This is batch number two of my IPA experiment series. In the first batch I tested out some new equipment and techniques. The beers were some of the best IPAs I’ve ever made, but they were very hard to tell apart. It felt like I had one beer taking up two taps.

Maybe a bad sign for my motivation for testing small tweaks, but for this round I feel like having a litte fun and brewing two significantly different IPAs just to compare the hop blends.

I have ideas of what hops I like, but it’ll be nice to have two equally fresh beers to taste at the same time.

Recipe

This will be a hazy double IPA, similar to my last NEIPA, just with more of everything. About 8% abv instead of 6.3% and 66% more hops. It’ll have a larger bittering charge too, about 50 IBU from the 60 minute addition. I like my DIPAs on the bitter side.

The two hop blends I’m testing are roughly (70% citra, 30% simcoe) and (70% simcoe, 30% columbus).

I pretty much just chose these blends based on what I’ve got in the freezer right now. Columbus as a dry hop seems to be somewhat unusual. Not unheard of, but not frequently used. I’m curious to see how it’ll work in a NEIPA. It won’t taste like orange juice, that’s for sure.

I’m trying out an increased ratio of whirlpool hops to total dry hops for this batch. The whirlpool to dry hop ratio is 70%. Last batch the whirlpool size was 50% (1.5 oz whirlpool and 3.0 oz dry hop). I’m trying to dial in my preferred ratio for hazy IPAs.

Batch size:      6 gallons
Target OG:       1.074
Target FG:       1.015
Calculated IBU:  92.5
Calculated SRM:  6.1

Grain bill (pounds):
13.5  US 2-Row       (87.2%)
0.75  Wheat Malt     (4.8%)
0.75  Honey Malt     (4.8%)
0.5   Flaked Wheat   (3.2%)

Mash (Batch Sparge): 147 °F @ 1.4 qts/lb

Hops:
1.2 oz Columbus @ 60 minutes (~50 IBU)

Split in two 3 gallon halves at flame out

Half A (citra/simcoe):
2.0 oz citra / 1.5 oz simcoe @ 15 minute hop stand (~190 °F at start of hop stand)
1.75 oz citra / 0.75 oz simcoe @ Dry hop 4 days into primary in weighted 80 micron bag
1.75 oz citra / 0.75 oz simcoe @ Keg hop in weighted 80 micron bag

Half B (simcoe/columbus):
2.0 oz simcoe / 1.5 oz columbus @ 15 minute hop stand (~190 °F at start of hop stand)
1.75 oz simcoe / 0.75 oz columbus @ Dry hop 4 days into primary in weighted 80 micron bag
1.75 oz simcoe / 0.75 oz columbus @ Keg hop in weighted 80 micron bagag

Yeast:
About a cup of Imperial A24 Dry Hop slurry from my last IPA. Fermentation temp 69 °F

Notes

2020-04-26 - Brew day. Had very bad mash efficiency for some reason. Pre-boil gravity was 8 points low. Added 10oz DME + 6oz dextrose to get the gravity where it’s supposed to be. Part dextrose to keep the wort highly fermentable.

Uneventful brew day otherwise. OG 1.072. Got the wort split pretty evenly into the two halves for the whirlpool hops. Into the fridge to ferment at 69 °F.

2020-05-04 - Fermentation seems to be done. FG 1.015. 7.9% abv. Into the kegs at ~40 psi to quickly carb.

2020-05-06 - Carbonation check. I must’ve screwed something up. The citra is a bit over-carbonated. The simcoe is flat. All the gas settings look correct now but I must’ve had the gas off on the simcoe for most of the time.

2020-05-09 - Carbonation is a little better. Now they’re both a bit over-carbonated and foamy, but drinkable. I’ll vent them and let them sit with no gas a couple times until they’re where I want them.

2020-05-21 - These have been drinking pretty well for the last week. Sitting down for a proper tasting.

Citra on the left, simcoe on the right.

Appearance:

As you’d expect both beers look very similar. Golden, hazy, a little darker than the last NEIPA. I’m not sure if the darker color is just because this had more malt in it, a sign of oxidization, or a bit of both. Good head retention and lacing. The haziness is less intense than my last NEIPA, which I think is a good thing. The last one looked like I started it with a roux. I dry hopped this one on day 4 of primary instead of day 3. I thought that might reduce the haze a bit.

The citra beer is just slightly darker than the simcoe one. Oxidization?

Smell:

Citra - For the amount of hops that went into it, the smell of the citra beer is pretty reserved. It’s definitely recognizable as a citrusy IPA, but it doesn’t have that “fresh bag of hops” level of intensity that I strive for.

Simcoe - Intense hoppines. Much more in your face than the citra. The aroma is piney, dank, a little herbal.

Tatse:

Citra - Despite the muted aroma, this beer has a great flavor. I wonder if part of this comes from my increased whilpool hop addition. It’s got the trademark NEIPA citrusy juiciness that you’d expect from a hazy citra heavy beer. No off flavors to speak of. It could stand to be a bit more intense, but the flavor is a lot better off than the aroma.

It’s less bitter than the 92 calculated IBU would suggest. This doesn’t taste anywhere near double the bitterness of my last NEIPA.

Simcoe - Tastes like if NEIPA and west coast DIPA had a baby. Intensely hoppy. Piney, resinous, herbal. It tastes more bitter to me than the citra half.

I think the columbus might be punching above its weight in this hop blend. The flavor is very columbus-ey to me. As expected, this is not your typical NEPIA flavor profile. I can’t decide if I’d make this exact blend again, but it’s interesting for its novelty.

Overall Impressions:

Citra - I feel like this beer didn’t live up to all the care and good ingredients that went into it. My expectations for this blend were very high after my last batch of NEIPA. Compared to that beer, this is a mild let down. It’s still perfectly good. I’m not suffering to drink it, but it doesn’t blow me away. I’m perplexed at the muted aroma. That, along with the slightly darker color, I suspect I oxidized this half a bit in packaging.

Simcoe - Not your traditional NEIPA, that’t for sure, but it works for my tastes. I think the columbus is overpowering the simcoe here, or maybe I just don’t remember what simcoe really tastes like. I’d try simcoe with a more fruity hop next time. This beer’s flavor and aroma were much stronger than the citra half. I’d guess I just got luckier with the Oxygen levels in this keg. I don’t think you’ll be seeing a columbus dry hopped NEIPA at your local brewery anytime soon, but if it sounds good to you, go for it!

2020-05-29 - Kicked both trying to fill a 32oz growler. That went fast! I did give a lot friends and family in growlers but I’m still surprised. I think 3 weeks is a new record. On to the next hoppy beer.

Changes for next time

If I oxidized this, I think two things are to blame:

• I purge the kegs by pushing a full kegs of sanitizer out with CO2, but I still have to briefly open them to put the keg hops in. I need to purge better after adding the hops, or maybe just try not keg hoppping at all. That should be one of my experiments.
• I am putting 3 gallons of beer into ~5.25 gallon kegs when I serve this. Any mistakes with purging will be made a lot worse from the 2+ gallons of head space in each keg. I’m considering buying some 2.5 or 3 gallon kegs for these batches.