New England IPA

These days, the most sought after of juice bombs draw their inspiration from what is now known as the New England IPA. These hazy, tropical, fruit forward IPAs are a more balanced and less bitter modern take on the west-coast IPA. Breweries like The Alchemist began it all with their hop-bombs like Heady Topper but those sweet DIPAs quickly gave way to fluffier and more balanced beers like Treehouse's Julius. My personal ideal IPA has a light and fluffy mouthfeel, medium bitterness, a huge front loading of fruity aromas and a citrus finish. Smoothie IPAs aside, this recipe is what I have found over the years to be the perfect IPA for me. It's not a clone but it aims to be similar to Julius and its ilk, like Mastermind from Fiddlehead Brewing.

The secret to all the New England IPAs out there is heavy and late hop additions. Dry hopping is a huge component here but for longer lasting and juicier flavors, the whirlpool addition is king. These so called whirlpool hops are added after the boil and generally while the beer is around 165 F. This temperature extracts flavor compounds from the hops without pulling the bitterness that a higher temperature boil would. Relying on these exclusively is possible but a dry hop addition always adds that fresh hop character to the beer and is still recommended - just don't go overboard. No need to break the bank dry hopping your beer like the gimmicky double and triple-dry hopped beers out there do.

Style & Targets
New England IPA
6% ABV @ 5 gallons


Ingredients
8 lbs US 2-row malt
2 lbs white wheat malt
2 lbs flaked oats (great deal!)
4 oz Crystal 120L
1 oz Centennial hops (60 minutes)
2 oz Mosaic hops (whirlpool)
2 oz Citra hops (whirlpool)
2 oz Citra hops (Dry Hop, 3 days)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp Irish moss
1 pkg Safale-04

Procedure
Bring 19 quarts of water to 159 F and combine with the grains, shooting for a target mash temperature of 150 F for 60 minutes.
After the 60 minutes have passed, add 1 gallon of 170 F water to the mash and drain. Once drained, add 4 gallons of 170 F water, let sit for 10 minutes before draining again.

Boil Schedule
60 minutes - 1 oz Centennial
15 minutes - 1 tsp Irish moss
0 minutes - cool wort to 165 F
(@ 165) F - Add the whirlpool hops. Since we don't have an actual whirlpool, we'll just give the wort a good stir as we add the hops and let it sit at around 165 F for 20 minutes. This addition at such a low temperature will impart almost exclusively aroma and no bitterness.
(-20) minutes - Cool wort to the pitch temperature of 65 F, transfer to the fermentation vessel and add the yeast.

Give this lovely beer 11 days before you add the dry hop addition. After the dry hop addition has had 3 days to sit, carefully package it with as little oxidation as possible. Consume this beer fresh! Hoppy beers taste best within 2 weeks of packaging.