Imperial IPA

At Cheshire Peaks we generally brew English ales, and often dark and malty ales. These always go down well with our drinkers and they keep well in keg, getting better with age.

But I like all beer styles and I’ve been desperate to branch out into something, well frankly, obscenely strong and hoppy.

So on Monday we brewed an Imperial IPA. The recipe is based on the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff (as are so many of our recipes). This recipe in turn is based on the recipe for Pliny the Elder by Russian River Brewing Co in California – a beer which, to my great frustration, I have never been able to try because it doesn’t ever seem to make it out of the USA.

So what’s the recipe? It’s a simple malt bill, but good and strong (targeting about 8.5% ABV) and VERY hoppy. Most of our beers are maybe 30-40 IBU. This one, as calculated by my brewing software, is 157 IBU. Mouth puckeringly good.

Because of the strength, we pitched the wort directly onto the yeast cake from our previous brew – a pale ale made with Cascade hops and Safale US-05 yeast. That should give it plenty of yeast to get it started.

We aim to bottle this brew, because despite bottling being a right pain in the ****, we want it to be easy to drink in small quantities. And to be able to give it away to friends so they too can share in the mouth puckering fun.

By the way, why is it impossible to buy 330ml beer bottles? You can buy 500ml bottles, but I cannot find 330ml bottles to buy anywhere. So I am indebted to my friend John who has located a local source of used 330ml bottles – very handy! John, some full bottles will be on their way to you.

Recipe

Grain bill
Pilsner malt        5500g  85.8%
White sugar        530g    8.3%
Crystal 40           190g    3%
Wheat Malt         190g    3%

Hop schedule
Chinook      10.9%AA  60g   60 min  59 IBU
Citra              15%AA   60g   60 min  81.3 IBU

Chinook      10.9%AA  20g   10 min  9.8 IBU
Citra              15%AA   20g   10 min  7.1 IBU

Centennial   10.1%AA  60g    0 min
Chinook       10.9%AA  23g    0 min

Centennial   10.1%AA  40g   dry, after 5 days
Citra              15%AA   20g   dry, after 5 days

Water treatment: 10g gypsum, 1g MgSO4
Yeast: Safale US-05
Batch size: 20l
Mash temp: 66C
Mash time: 60 min
Boil time: 60 min
OG: 1.077
IBU: 157 (Rager)
FG: 1.013
Fermentation Temp: Initially 17C, slowly ramped to 21C after 6 days