21B Specialty IPA: Red IPA
RIPA — Into Kegs
Grain bill
| Gladfield American Ale Malt | 5.5 kg | 75.9% |
| Gladfield Munich Malt | 0.7 kg | 9.7% |
| Gladfield Redback Malt | 0.55 kg | 7.6% |
| Gladfield Shepherds Delight Malt | 0.45 kg | 6.2% |
| Gladfield Eclipse Wheat Malt | 0.05 kg | 0.7% |
Adjuncts
| Whirlfloc | half tablet @ 15 min |
| Yeast nutrient | half tsp @ 15 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 10 min | WP | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citra | 20g | 30g | 50g | · |
| Superdelic | · | · | 100g | 100g |
Yeast
| LalBrew BRY-97 | 2 packets |
Water additions
| Calcium Sulphate | 1 tsp in mash |
| Calcium Chloride | half tsp in mash |
| Lactic acid (88%) | 4 drops in sparge |
Tasting notes
About This Beer
This was Owen’s first attempt at both natural CO2 capture and kegging in the same brew — a significant step up in process complexity. The RIPA recipe is the same proven grain bill: American Ale Malt, Munich, Redback, Shepherds Delight, and a small Eclipse Wheat. Citra and Superdelic in boil and whirlpool, with Superdelic returning for the Day 5 dry hop via the hop bomb.
The kegging process required kegs to be sanitised and purged during the first days of active fermentation, then used as receivers via closed transfer. Fermentation was held at 19°C and 3–4 psi for 5 days, then dry hopped, spunding valve closed, and temperature raised to 22°C for 3 days. Gradual cooling to 4°C brought the final pressure to 8.3 psi — 2.15 vol CO2.
The main issue was a significant volume loss during transfer: the 150g whirlpool hop addition created a dense hop cake that blocked the dip tube, and at least 2 litres were left behind in the kettle. Of 23 litres in the fermenter, only 19.6 litres made it into the kegs. Owen noted for future batches: use a hop spider or bag, or switch to cryo hops to reduce volume.
OG 1.058, FG 1.012, ABV 6.04%. Kegged 16 May 2024.