NEIPA

A Delicious NEIPA with Dry Yeast

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This isn’t the best version of the New England IPA, but it was still damn good. I say “was” because the keg went pretty fast, which is usually the best indicator of how good it was. This beer was very light, straw colored/neon yellow, bright, drinkable, and hoppy in a citrus rind sort of way. It had a soft bitterness, a slight sweetness, and the lower alcohol made it very drinkable and refreshing. My main experiment was to see if I could make a NEIPA with the US-04 Dry Yeast. I don’t think it’s ideal – it lacks the juicy and cloudy element which are pretty important – but it’s still an option. I also really like the yellow color, which comes from the very light Pilsner base malt mixed with white wheat malt.

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US 04 NEIPA
7.3 lb Pilsner (just what I had on hand)
3.5 lb White Wheat
1 lb Flaked Wheat
7 tablespoons acid in the mash
15 minute mash / 45 minute boil
Galaxy, Cascade, Mosaic, Azacca (Flame out and Dry hop, use your imagination)
US-04 dry yeast
finished at 1.016

 

 

Beer 37: Embrace the Haze

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About six months ago, an odd looking gentleman came up to me at a bar and befriended me. He started talking about the greatness and superiority of the cult classic of IPAs: the New England IPA (NEIPA). Midwesterner that I was, I remained skeptical. I heard of NEIPAs – cloudy and ‘juicey’ – but I had never tried one. Indeed, they aren’t available in these parts. Luckily, this new friend was a homebrewer, and he made some damn good NEIPAs, which I liked quite a bit. Finally, I broke down and made one myself.

It’s real good, in a good way, that makes you say: this is good.

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It’s totally different than a traditional (West Coast) IPA. A traditional IPA is bitter, dry, hoppy, and that’s about it. This beer, on the other hand, is slightly sweet, which comes from the malt (white wheat and honey malt) and the low attenuating yeast (london III). It’s not a typical sugar-like sweetness. It’s subtle, and makes you want to drink more. The beer coats your mouth, mostly the back of the tongue. I believe this is the secret of the NEIPA: you cannot stop drinking it. This keg will go fast. Next, hops. The hops are citrus and intense, but they fade away fast. The second day in the keg, this IPA tasted closer to citrus fruit than any IPA I’ve ever drank. Now, it’s more rounded out. It’s still very good, but not the same. This is the first beer that I payed close attention to mash pH. The cloudiness comes from the yeast and water profile (more chloride than gypsum).

I cannot stress the drinkability enough. It’s a gateway drug for IPA lovers and potential IPA drinkers.

Notorious NEIPA
12 lb 2-row
2.2 lb white wheat
.3 honey malt
1 oz magnum FW (30 m)
1.5 oz citra FO
1 oz Mosiac FO
1 oz Amarillo FO
1 oz Centenial FO
3 oz Simcoe DH
1 oz Equinox DH
.5 oz Citra DH
London III yeast
started with 9 gal water, ended up with 5 gal. batch roughly
added 1/2 tsp Gypsum, 3/4 tsp Cal Chloride
added 2 1/2 caps of phosphoric acid to get mash pH down