Wheat IPA, Late Hopping Strategy

[Bill Lawrence]

Ok lads/ladies, this is a hop question; not really my area of expertise as I've developed a taste for the hop only recently. I want to make a wheat IPA; normal stuff 1.065 O.G., say about 60 IBU's and of course bursted heavily. I want to make this a summertime drink so I'll try for good attenuation but I want it light and "fluffy" like a wheat beer should be (likely no crystal type malts at all in the grist so it should be pretty dry). I thought I would go for a "citrus/fruity" flavor so to that end I was considering Moseic and Citra for flavor and aroma. My limited experience with both these hops is that they can get to be too much either by themselves or possibly in combination. I also have quite a bit of Simcoe and Amarillo which I can mix in but I do want a fairly fruity primary flavor. Oh and by the way, I tend to bitter with something like Warrior or Magnum, my question is really about a late hopping strategy. Anybody got any thoughts on all this? I'd hate to just wing it and bugger the whole thing up.

[Hwheel72]

Also, something you probably considered but what type of yeast are you thinking? And at what temp will you be fermenting? The clover banana flavor of the wheat can be powerful and I feel the simcoe would be an excellent combo for that since it's fruity. I would only use 1/2 oz at around 10-15 min left in boil. Warrior would be a good bittering option to keep it more citrusy fruity.

Best of luck and sounds delicious!

Doug

[Bill Lawrence]

Oh I wouldn't use a German Heffe yeast on this; I was thinking the dried Chico yeast. Ferment at about 65F and hopefully get the normal, neutral ale yeast flavors. I don't know that a bunch of late hopping would work real well with the bananna/clove thing. I wanted the base to be wheat because that should give me the "fluffy/light" wheat flavors which hopefully would make the beer a better summer drink.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Bill this beer sounds tasty.

I'd like to sample what you come up with. I like the idea of wheat and American hops. Three Floyds Gumballhead is pretty tasty stuff (35 IBUS 5.6% with Amarillo hops). Hop bursting with loads of hops 20min through flame out seems to work well. Then a follow up with dry hopping.

What is your strategy for "dry" finish? Wheat beers are not known for being very dry. They tend to finish with more body. In my opinion less wheat in the grist will allow the beer to finish dry with less body.

I have a session wheat IPA in Limbo (1.044 OG 44 IBS 4.5%). It's an experimental wheat made with the Cedar Creek Dankosaurus hops. The grist is heavy wheat to support the aggressive hopping. I'm still working out the hop blend (needs deeper resin).

As for making IPAs I'd say the strategy is in hop blending. Using straight C-hops in an IPA is just plain boring (Judging from the IPA category explosion).

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[Bill Lawrence]

We really need to discuss that Barret. Since I am a big time Dogfish Head guy, I tend to push the Amarillo/Simcoe late but with this beer I thought I would swap out the Amarillo for either/Mosaic and/or Citra so I could get alot of the citrus action going. Of course if you use Mosaic you are also going to get the wierd "mellon thing" happening which in moderation would be interesting. I messed with Citra a bit last year in a 1.050 American wheat beer I did and it was ok but for whatever reason I want to do a "Tillman" and screw around a bit. I tried some so called sessionable IPA and frankly didn't really like it, I thought the hops didn't come off the way they normally do in a regular strenght IPA which is why I decided to go the 1.065 OG route this time (although I'll mash low so it doesn't get heavy). I don't plan on using any crystal malt at all and I guess I could also chuck in a pound of honey or so just to dry it out some more. I know I won't brew this weekend just because I really need to judge but perhaps the following weekend, God and the spousal unit willling.

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Mosaic, Nelson, and Ace hops are delicious. I am starting to see more breweries use them as single hops.

I still think hop blending is the beauty of IPAs. I agree the session IPA style in particular can be hit and miss. My recent favorite is Easy Jack by Firestone.
Check out the malts in play (Pale, Munich, Wheat, armel-35, CaraPils, Oats). The beer is lovely 50 IBS and 4.5%. The hops are blended (Mandarina, Melon, NZ hops?, Mosaic).

The stronger strength IPAs seem to benefit from "alcohol sweetness" (referring to the interplay with finish and warming). I'd say adding honey is a neat trick. The light residual sweetness a plus over using plain sugar (fully fermented and thin). I still feel all malt grist mashed low with considerable wheat would work (~10-15% ).

Walter and the team at Limbo login sampled my experiment wheat. I had to cut out as it was poured. Seemed a bit under carbbed at the time.

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[Bill Lawrence]

Well I would have to say that worked out pretty well. I ended up dropping 1/2 a pound of that Mexican sugar in the copper (stuff looks like a little hat in the package) as I found some cheap at the grocery store, I could see doubling up next time to dry it out even more. The beer tastes fairly agressive and I got really good aroma from the combination of Mosaic and Citra I used to dry hop. Seems like a straight wheat beer with zero crystal showcases the hopping pretty well. Anywhow, I'll try another batch next spring as I rather fancy the whole idea of a summer IPA. Between now and the Bluebonnet I'll do an English IPA (as I rather like the British stuff also) and I have the hops to make a Pliney the Elder clone (first time making a double IPA for me).

[TheMacheteMasher]

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Great to know the hopping went well. Really can't go wrong with Mosaic and Citra. Did you keep the gravity at 1.065 SG? I'd like to sample this beer at the party.

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[Bill Lawrence]

Yeah, it's a 1.065 O.G. beer. I'll bring some in a growler and you can give me some feedback (but be gentle). Of course after you get a swig of something like that all the good German beer will taste like sweetened water.