Inherent Flaw In Session IPA's

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by bfitzge2, Apr 12, 2015.

Tags:
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Peter_Wolfe

    Peter_Wolfe Initiate (0) Jul 5, 2013 Oregon

    This is the crux of the issue that the first post describes. I think the problem is that a lot of brewers don't understand what they're trying to do: a session IPA should not be your normal IPA with the original gravity cut.

    The mash profile for most American style IPAs favors a highly fermentable wort; in my opinion a session IPA should arrive at a lower ABV not just by lowering the grain bill and OG, but also by lowering the fermentability of the wort by altering the mash profile. This is why those session ales in the UK are so delicious; they have a wonderful malt backbone in the finished beer and haven't been fermented so dry that the only thing left is hops and alcohol (their malt also tends to be just a little bit less modified than American malt - that reduces fermentability a little as well).

    If you are using a brewing calculator and you just plug in that you want 4.5 ABV instead of 6.5, all it's going to do is tell you how much to cut the grain. It's not going to tell you to alter the mash profile or maybe pick a different yeast strain with lower attenuation. The brewers that are making excellent session ales picked up that extra bit of knowledge somewhere.

    The hop portion, ironically, is probably the easy part.
     
    Ranbot, HuskyHawk, machalel and 10 others like this.
  2. AlcahueteJ

    AlcahueteJ Grand Pooh-Bah (3,088) Dec 4, 2004 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Maybe they use oats to increase mouthfeel/body?
     
  3. jlsims04

    jlsims04 Initiate (0) Jul 14, 2013 Illinois

    I love Oskar Blues Pinner. In my opinion this is the perfect summer beer. Its like like an AAL but loaded with hop deliciousness
     
  4. JoelAK

    JoelAK Initiate (0) Sep 10, 2014 New York

    Personally, I think with the advent of "West Coast" style of AIPAs, a great number of us are getting the junkie effect; we need bigger, bolder IPAs to satisfy our palates and anything with a lower ABV or fewer IBUs become less-than.

    I'm guilty of this, and over the winter I purposely did a reset - going back to lagers and pilseners, enjoying the style and subtleties without having that hop attack.

    Going back to IPAs now, in our area, Pinner and Easy came out at the same time, and I enjoyed both immensely, and have purchase multiple times. Some session IPAs still fall short for me (eg All Day), but it is great to enjoy an IPA without it being IBU/ABV nuclear weapon.

    A similar trend is going on in wine BTW. Robert Parker has been the ONE critic who has driven red wine styles for years now, pushing them to be ever great fruit and alcohol bombs, to the point that these show well in tasting because it is now a predominant style? Funny thing is that they don't necessarily drink well alone or pair well with food. There is a movement now back to light, cooler climate styles of reds that are wonderful, fruity and easy drinking. No bashing of those though - they are accepted for their expression of their style and grape. Interesting parallel IMO
     
  5. DrStiffington

    DrStiffington Grand Pooh-Bah (3,586) Oct 27, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Exactly. An "IPA for everyday drinking."
     
  6. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Jeff, did Jeremy Kosmicki discuss the mashing regime that use to make Founders All Day IPA?

    IMO, Peter (@Peter_Wolfe) hit the nail on the head here. Brewers have a number of tools including proper mashing methods to achieve a low ABV hoppy beer yet still have a beer that is not too watery.

    Augie (@augiecarton), what mashing regime do you use to make Boat Beer?

    Cheers!
     
  7. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Or flaked barley? He didn't say.

    I don't remember him addressing that. They didn't say if they use a different yeast from 1056 for All Day.
     
    JackHorzempa likes this.
  8. augiecarton

    augiecarton Initiate (0) Oct 22, 2010 New Jersey

    this phrasing was chosen before there was such a thing as a "session ipa." those words are meant to convey that you (or at least we) couldn't drink single/double ipas 4-6 a night every night, so this was a different thing to solve that. as i said it was greatly limited by what could fit simply on media, and that was the short hand we chose. had we come along later when "session ipa" was a market term we might have used it but i think it would have done less well.
    truth is boat is too yellow to be an ipa, too bitter and low alcohol to be a strict pale. it is what it is and all it is a session beer for people that were getting in trouble on doubles. works for some not for others and that's its job.
    but simply put "an ipa for every day drinking" means "different from the current ipa's" 4 years ago
     
    surfcaster and kennylopez like this.
  9. augiecarton

    augiecarton Initiate (0) Oct 22, 2010 New Jersey

    boats bill is mostly 2 row with some flaked wheat and a touch of acidulated
     
  10. DrStiffington

    DrStiffington Grand Pooh-Bah (3,586) Oct 27, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Either way it's delicious.
     
  11. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Do you mash at a high temperature like 158 degrees F? What is the final gravity for Boat beer?

    Cheers!
     
  12. augiecarton

    augiecarton Initiate (0) Oct 22, 2010 New Jersey

    thanks as we grow we will get better at telling people what we mean. :slight_smile:
     
  13. augiecarton

    augiecarton Initiate (0) Oct 22, 2010 New Jersey

    40-45 minutes 64c 1.8/9 fg
     
  14. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Wow! That is a low FG. I am guessing that the Flaked Wheat increases the perception of body in that beer?

    Cheers!
     
  15. bulletrain76

    bulletrain76 Maven (1,287) Nov 6, 2007 California

    Easy Jack finishes at about 1.6/7 and is mashed in at 63C. I wouldn't say it has a robust body by any means, but using oats, carapils, munich, and pale crystal all build some body into it despite the FG
     
    Ranbot, machalel and JackHorzempa like this.
  16. bulletrain76

    bulletrain76 Maven (1,287) Nov 6, 2007 California

    I just had Pinner for the first time today and thought it was a great beer. Bitterness was very mellow and the balance of hop aroma and malt was very nice. I've been wanting more low-abv, hop-focused pale ales for years now, and I can finally walk into a beer bar and have multiple options on tap. That's pretty cool.
     
  17. blockdude

    blockdude Initiate (0) Oct 30, 2014 California

    I agree, IPA's should not be over 7% abv in my opinion. Same goes for sours.
     
  18. Schnerds

    Schnerds Initiate (0) Mar 25, 2014 Pennsylvania

    I completely agree with this. I find one intriguing, like go to IPA, then I realize a) I cant drink a beer this bitter all day (purpose of the session beer) without the malt backbone that balances it out b) I don't want to spend over $40 on a case that I plan to session.
     
  19. Hanglow

    Hanglow Pooh-Bah (1,977) Feb 18, 2012 Scotland
    Pooh-Bah

    Boat Beer looks like it would be a golden ale in the uk
     
  20. JScoot

    JScoot Initiate (0) Aug 27, 2014 Louisiana

    A Session IPA is just re-branding of a Pale Ale that wouldn't sell.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.