I have become interested, nay, some would say obsessed, in that oxymoron of beers, the “session” IPA(1).
I like drinking a lower alcohol beer that isn’t like sex in a canoe, you know, “f**king close to water.” And you know the beers. The ones that taste slightly…umm…yellow. Besides being low in alcohol they are low in flavor and aroma. They are just a small step up from sparkling water, only with less taste.
The trend in microbreweries had been to brew bigger. Why make an IPA, when you can make a Double IPA? According to the American Homebrewers Association, Russian River’s Pliny the Elder is the best beer in America. I have had Pliny at Russian River Brewing. It tastes terrific but at 8.0% ABV, one pint is all I can drink. Driving is out of the question. Walking to Peet’s Coffee across the street and staring at my hands is all I can manage after a pint of Pliny.
So if you want to drink more than a thimble’s worth of tasty brew and be able to operate machinery, such as a lawnmower, you need something with less alcohol. To meet that need, some breweries have started making hoppy beers with lower alcohol. Examples include Squatters’ Full Suspension Pale Ale (4.0% ABV), Stone’s Go To IPA (4.5% ABV), and New Belgium’s Slow Ride Session IPA (4.5% ABV).
The best session IPA (perhaps the best session beer) around, in my opinion, is Ballast Point’s Even Keel. It packs a whole lot of flavor into a beer with 3.8% ABV (1). Ballast Point says Even Keel is “A full-flavored beer with a silky malt backbone and a bright hop profile of herbs and citrus, it packs all the taste of an IPA in a sessionable alcohol content.” It is just a damn good beer. RateBeer gives it a 92. Beer Advocate gives it an 86. Those are respectable scores for a beer with less alcohol than Bud Light.
Once I knew that a great session IPA could be made, I had to try my hand at making one.
Session IPAs are not regular IPAs with water added. The goal is to make a beer with all the taste, mouthfeel, and aroma as a big beer but with less alcohol.
Change the base. To keep that flavor and mouthfeel, cut down on the base malt but not the specialty grains, and consider using more flavorful malt such as Maris Otter or Vienna instead of pale malt. The goal is to reduce the fermentable sugars the malted grain produces during the mash process.
Cut back on the hops. Every beer has a BU:GU ratio, that is, bitterness units to gravity units. If you lower the gravity, you will need to lower the bitterness to keep the same perception of bitterness. As a professor of mine used to say, “It’s all relative.” For example, if your favorite IPA has a BU:GU ratio of one and it’s OG (original gravity) is 1.070 with 80 IBUs and you decide to lower your OG to 1.040 then your new IBU target should be 45 IBUs (40/70 x 80). The 45 IBUs will keep the same bitterness to maltiness as the bigger beer. Also consider hop bursting and and hop stands to give the flavor and aroma punch without the added bitterness that comes from boiling.
Consider poorer attenuating yeast (that is one that finishes at a higher specific gravity). Also, consider under-pitching the beer. You want to leave sweetness and maltiness in the background so the beer doesn’t taste watery. Instead of California Ale yeast try Ringwood or an English Ale yeast. You want the fruity ester compounds.
Smooth Sailing Session IPA
Recipe
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.00 gal
Est Original Gravity: 1.044
Est Final Gravity: 1.014
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.0 %
Bitterness: 36.4 IBUs
Est Color: 6.9 SRM
Efficiency: 70%
Grain Bill
2.174 kg Vienna Malt (Great Western) (3.5 SRM) 50.6 %
1.087 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 25.3 %
0.353 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (20.0 SRM) 8.2 %
0.353 kg Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) 8.2 %
0.163 kg White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 3.8 %
0.163 kg White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 3.8 %
Hop Schedule
9.00 g Galaxy [14.80 %] – First Wort 60.0 min
7.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 20.0 min
7.00 g Chinook [13.00 %] – Boil 20.0 min
7.07 g Chinook [13.00 %] – Boil 5.0 min
7.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Boil 5.0 min
16.00 g Amarillo [9.20 %] – Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min
8.00 g Chinook [13.00 %] – Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min
16.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] – Dry Hop
16.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] – Dry Hop
32.00 g Grapefruit peel – Dry Hop
Yeast
2.0 pkg American West Coast Ale Dry Yeast (Danstar #BRY-97)
Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 11.20 l of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 15 min
Mash Out Add 4.48 l of water at 202.4 F 168.0 F 10 min
Boil for 60 minutes.
I will let you know how it turned out in a few weeks. In the meantime, have you brewed a session beer? How did it turn out?
For more information see: “Five Tips for Session Beer Brewers” and “Session Beers: Techniques”
Footnotes
- According to the Beer Judge Certification Program, an American IPA is:
“A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hop-forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through.” pg 37, 2015 BJCP Guidelines (PDF) - For comparison, Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light each have 4.2% ABV.
Batch-22 