Description

Part 2 of our Head To Head series sees Rakey challenge Stiffo to brew a West Coast Pale. The brief being that the beer needs to be Piney, Pithy, Bitter, Citrusy, Grapefruit. With Rakey being a huge fan of West Coast IPAs he wanted to brew something that was representative of Two Hearted or Oregon Trail but that was lower ABV for everyday drinking as well as being affordable to brew.

This recipe created by Rakey uses a modern style malt bill that is low colour Maris Otter along with a small amount of Munich malt that takes the place of what traditionally would have been a Crystal malt. Then hop wise its pretty classic using Chinook, Citra, Cascade, Columbus and Mosaic. Rakey chose to use M44 yeast to keep the price down, so we have made this optional so you also have the option to choose a different yeast should you wish – PLEASE ENSURE YOU ADD A YEAST ABOVE.

The final beer is bitter, dry, piney, resinous, very drinkable and totally to brief. If you wish to reduce the bitterness then add all the kettle additions at 10 mins then add the dry hop after fermentation has ended and having dropped the temp to 14c whilst also reducing contact time to 24hrs to reduce that grassy green bitterness.

Be sure to also check out Stiffos recipe for his response to Rakeys challenge and be sure to watch the videos about the beers and how they were brewed, that way youll also be able to find out which of the two beers won.

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Ingredients Included

Simpsons Malt – Munich Malt
Simpsons Malt – Low Colour Maris Otter

Total Grain Bill: 4900g

Columbus – BarthHaas® BBC Pure Hop Pellets (40g)
Citra® – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellets (40g)
Cascade – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellets (40g)
Chinook – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellets (65g)
Mosaic – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellets (40g)

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Method

Beer Style (main): American Ales
Beer Style (sub): Session India Pale Ale
Batch Size: 23
Original Gravity: 1.043
Final Gravity: 1.006
ABV %: 4.8
IBU: 45
Mash efficiency: 75
Brewing equipment: Brewed using a Grainfather G40 – video on YouTube

THE MASH
Temperature °C (Step 1): 65
Length (mins) (Step 1): 60
Temperature °C (Step 2): 75
Length (mins) (Step 2): 10

THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 60

Hop / kettle additions and timing:

15g Chinook PHP @20mins
15g Chinook PHP @15mins
15g Chinook PHP @10mins

This is all about getting clear beer so make sure you use protofloc or Irish moss, even worth looking at BrewBrite on the boil too.

Whirlpool / hop stand:

40g Citra PHP for 40 mins
20g Chinook PHP for 40 mins

Yeast: M44 West Coast Mangrove Jacks – Optional so you can choose to use the same or different
Fermentation temperature/steps: 18c for roughly 10 days, raise to 20c for the last couple of days. Or follow your chosen yeast instructions

Secondary additions:

I added my dry hop as fermentation was coming to the end. Adding it as the beer got to 1.008 at 20c, the hops will help the yeast get to the final gravity.

40g Columbus PHP
40g Mosaic PHP
40g Cascade PHP

After 2 days at 20c I then start to drop the temp slowly to a cold crash ensuring that Im adding Co2 to the FV to prevent oxidisation of the beer. Holding the beer at 4c for a minimum of 2 days is advised to help with clearing the beer, at this time then start to remove true and hops from the beer if your equipment allows this.

Again ensure you are using clearing aids with this brew to get the clarity you need when presenting this beer.

Comments:

This beer was part of our Head To Head series, ensure you check out the videos on YouTube.