Homebrew Recipe: Sleeping Grizzly IPA

Sleeping Grizzly IPA (Extract)

We might as well call this one throwback Thursday because it takes me way back to the beginning of my brewing career. If I recall correctly, this was one of the first beers that I could objectively say was good. So it is near and dear to my heart. It is also a very easy and standard IPA recipe that could be tailored to your own taste.  I remember feeling a little shaky after my first two batches, but decided I'd try my hand at my favorite style, the IPA. After some minimal research, I learned the value and importance of steeping grains to the quality of the end product. Even that single pound of caramel malt really makes a difference in flavor, texture, and even appearance. But that is just one of the many reasons homebrewing is the best hobby ever. There is so much to learn and always another brew day to put those lessons into practice.

Recipe

Grain Bill

6.6 lb Briess CBW Golden Light LME

1 lb crushed Briess Caramel 120L

Hop Schedule

(60) - 1 oz Nugget

(15) - 1 oz Centennial

(5) - 1 oz Cascade

Yeast

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Procedure: The boil size for this batch was 3 gallons. Steep specialty grains for 30 minutes between 160-165 F. Add half of total extract (one can), bring to boil, follow hop schedule. With 15 minutes remaining in the boil, add the remainder of the extract. This keeps some of the sugars from caramelizing as much and can give you a lighter color in the beer. Submerge pot in ice bath, let cool, top off with water, and pitch yeast. Fun fact on this one, it looks like from my notes I tried sanitizing some plastic ice packs and submerging them in the beer itself. No correspondence from past me on how that went, but my guess is it was probably a bigger hassle than it was worth. Oh well, learning is fun!

Tasting Notes: As I mentioned above, this one was actually quite enjoyable. From where I sit now, I'm shocked that I would ever put that few hops in an IPA, but with the high alpha acids on those first two additions and the smaller boil size, it turned out to have a decent hop profile. Nothing too crazy or special about it, but it was definitely an easy drinker and had a good nose of grapefruit from the late Cascade addition.

Improvement/Tweak Ideas: HOPS! Add more hops, add different hops, adjust the hop schedule, dry hop it. With a simple grain bill like this you can really feature the hops and experiment with different types, times, etc. I would especially recommend this if you're fairly new to brewing and enjoy a good hoppy beer. Maybe brew the same recipe twice, but change something about the hop character and see how different it turns out. You can be your own mad scientist, and at the end of the day, you end up with beer, which is always a good thing.