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Now that you’ve brewed a few beers, you may have a collection of leftover hops that you’d like to use up. Hops store well in an airtight container in a cool place (for long-term hops storage, use your freezer), but they’re like cooking spices: The longer you wait to use them, the less potent they are. When you find yourself with a quarter ounce of this and a quarter ounce of that, it’s time to pull out this recipe and use up your leftover hops. Six-hop beer recipes are popular, and “hopheads” line up for niche beers on a regular basis. For instance, Heady Topper, a double IPA brewed by The Alchemist, is one of the most sought-after beers in the United States. So many out-of-state cars were pulling into the Waterbury, Vermont, brewery that the brewers decided to close the facility to visitors. More readily available examples of the style include Lagunitas IPA, Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA (and 90-Minute, a higher-ABV double IPA), and Stone IPA (and Stone’s “Enjoy By” double IPA series). You no longer have to worry that the keg of exquisite IPA you’re craving might be empty five minutes after it’s tapped at your favorite bar. Now you have the tools and recipe for making your own six-hop IPA. You can “enjoy by” yourself whenever you want. The following table explains what to look for when you make an American-style IPA.
One rule of thumb in brewing is that the longer the boil, the more bitter the brew. In this recipe, you’ll boil for 90 minutes instead of the 60 minutes called for in this book’s other recipes. You can use whatever hops you like to experiment with this recipe, but you should try to match alpha acid percentages given here with any hops substitution.
Ingredients
3 – 1/2 pounds American 2-row pale malt
1 pound German Vienna malt
1/4 pound Caramel malt (20°L)
1 ounce Simcoe hops (13% alpha acid)
1/2 ounce Columbus hops (14.5% alpha acid)
1/4 ounce Apollo hops (18% alpha acid)
1/2 ounce Citra hops (13.2% alpha acid; whole flower preferred)
1/4 ounce Amarillo hops (9.5% alpha acid)
1/4 ounce Cascade hops (6.6% alpha acid)
1/2 package (11.5-gram/0.405-ounce) ale yeast, such as Safale US-05
1/2 ounce Columbus hops (optional; 15% alpha acid; whole flower preferred; for pellets, use a mesh bag)
1/2 ounce Centennial hops (10% alpha acid; whole flower preferred; for pellets, use a mesh bag)
1/3 cup corn sugar for priming bottles
Process
1.) Over high heat, bring 3 gallons of water to a boilin a 5-gallon brew pot. Remove the brew pot from the heat. Transfer 2 cups of the water to a sanitized glass jar and set it aside to cool. Allow the water inthe brew pot to cool to 160°F.
2.) Steep the pale, German Vienna, and Caramel malts in the water for 60 minutes, maintaining a temperature of 145°F. As this is a very long steep, monitor the temperature especially carefully. If you need to reheat the mash, do not exceed 145°F.
3.) Lauter. The wort should end up in the brew pot.
4.) Bring the wort to a rolling boil per the instructions on.
5.) Add the Simcoe, Columbus, and Apollo hops andboil for 45 minutes.
6.) Add the Citra, Amarillo, and Cascade hops and boil for another 45 minutes.
7.) In a separate, clean saucepan, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow the water to cool to room temperature. Set aside.
8.) Remove the brew pot from the heat. From this point on, make sure everything that comes into contact with the wort has been sanitized.
9.) Cool the wort quickly.
10.) While the wort is chilling, rehydrate the yeast.
11.) Filter out the hops debris and transfer the chilled wort to a sanitized 3-gallon fermenting container
12.) Add the boiled, cooled water from step 7 to the fermenter to bring the total amount of wort to 2½ gallons, and aerate per the instructions on page 15.
13.) When the temperature is less than 80°F, pitch the yeast.
14.) If you’re dry hopping, add the Columbus hops to your fermenter.
15.) Ferment for 5 days per the instructions on page 15, maintaining a temperature of 68°F.
16.) Do a secondary fermentation
17.) If you’re dry hopping, add the Centennial hops.
18.) Ferment at 70°F to 72°F for another week to 10 days.
19.) Bottle and condition
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Excerpt from DIY Beer Brewing: Creating Your First Homebrew, by Astrid Cook, published by Rockridge Press. Copyright © 2015 by Callisto Media. All rights reserved.
