21A American IPA
Brewdog Punk IPA (clone)
Grain bill
| Gladfield American Ale Malt | 4.5 kg | 84.9% |
| Caramalt | 0.8 kg | 15.1% |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 10 min | WP | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinook | 4g | 8g | 8g | 40g |
| Nelson Sauvin | 4g | 8g | 8g | 40g |
| Simcoe | 4g | 8g | 8g | 40g |
| Cascade | 4g | 8g | 8g | 40g |
| Amarillo | 4g | 8g | 8g | 40g |
Yeast
| Safale US-05 | 1 packet |
About This Beer
Brewdog Punk IPA is one of the defining craft beers of the modern era — the beer that helped launch Brewdog and put hazy, hoppy modern IPAs on the map in the UK. This clone kit was purchased from The Brewstore and sourced via Mean Doses, and was brewed on 2 August 2023.
The kit came with pre-measured ingredients but without per-variety breakdowns: the grain bill was listed as a total (5.3kg Gladfield American Ale Malt and Caramalt combined), and the hops — Chinook, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Cascade, and Amarillo — were supplied as a pre-blended mix with only stage totals given.
Ingredients
5.3kg total grain — Gladfield American Ale Malt as the base with a proportion of Caramalt for colour and mild sweetness. The exact split wasn’t provided in the kit. The hop blend runs five varieties across four additions: 20g at 60 minutes, 40g at 10 minutes, 40g at flameout, and 200g dry hop on day 5. Individual variety amounts weren’t included in the kit recipe.
A single packet of US-05 ferments clean and dry, consistent with the original.
Brew Day
Mash in at 71°C, holding at 68°C for 60 minutes — a slightly high temperature for a pale ale, which would have contributed more body and a higher FG. Sparged 20L at 76°C. Pre-boil volume was a large 30.5L, which after a 60-minute boil came down to 27L, with 26L into the fermenter.
The brew session had pump issues — the pump worked for the mash but was intermittent during the boil and not functioning for the whirlpool or transfer. This likely affected the hop stand and transfer clarity.
The high fermenter volume — 26L — is noted as a probable cause for the OG coming in at 1.047 rather than the target 1.054. The dilution from keeping excess volume reduced the gravity by 7 points.
Fermentation
Fermentation details weren’t recorded. A final gravity of 1.010 gives 4.86% ABV from an OG of 1.047.
The Result
Bottled on 15 August 2023 with 131g dextrose, yielding 21.3L. ABV 4.86% — lower than the target due to the diluted starting gravity. A lesson in the importance of hitting target pre-boil and post-boil volumes rather than carrying excess wort forward into the fermenter.