Alcohol Levels in IPAs and Grain Discussion

Ten years into the rise of hazy IPA, the brewing world knows far more about how to make this challenging yet enduringly popular style—yet the deeper we push, the more we realize how much more we have to learn. For this extended episode of the podcast, we got the gang from last year’s West Coast IPA Now! episodes back together to discuss hazy IPA, along with a respected East Coast voice in the hazy IPA conversation. Steve Parker of Fidens joins Evan Price of Green Cheek, Kelsey McNair of North Park, and special guest host Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River as they dissect varying approaches to medal-winning, crowd-pleasing hazy IPA, including:

• choosing soft water over more chloride-heavy approaches
• different strategies around pH to balance flavor, function, and food safety
• selecting malt for color and flavor contributions
• using adjuncts such as unmalted wheat, chit malt, oats with husks, and more, to build pale color yet stable haze
• feeding bigger fermentations to offset low efficiency mashes
• the impact that certain hop varieties have on haze development and stability
• “coolpooling” with concentrated pellets and knockout hopping with advanced hop products
• promoting biotransformation during active fermentation without dry hops in the tank
• double-batching over two days while under-pitching and over-aerating
• closing the tank several days before terminal, and dry hopping under pressure
• the impact of pellet density
• what to look for in certain varieties at hop selection
• balancing bitterness and final gravity

And more.

This episode is brought to you by:

G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): At G&D Chillers they always strive to Build Great Chillers. Partner with them as you Build Great Beer. Choose G&D Chillers on your next Expansion or Brewery start up and receive 1 free year of Remote control and Monitoring of your new G&D Chiller!
ProBrew (https://www.probrew.com) Turnkey brewery systems. Production line design services. Retro-fitting processing systems. ProBrew™ can do all this and more with any brewery, old or new, small or large. For more information, fill out our contact form on www.probrew.com or email contactus@probrew.com.
Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): Old Orchard has supplied flavored craft juice concentrate blends to over 46 states for the production of fruit-forward beer, cider, seltzer, wine, spirits, and more. To learn more and request your free samples, head over to oldorchard.com/brewer
Omega Yeast (https://omegayeast.com): Streamline efficiency with Omega Yeast’s Diacetyl Knock Out series. The DKO series is comprised of 8 familiar yeast strains engineered to knock out the formation of diacetyl before it starts. The strains you know, now better. Contact Omega Yeast today at omegayeast.com.
ABS Commercial (https://abs-commercial.com). ABS Commercial are proud to offer brewhouses, tanks, keg washers, and preventative maintenance parts to brewers across the country as well as equipment for distilling, cider-making, wine-making, and more! Contact them today at sales@abs-commercial.com to discuss your customized brewery needs.
Ss Brewtech (https://SsBrewtech.com). "Ss Brewtech was founded by a group of home and craft beer brewers, dedicated to bringing an engineering-first approach to brewery equipment. Ss brewhouses are used to formulate new beer recipes at some of the world's greatest breweries. To learn more, head over to SsBrewtech.com"
Christian Hansen (https://www.chr-hansen.com/en/legal-notice): Christian Hansen are the fermentation experts with over 100 years experience in dairy and wine, and are now bringing that knowledge of microbes to brewers with their SmartBev range of frozen liquid yeast and freeze-dried bacteria.Go to Chr-Hansen.com to learn more.

Support Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast