{"id":16936,"date":"2022-04-08T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=16936"},"modified":"2022-04-08T04:50:05","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T10:50:05","slug":"west-coast-ipa-new-school-old-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/west-coast-ipa-new-school-old-school\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast IPA: new school\/old school"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, SevenFiftyDaily told us <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.sevenfifty.com\/west-coast-ipas-are-making-a-comeback\">\u201cWest Coast IPAs Are Making a Comeback.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tuesday, Andy Crouch started a conversation about what the true version of the \u201cstyle\u201d might be.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Once dominant, West Coast IPA has largely disappeared from popular consumption for the better part of a decade now. And those remaining WCIPAs have become softer and hazier to meet the palate shift. Many of these brewers may never have actually tried a true version of the style. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LzCNeIvU1K\">https:\/\/t.co\/LzCNeIvU1K<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andy Crouch (@BeerScribe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BeerScribe\/status\/1511430315906117635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>If you aren\u2019t seeing the tweet, it goes like this: \u201cOnce dominant, West Coast IPA has largely disappeared from popular consumption for the better part of a decade now. And those remaining WCIPAs have become softer and hazier to meet the palate shift. Many of these brewers may never have actually tried a true version of the style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because Crouch replied to his own tweet you\u2019ll find different branches of the conversation if you click around. Lots of opinions, including naming names as prototypical examples of the \u201cstyle.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimVorel\/status\/1511436520388976643\">Jim Vorel<\/a> wrote it would not be Firestone Walker Union Jack because it veered toward \u201ca fruitier direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s talk about Firestone Walker Union Jack and the Hopnosis, the latter released this year and described as the \u201cultimate new-school expression of the West Coast IPA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When brewmaster Matt Brynildson began working on the recipe for Firestone\u2019s first India pale ale in 2006 he envisioned it might be brewed with English malts and would be fermented, like many other Firestone Walker beers, using the brewery\u2019s unique Union system, and spending time in oak barrels.<\/p>\n<p>The brewers at Firestone Walker made test batches for the better part of a year. \u201cThe first brews were maltier, sweeter, not what we were going for,\u201d Brynildson said. The first thing to go was the British malts. \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to hold ourselves to a (specific version). We were going to make the best possible IPA.\u201d<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The next thing to go was the contribution barrels make during the production of Pale 31 and Double Barrel, something that made Firestone beers unique. \u201cWe were trying to integrate the oak (in the IPA), but we just gave up,\u201d Brynildson said.<\/p>\n<p>These were not bad decisions. Union Jack won a silver medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup shortly after it was released, then later in the year a gold medal (which it also won the next year) at the Great American Beer Festival and a gold medal at the European Beer Star awards.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2012. Brynildson shared the recipe for Union Jack in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brewerspublications.com\/products\/for-the-love-of-hops-the-practical-guide-to-aroma-bitterness-and-the-culture-of-hops\">\u201cFor the Love of Hops.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Original gravity: 16.5 \u00b0P (1.068)<br \/>\nFinal gravity: 3.0 \u00b0P (1.012)<br \/>\nABV: 7.5%<br \/>\nIBU: 75<\/p>\n<p>Grain bill:<br \/>\n88% \tAmerican or Canadian highly modified 2-row malt<br \/>\n6%  \tMunich malt<br \/>\n3%  \tBriess CaraPils malt<br \/>\n3%  \tSimpson 30\/40 malt<\/p>\n<p>Water treatment:<br \/>\nAdd gypsum as needed to get total calcium above 100 parts per million. Acidify mash to 5.4 with phosphoric or lactic.<\/p>\n<p>Mashing:<br \/>\nMash at low temp 145\u00b0 F (63\u00b0 C) for 45 to 60 minutes and step up to 155\u00b0 F (68\u00b0 C) to finish conversion. You might add dextrose (up to 5%) to get to gravity and\/or to aid in attenuation if needed. The idea is to have a lean body, not to hide hop character, and to help accentuate the hop profile.