Lowering the Gravity of an IPA

For the malt side, I think you could make a pretty tasty low gravity IPA with GP and a little White Wheat.

Consider using Wyeast 1450, as that will add body, and a more balanced flavor profile.

 

What about raising mash temp to achieve both body and maltiness ? I personally have been doing the same thing as you. I just recently brewed a centennial smash ale that comes in at 6.5%. Pale ale malt, carapils, and acidulated. Mash for 60 mins at 156 and then add 1 oz whole cone hops at 15, 10, 5, and 0. The higher mash temp will ALSO cut down on how low the US05 will attenuate... You can get pretty close to what you want with late hop additions and higher mash temps.

 

I'm not a recipe creator (but I am a stealer) so I can't comment on your specific malts and yeast choices, but a couple of recent threads in the Beer Talk forum might be helpful to read if you haven't already.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/session-ipa-should-it-be-its-own-style.281733/ (especially post #33)

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/inherent-flaw-in-session-ipas.279589/ (especially post #s 109, 121 and 126 plus some replies to it)

 

A noble effort to make a "session" BA APA IPA. I think one of the beauties of this recipe is the simplicity (other than hop schedule!) and recommend you continue in this direction.

1. Build Malt Flavor - I see this as a miss more than a hit. The original was not malty (by design) . . . would not tamper.

2. Build Body - Maybe a little more carapils, but not go overboard. Don't see oats/wheat helping here (taste-wise). Would concentrate on adjusting mash temp and maybe less attenuative yeast.

3. Reduce Bittering Hops - The original recipe only has 0.11oz of Magnum which yields 11 IBUs. No problem with ditching this. I would not FWH . . . let mid-hops be the first addition.

4. For late hops I feel you could consolidate the 15/10 addition to 10 minutes and the 5/0 to 0 minutes (which I will probably do next time I brew this). Maybe do an extended (split?) whirlpool at intermediate temps (170 or less).

Consider making the grain adjustments to drop the OG to 1.050 and keep the FG at 1.012 (mash temp/yeast) which will yield a 5% beer. When the Monks brew their single (Enkel), it's mostly just a reduction in grain (lower OG) and everything else is the same. This yields good results. I would take the same approach here.

 

I did a 3% hoppy beer with 4 lb MO, 1 lb Munich, and 1 lb carapils. Mashed at 155. The body was nice, and not too thin.

 

I would like to know how lower do you want this original gravity beer to be. I think it is not easy to compensate the lack of alcohol in a beer taste. Maybe it is not a good idea to use a given recipe to scale it down, specially when you have to deal with a huge amount of hops additions.

 

I immediately thought of 1450 as well, I really liked what it did for a couple APAs that I did.

 

I can tell you from copious experience that this is an excellent session IPA:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31645/129900/

It drinks like a 6% ABV, at least as far as hoppiness is concerned. The wheat really seems to help provide a foundation for the hops without adding excessive malt character. My thinking has always been that you need a decent amount of alcohol to dissolve the hop oils into the beer and deliver them to your tongue. This beer and Zero Gravity's vaguely similar 'Conehead' has me rethinking this idea.

 

Not brewed once; it's always available. My understanding is that it's a standard American wheat beer with a lot of hops, so about 60% malted wheat/40% pale malt. The brewers do favor Belgian styles so I'd not be surprised if they use a little unmalted wheat. They claim 50 IBU but it drinks like less. Plenty of flavor and aroma though.

 

I wonder if this might not be a place for a "more flavorful malt". @JohnSnowNW mentioned GP earlier, that would be an great/awesome base malt for a low gravity APA/IPA, especially combined with a yeast like 1450 or maybe 1272.

 

I like adding flaked barley and mashing around 154f. I don't really change my hopping except I use less since it's a small beer. I like 1:1 BU:OG ratio or slightly less BU than 1:1. Session IPAs don't have to be that bitter.

 

I would do that, i.e. something like GP or MO. But I tend to use those in normal sized APAs/IPAs anyway.

 

Yes, I'd second a characterful base malt, otherwise you might end up with hop water. Which seems to be something people like a lot, although it can be refreshing it gets very boring to me quickly.

 

Never done this but I was listening to a podcast about session beers and they mentioned that in Germany they use more unfermentable malts to reduce fermentable sugars which causes a higher FG for their low abv beers.