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21A American IPA

Strata Single Hop IPA

Brewed 2025-08-02 Batch · 24 L

Grain bill

Gladfield American Ale Malt 4.2 kg 72.4%
Gladfield Munich Malt 1.2 kg 20.7%
Gladfield Supernova Malt 0.4 kg 6.9%

Hop schedule

Hop 60 min20 min10 minWP 75°CDH#1
Strata 20g30g40g60g150g

Yeast

LalBrew Pomona2 packets

Water additions

Calcium Chloride 4 g
Magnesium Sulfate 2 g
Calcium Sulfate 1 g
Lactic acid

Tasting notes

2025-08-14

Decent aroma and clean west-coast leaning profile.

A single-hop study batch built around Strata from Indie Hops — an Oregon-bred variety known for its distinctive dank, passionfruit, and cannabis-forward character. Running it as a single-hop IPA is the clearest way to map what the hop actually contributes.

Grain Bill

The grist was designed to stay neutral and not muddy the hop analysis. Gladfield American Ale Malt (72.4%) provided the clean fermentable base, Gladfield Munich (20.7%) added roundness and malt depth without crystal sweetness, and a small charge of Gladfield Supernova (6.9%) contributed biscuity complexity.

Hops

All Strata, all the way through:

  • Boil: 20 g at 60 min (bittering), 30 g at 20 min, 40 g at 10 min
  • Whirlpool: 60 g at 75°C, 20-minute stand
  • Dry hop: 150 g at day 3 (around 1.018)

Total Strata: 300 g across all stages, delivering 85 IBU. The heavy dry hop rate was intentional — to push the dank, tropical aromatics to the front.

Fermentation

LalBrew Pomona pitched at 18°C. Dry hopping triggered at day 3 (approximately 1.018), leveraging active fermentation to biotransform the hop compounds. Temperature raised to 20.5°C then 22°C for clean-up, before crashing to 3°C ahead of keg transfer.

Packaging & Tasting

Kegged 12 days after brew day, carbonated to 2.4 vol CO₂. Tasted at kegging: decent aroma and a clean, west-coast leaning profile. Strata’s dank and passionfruit character came through clearly — a useful data point on this hop’s behaviour in a solo context.