This is my brew for the Yorkshire vs Lancashire homebrew challenge arranged as part of the Leeds International Beer festival 2013. I opted to brew a West Coast Pale style Ale….this plan evolved mid-brewday:
Original Gravity (OG): 1.058
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010
Alcohol (ABV): 6.4%
Colour (SRM): 14 (EBC):
Bitterness (IBU): 50 (Average)
4.400 kg Golden Promise Pale Malt
0.230 kg Dark Crystal Malt
14g Green Bullet (12.0% Alpha) @40 minutes from the end (Boil)
20g Northdown (9.8% Alpha) @30 minutes from the end (Boil)
35g Cascade (7.9% Alpha) @15 minutes from the end (Boil)
20g Simcoe (15.0% Alpha) @o minutes from the end (Boil)
40g Centennial (11.0% Alpha) @0 minutes from the end (Boil)
90g Amarillo (8.7% Alpha) @0 minutes from the end (Boil)
10g Simcoe (15.0% Alpha) leaf in secondary for 3 days (dry hop)
20g Amarillo (8.7% Alpha) leaf in secondary for 3 days (dry hop)
20g Centennial (11.0% Alpha) T90 pellets in secondary for 3 days (dry hop)
20g Citra (12.0% Alpha) T90 pellets in secondary for 3 days (dry hop)
10g Columbus (12.6% Alpha) leaf in secondary for 3 days (dry hop)
I’ll add the usual info on temperatures etc at some point, but the main thing I learnt from this brew is that it isn’t safe to brew a Pale Ale while drinking super hoppy hoppy IPA and watching a beer review of Magic Rock’s Unhuman Cannonball. I had already mashed in so the malts stayed the same, however my hop bill went out of the window and I delved into my freezer. I stuck with the shorter volume collected and the higher OG. I’ll add more dry hops than I originally intended on, et voilà! A West Coast/West Yorkshire/Northern Hemisphere inspired India Pale Ale, of sorts. The IBUs are lower than I would have aimed for had I intended to brew a 6.4% IPA, but the BU:GU ratio is still a respectable 0.86.
This beer will now be tasted alongside other Leeds Homebrew/Team Yorkshire beers, before we put forward our gladiator beers to be scrutinised by a panel of judges selected by the Leeds International Beer Festival. Our Lancashire foe will be doing the same, and the best of Yorkshire will be pitted against theirs during the @LeedsBeer Fest in September.
broadfordbrewer 
8 different hops!
It could be a mess….OR!?…..
Or it could be heaven.
I like the sound of that!
I’ve seen a few of your IPA recipes on here that I like, but I reckon this one will be great! I’ve done a 6.2% AIPA with chinook, cascade, centennial, amarillo and simcoe and it was a massive success. I don’t think I’ve ever got my dry hopping quite right though, I see you favour pellets but are also using leaves too. Do you just throw them in the secondary FV and leave them?
Thanks Adrian, good to know that a similar recipe worked out well. My dry hopping results are mixed, and have started putting all dry hops leaf/pellet in loose. I’ve tried adding to primary, but prefer the results of racking to secondary.
On 2 of my IPAs I dry hopped in a secondary FV for 3-4 days with about 30-50g of leaves. The main fermentation had subsided and it only had to drop a couple of points to FG. It was hoppy, but not Brewdog hoppy.
On my last IPA with a similar hop schedule to the one above I decided to buy 2 stainless steel sieves and put the hop leaves between them to hold them in the middle of the FV like a tea bag. Unfortunately the stainless steel doesn’t appear to have been as good quality as I hoped, and I think it has reacted with the beer. The sieves went in shiny, came out looking the same but when washed and dried went a bit rusty. The beer is only 2 weeks old, but there is a very slight metallic after-taste… not too offensive, but subtracts a bit from the Simcoe/Amarillo hop. Tastes a bit like having ice cream off an old spoon in a cheap seaside cafe, when there is a slight tang of metal left on your tongue… but you still go back for more!
I’ll find some mates to test it on first! After half a pint or so no one will notice…. specially when it’s 6.2%!
why 3 days DH? I also prefer 3 days to 7..
Hi John. Just read it. 3-4 days optimal?
I suppose i could submit my current brew, have to see how it turns out after dry hopping 🙂