Description
Having survived the New England IPA revolution, it looks like it’s time to move on to the next ground-breaking beer style. Brut IPA now appears to be the beer du jour. With due respect to Mr. Kim Sturdavant who invented this beer one day in his brewery in San Francisco, I will try and summarize the key attributes for this style.
- Totally dry
- OG ~1.055
- FG ~1.000
- Low malt and other beer flavors
- Relatively strong (~7% ABV)
- Low bitterness
- Neutral, high attenuating yeast
- Strong hops flavor and aroma
- Light body
- Light color
- Hazy or clear
- Highly carbonated
The main challenge is to get that very low final gravity. To achieve this, the brewer must use a low temperature mash, the addition of enzymes to break down the the higher sugars (dextrins) in the wort and keep away from any grains that contain higher sugars (e.g. crystal malt).
I’m not that keen on New England IPA even though I live in New England because I thought the beer in the background was totally overwhelmed by the insane hop additions. I thought this Brut IPA style would be even worse. Actually, I was very surprised with the result. The lack of traditional beer flavors leads to a very delicate drink in which the hops can be showcased in moderation. Whereas a NEIPA may use a pound of hops in 6 gallons, two or three of ounces are more than enough for a Brut IPA. This subtle flavor with high carbonation leads to a very sessional drink with none of the brain death that comes with a NEIPA. In fact, one of the biggest challenges is to keep this drink within modest limits. Even a relatively low grain bill can lead to a very strong beer at the attenuations being obtained.
Brewing Notes
For this recipe, I used two enzymes that can break down higher sugars and starches into simple sugars like glucose and fructose.
- Amyloglucosidase
- Alpha-galactosidase (Beano)
Most recipes for Brut IPA specify just the use of amyloglucosidase. I had a packet of Beano tablets that were going nowhere (literally) so I used some of them as well. The simple sugars produced by the action of these enzymes are very easy for yeast to ferment and so if the wort is comprised of just these, total fermentation should become possible.
There seems to be some debate on when to add the enzymes and for how long. Options are:
- Add to mash
- Add to wort before boil
- Add to fermenter
Consensus appears to be that adding them to the mash is best, adding them to the fermentor seems to degrade hop flavor and nobody seems to add them to the wort prior to boiling.
For my recipe, I did something slightly different. I added the enzymes to a 90-minute mash at 62°C and then I sparged and collected the wort. At this point, the wort would still have potentially active enzymes in it. I left the wort in the unheated (but covered) kettle overnight. The wort that was initially cloudy was crystal clear in the morning so something happened overnight. I’m hoping that further conversion of sugars and other carbohydrates had occurred.
The OG of the wort was higher than I was expecting: 1.063 and so the beer could be on-track to become a Double Brut IPA. I decided to see how it turned out before making any dilution.
No hops were added during the 75-minute boil. I think a much shorter boil could have been possible – perhaps 30 minutes? A huge amount of protein precipitated out – this looked like a Chinese egg-drop soup at the end of the boil. No finings like Irish Moss were added during the boil.
The first hops were added during cooldown.
The beer was fermented at a fairly low temperature 62°F (16°C) using the most neutral, high attenuating yeast I could think of: Lallemand Nottingham dry yeast. This turned out to be a great choice for this style beer.
Yeast nutrients were added at the start of the fermentation and after 4 days.
The final addition of dry hops was added at 4 days. Note that a modest amount of hops was added. This is a fairly thin and almost insipid beer and so adding a lot of hops would easily overpower it. Slowly, slowly catches monkey.
The dry hops were removed after 7 days and the beer was left to ‘clear’ at 45°F for a further week.
5 gallons were kegged and the remaining 1 gallon was bottled in 750mL champagne bottles (complete with corks and cages) and primed with corn sugar to deliver 3.5 volumes CO2. Beware of using standard beer bottles – they will likely explode!
Tasting Notes
As indicated earlier, the flavor of this beer came somewhat as a surprise.
- Appearance – if you like the look of a New England IPA, you’ll love the look of this beer! It was like dirty milk! Despite the aggressive mash and all the protein dropping out during the boil, this beer had a huge pervasive head on it.
- Aroma – moderate fruity/tropical hops. Not much else. Very clean, no apparent off-odors.
- Taste – very unusual. Had an obvious IPA taste but lack of malt was a surprise. Bone dry except for just a hint of sweetness coming from the hops. The hops were the prominent contribution to the taste but were not overwhelming. The use of the noble hops gave an interesting earthy dimension to the hop flavor.
- Mouthfeel – this was rather odd in that it sort of felt both thin yet had a pronounced slickness in the body. It was highly carbonated giving a prickly sensation as it was drunk. The overall impression was very clean with just a small amount of hop astringency in the finish.
- Overall – what really blew me away is how drinkable this beer was. It was was fairly clean and insipid and could be drunk very quickly. However, it must be remembered that the strength was over 8% ABV. Check your legs before and after drinking this beer. One odd aspect of this beer was because there was little flavor coming from the beer itself, the hops flavor was very exposed. Whereas this was pleasant and smooth when first poured, on standing for an hour, the beer became quite harsh and bitter and not at all pleasant to drink. So, drink this beer quickly after pouring or use a small glass.
I would rate this beer at 39/50.