3:1 by weight) and a temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold the mash at 149 °F (65 °C) until enzymatic conversion is complete. Infuse the mash with near boiling water while stirring or with a recirculating mash system raise the temperature to mash out at 168 °F (76 °C). Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water, collecting wort until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 5.9 gallons (22.3 L) and the gravity is 1.055 (13.6 °P).
Once the wort is boiling, add the bittering hops. The total wort boil time is 1 hour after adding the bittering hops. During that time add the Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil and add the last two hop additions at 10 minutes remaining and at flame out. Chill the wort to 67 °F (19 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is 11 grams of properly rehydrated dry yeast, two packages of liquid yeast, or one package of liquid yeast in a 2.5-liter starter.
Ferment around 67 °F (19 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in a week or less. Allow the lees to settle and the brew to mature without pressure
for another two days after fermentation appears finished. Rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar and bottle.
Hoppiness is an IPA
(5 gallons/19 L, extract plus grains)
OG = 1.065 (15.9 °P)
FG = 1.012 (3.1 °P)
IBU = 65 SRM = 8 ABV = 7%
Ingredients
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) pale ale liquid malt extract
14.1 oz. (400 g) Great Western crystal malt 15 °L (or similar)
10.6 oz. (300 g) Best Malz Munich malt (or similar)
3.5 oz. (100 g) Great Westerncrystal malt 40 °L (or similar)
10.92 AAU Horizon hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 13% alpha acids)
(60 min.)
7.56 AAU Centennial hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 9% alpha acids)
(10 min.)
10.08 AAU Simcoe® hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 12% alpha acids)
(5 min.)
7.56 AAU Amarillo® hops (0.84 oz./24 g at 9% alpha acids)
(0 min.)
White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056 American Ale or Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast
Step by Step
If you can’t get fresh liquid malt extract, use an appropriate amount of dried malt extract (DME) instead. Mill or coarsely crack the specialty malt and place loosely in a grain bag. Avoid packing the grains too tightly in the bag, using more bags if needed. Steep the bag in about 1 gallon (~4 liters) of water at roughly 170 °F (77 °C) for about 30 minutes. Lift the grain bag out of the steeping liquid and rinse with warm water. Allow the bags to drip into the kettle for a few minutes while you add the malt extract. Do not squeeze the bags. Add enough water to the steeping liquor and malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of 5.9 gallons (22.3 L) and a gravity of 1.055 (13.6 °P). Stir thoroughly to help dissolve the extract and bring to a boil.
Once the wort is boiling, add the bittering hops. The total wort boil time is 1 hour after adding the bittering hops. During that time add the Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil and add the last two hop additions at 10 minutes remaining and at flame out. Chill the wort to 67 °F (19 °C) and aerate thoroughly. The proper pitch rate is 11 grams of properly rehydrated dry yeast, two packages of liquid yeast, or one package of liquid yeast in a 2.5-liter starter.
Ferment around 67 °F (19 °C) until the yeast drops clear. With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in a week or less. Allow the lees to settle and the brew to mature without pressure for another two days after fermentation appears finished. Rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar and bottle.