<\/p>\n<p>Hops, yeast, fermentation, dry hopping:<br \/>\n<em>(All in Brynildson\u2019s words)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe whack the boil hard with Magnum, but I&#8217;m not overly anal about the bittering charge when it comes to variety when brewing IPAs and Double IPAs. The charge we are using calculates out to be 50 IBU at 15% alpha. I&#8217;ve been known to use some hop extract (purified Isolone) in the kettle if we are having a hard time hitting the 75 IBU mark. It shouldn&#8217;t be necessary, though.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like middle additions on IPAs. We use Cascade at 30 minutes. Amarillo would work well here as well. The charge is 14 IBUs at 6% alpha.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hit it again at 15 minutes before knockout with Centennial with the same amount as the Cascade addition. You might notice that we are already over the 75 IBU mark on paper, but utilization is low. It is all about hop flavor at this point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hit it in the whirlpool with another charge of Cascade and Centennial (equal amounts). On paper this looks like a 40 IBU charge but, again, the utilization of alpha on a brew like this is low overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe ferment UJ with our house ale yeast cooling in at 63\u00ba F (17\u00ba C) and setting the fermentation at 66\u00ba F (19\u00ba C). Our house ale strain is closest to London ale or other English-style (fruity\/soft) yeast. When the brew reaches 6 \u00baP (1.024) we turn the fermenter up to 70\u00ba F (21\u00ba C) for VDK (diacetyl) reduction and for the dry hop additions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe dry hop the beer two times at about one pound per barrel. Once at 0.5-1 \u00baP (0.002 to 0.004) before the end of fermentation (about Day 5) and again three days later while the beer is still warm (prior to crash cooling the beer). We use a blend of Centennial and Cascade, with lesser amounts of Simcoe and Amarillo for each dry hop. I&#8217;m a firm believer in short contact time with the hops, no more than 3 days. The yeast and hops at the bottom of the fermenter are removed prior to each dry hop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Granted, a few things have changed since 2012. Research into the importance of biotransformation and thiols was just beginning. Farmers in the northwest harvested 538 acres of Citra that year, compared to almost 12,000 in 2021. The Hop Breeding Company had just given Mosaic a name. Lotus, Nectaron, Tango, Eclipse, Loral, Hallertau Blanc, Mistral, Sabro, Strata, Talus, McKenzie, Pahto, Elixir, Vista and dozens more were unnamed experimental varieties, if they existed at all. <\/p>\n<p>According to the Firestone Walker website, these days Union Jack is hopped with CTZ, Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, Chinook. That\u2019s different.<\/p>\n<p>Hopnosis has a different grain bill, uses a different yeast, and the dry hopping process has changed. It is hopped with Mosaic, Idaho 7, El Dorado, Cashmere, Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Simcoe, Talus and Callista. <\/p>\n<p>And the IBUs?<\/p>\n<p>Union Jack 2012: 75<br \/>\nUnion Jack today: 60<br \/>\nHopnosis: 45<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related <\/strong>(with plenty of comments):<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Personally, I want to know how many IBUs are in your pilsner. I want to know how many IBUs are in your helles. I want to know how many IBUs are in your West Coast IPA. It ain\u2019t perfect, but I trust that # more than a bartender when I ask, \u201cIs it bitter?\u201d Because I want it bitter.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Joe Stange (@Thirsty_Pilgrim) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Thirsty_Pilgrim\/status\/1511703457308487682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, SevenFiftyDaily told us \u201cWest Coast IPAs Are Making a Comeback.\u201d Tuesday, Andy Crouch started a conversation about what the true version of the \u201cstyle\u201d might be. Once dominant, West Coast IPA has largely disappeared from popular consumption for the better part of a decade now. And those remaining WCIPAs have become softer and hazier &#8230; <a title=\"West Coast IPA: new school\/old school\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/west-coast-ipa-new-school-old-school\/\" aria-label=\"More on West Coast IPA: new school\/old school\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beers-of-conviction","category-hops"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-4pa","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16936"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16941,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936\/revisions\/16941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}