21A West Coast IPA
Mean WCIPA
Grain bill
| Gladfield Light Lager Malt | 3.8 kg | 55.1% |
| Gladfield Ale Malt | 1.9 kg | 27.5% |
| Gladfield Munich Malt | 0.9 kg | 13% |
| Gladfield Supernova Malt | 0.19 kg | 2.8% |
Adjuncts
| Whirlfloc | 1 tablet @ 15 min |
| Yeast Nutrient | 5 g @ 10 min |
| Zinc | 0.5 tablet |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 5 min | WP 75°C | DH#1 | DH#2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Jade | 10g | · | · | · | · |
| Columbus | · | 25g | 30g | 20g | 60g |
| Simcoe | · | 25g | 30g | 20g | 60g |
| Mosaic Cryo | · | 12.5g | 15g | 10g | 30g |
Yeast
| LalBrew Pomona Hybrid IPA | 2 packets (dry pitch) |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | 3.8 g |
| Calcium Sulfate | 2.8 g |
| Magnesium Sulfate | 3.8 g |
About This Beer
Mean WCIPA is a homebrew-scale version of a West Coast IPA brewed collaboratively by James W. and Dean Moses (head brewer at Mean Doses, Wellington). The story behind it: the Valley Brewers homebrew club ran a “Beat the Brewer” competition where Dean provided his Red IPA recipe and club members each brewed a batch. James W. won the judging and earned the right to brew a full commercial batch with Dean at Mean Doses. That collaboration produced a 500L West Coast IPA that won 1st place in a Wellington commercial West Coast IPA challenge. This is the scaled-down homebrew version.
Grain Bill
The grain bill is built around a highly fermentable lager malt base — 3.8 kg Gladfield Light Lager Malt providing the clean, neutral foundation that lets the hops dominate. Gladfield Ale Malt adds body and a light biscuit character, Munich contributes malt depth without sweetness, and a small addition of Gladfield Supernova provides a subtle caramel note and contributes to the pale golden-orange colour.
The Lager Malt base proved more fermentable than expected: apparent attenuation hit ~90% (FG 1.007 from OG 1.068), well above the calibrated 78% for LalBrew Pomona.
Hop Schedule
Pacific Jade at 60 minutes provides clean bittering. At 5 minutes: Columbus, Simcoe, and Mosaic Cryo for hop flavour. The whirlpool at 75°C for 35 minutes adds another charge of the same three hops for aroma complexity with reduced bitterness contribution.
Two rounds of dry hops: DH#1 was a biotransformation addition at gravity 1.018 (~48h after pitch) — Columbus 20g, Simcoe 20g, Mosaic Cryo 10g. DH#2 was a larger aroma addition — Columbus 60g, Simcoe 60g, Mosaic Cryo 30g — added after the diacetyl rest with 3–4 days contact time at ~10 psi.
James’s original recipe uses standard Mosaic pellets at 20g (DH#1) and 60g (DH#2). Matthew substituted Mosaic Cryo and halved the quantity (10g / 30g) to account for cryo’s approximately double lupulin concentration relative to standard pellets. All other late-addition varieties (Columbus, Simcoe) were kept at original quantities.
Total dry hop: 200g.
Fermentation
Two packets of LalBrew Pomona were dry pitched at OG 1.068. Primary ran at 18.5°C under spunding, with pressure allowed to build gradually. DH#1 was added at 48h as a biotransformation addition. Temperature was ramped for a diacetyl rest: 18.5°C → 19.5°C → 20.5°C → 21.5°C over days 2–4, coinciding with DH#2. Pressure built to 15–20 psi at 21.5°C during spunding — approximately half-carbonated before cold crash.
Cold crash began Sunday May 3 with FG confirmed at 1.007 (RAPT pill reading 1.0065). Ramped down over 5 days to 3°C, held 48 hours, then transferred to keg on May 7.
Packaging
Transferred to a 19L keg on 2026-05-07. The large hop load (total ~200g dry hops plus trub) reduced packaged volume. Carbonation was partially built during spunding; topping up with CO₂ to reach ~2.4 volumes.