Session IPA

My recent "session IPA" came out great, with good body and mouthfeel.

73% 2 row
9.1% flaked wheat
9.1% vienna
4.6% caramel 20
4.2% caravienne

mashed at 153-154 F

1.043 og, 1.010 fg, 4.3% ABV, 58 IBUs (all from late additions).

 

Safeway markets an awesome session IPA under the name Refreshe Grapefruit Seltzer

 

I admit I was talking out of my ass on the 80 IBU thing. The line is, indeed, fairly blurry...

examples:
All Day: 42 IBUs
Day Time: 54 IBUs
Go To: 65 IBUs
Easy Jack: 45-50 IBUs
Nooner: 40 IBUs[/QUOTE]

 

Flaked barley also gives more body.

It will be interesting to see what Gordon roles out at NHC. I have heard that there will be some new categories for historic beers that are now being entered in competitions in numbers (Grodziskie, Gose) and Black IPA. I don't know if there are enough session IPAs homebrewed to make a category happen. Should be a good presentation, though I think I have volunteered to be at another presentation.

 

A bit of flaked wheat will help with adding body.

 

Seems like you understood what was meant when he said Session IPA, so it was an effective label. I find it odd how much people are opposed to this name. Like you said in a later post, it doesnt fit into any style including pale ale, so why would it be a pale ale. I think they use session IPA to convey the hoppiness since that is the selling point, as opposed to a pale ale to covey the body which is not.

 

I do not brew session beers but for your case I think that mashing at 158 and adding Crystal malt would aid in mouth feel. Good luck!

 

Can't really argue too much with that logic as far as it goes. Except that the OP is asking how to make a 'Session IPA' *with* body.

 

Hmmm, interesting. I like both for going to parties or jams where I know I'll have to leave via automobile at some point, so I have had both several times. I can't say I would have been able to guess anything close to Go To's IBUs, but would have suspected All Day as being around 40. Perhaps that says either IBUs aren't easily guessable by the taste or that my pallet isn't particularly well trained to IBU levels, or something.

I can't say that I had any complaints about their one being watery. In fact they are both quite good.

 

I am not saying that session IPAs shouldnt/can't have body, but it just isnt the selling point. Since there is really no "style" per say it can be a lot of things. People get too hung up on style. The first year founders all day ipa came out, I thought it was too watery, last years was well balanced as far as body and hoppiness go. This is of course all subjective.

 

IPAs and PAs have both been taken so far to either end of their spectrums that I could see new categories being developed. Same with IIPAs to perhaps a slightly lesser extent. For one thing the west coast super dry verses the non-west coast styles distinguish IPAs to the point where I am already categorizing them that way myself in some cases. An example of such would be Apocalypse Cow IIPA verses PtE IIPA. They are quite different but both categorized as DIPAs.

There have been several cases where I wanted to categorize a brew via beersmith and there really wasn't a particular style that fit the bill, so I either created a style or winged it with a close enough style. Not that I think styles (or the numbers in beersmith) are the end-all of brewing, but I kinda like the slider bars showing how the parameters you're using fit into the guidelines of that style. Style guidelines give "a" means of classifying brews. Thus I'm interested to see what the new guidelines are.

Let me emphasize that when it comes to actually brewing homebrews, style schmyle, I brew what I want. But truthfully, most of what I have brewed will fit into something listed in the style categories.

 

Now that I think of it, Session IPA makes tons of sense for the name now that the Trappists are renaming/rebranding all their beers as IPAs. Just call it an IPA and it will sell!

 

Its called an XPA, Jack In all seriousness, these session IPAs seem to be pale ales that are using the word "IPA" as a marketing ploy.

My American Pale Ale is basically a scaled down IPA (It does well in BJCP comps entered as an XPA for maltose falcons comps or APA for others). To get it to not be watery, I carbonate it higher than usual (~2.8 vols CO2), use a fair amount of (Gasp) crystal malt in the form of golden naked oats or carapils, use a good amount of flaked wheat and regular wheat, mash high (162 F) and occasionally use a less attenuative yeast (1968; typically I make them with Nottingham). Its bittered to ~40-50 IBU as well.

 

I did this last year for my summer daytime drinker and am going to repeat it again next week (@JackHorzempa , I believe you commented in that thread a couple of times..."Working on a Recipe" was the title, I believe). I used a higher crystal % than I normally would in an IPA, mashed around 152, wy1056, moved all of my hops to the last 15 minutes, and DHd in thr keg. I caught flack for using so much crystal/carapils, but I'd read some stuff from other homebrewers about not scaling the crystal % down in a linear fashion and leaving more than you would think you'd want. It turned out fantastically. Definitely not hop water, but definitely not sweet hop candy.

I think you suggested that the BU:GU was all out of whack (and I did indeed hop the ever living shit out of the beer), but it just worked for me. Not thin, huge aroma, mellow bitterness, etc.

As for the names, I say Session IPA because it describes what I'm going for to other beer geeks. It provides an easy point of reference when telling a buddy about what I have fermenting. I don't really brew to style as a rule, so I don't particularly care about guidelines and nomenclature all that much.

 

1.037 - 1.010 153*F no sugar
1.073 - 1.015 148*F + sugar
1.036 - 1.012 158*F + sugar + 1056 + second runnings beer
1.067 - 1.014 152*F no sugar Wet Hopped American Brown (really good)
1.062 - 1.012 148*F + sugar

 

I thought Stone's Go To IPA was pretty good, almost like a scaled down Enjoy By, and did not remember it being watery. While not quite a session IPA (American Wheat/session IPA hybrid), Modern Times' Fortunate Islands is absolutely excellent (I can send you a four pack of it, as its cheap and readily available out here). Hop water is unappealing to me as well.

@JebediahScooter 's point of not scaling the crystal linearly with gravity and moving the hops all late (all my hops are 15 minutes and later; e.g. 15, 5, 0, 2x Dry hop) are two points that are pretty key for brewing a good one, and will help result in hoppy, non-watery beers.