Beer of the Month Article - Riggers on India Pale Ale

Paul Rigby

India Pale Ale (IPA)

As discussed in last month's historical background of Pale Ale, the introduction of the style came about during, or as a result of, the industrial revolution. One, arguably the primary, aspect of the industrial revolution was the emergence of coal as a cheap and effective energy source for the generation of steam. Steam had become the universal power source in most aspects of industry, and more importantly in relation to this topic - shipping. New "steamers" had replaced the once mighty but slow sailing ships and with speed came economic growth and opportunity, particularly in the Far East (as India, China and their environs were known in the UK at the time) for the import of tea and spices into the British Isles. A problem arose from the development of these trade routes in that whilst the ships returned full of cargo they left Britain for the Far East essentially empty, not an economically viable situation in any era.
Enter George Hodgson who had, in 1752, opened a brewery at Bow in the East End of London. His entrepreneurial skills, and undoubtedly some assistance from the beer marketing gurus of the day, saw him grasp an opportunity to market his products internationally, and take advantage of cheap shipping costs available to the Far East. Coincidently, Imperial Britain had a massive presence in the region, in particular India, where enormous numbers of troops were stationed to administer British colonial rule. Tens of thousands of British troops and civil administrators a long way from home desired many of the comforts of home, and one of those comforts was fine British Pale Ales! Alas the long journey to the Far East by sea together with long hot overland treks were not conducive to the product arriving in a drinkable condition let alone pristine condition, and all attempts at getting ale to India were disastrous.
During the latter part of the eighteenth century the wonderful and beneficial effects of hops were just beginning to become known, and to cut a long story short, George Hodgson realised that the only way to get ale to reach it's destination in India, in good condition, was to increase the hop and alcohol content for their combined preservative effects. He was the first of many to capitalise on these factors and produced a high gravity, highly hopped pale ale that could, and did, survive the arduous journey to India, thus the "India Pale Ale" was created and effectively serviced the Far East expatriates for many years.
What does this mean to the craft brewer trying to create this unique style of ale? Basically, that an India Pale Ale is a highly hopped, high gravity pale ale. This increase in hops will substantially increase the bitterness levels (bitterness levels can be as high as 60 IBU's - by comparison the famed Pilsner Urquell is around 45 IBU's), and noticeably increase the hop aroma and flavour. Increasing the alcohol level (alcohol levels are generally range from 5.5 to as high as 6.8%) virtually eliminates any chance of bacterial infection. We should therefore, ideally, be aiming at a pale coloured, highly hopped, high gravity ale with low carbonation.
I recommend reading two publications in relation to brewing India Pale Ales and they are Ray Daniels' excellent book "Designing Great Beers" and the Brewers Publications "Pale Ale" written by Terry Foster.

Riggers' Original 1790 I.P.A.

Enhanced Kit Version
I suggest starting out by purchasing a good quality IPA kit or Pale Ale/Bitter kit. There are numerous choices and the final decision is yours. If you choose to use a pale ale kit, rather than an IPA kit, then more malt extract and hop will need to be used to achieve the necessary alcohol and hop levels required for this style. There really isn't much that can be done to enhance a kit beer but here are a couple of things that I have tried and I think are worthwhile.
1. Substitute 1 kg (1.5kg if using a pale ale kit) of Light Malt Extract for the sugar or dextrose normally used.
2. Put half a litre of cold water in a saucepan and add 500 gms of British Crystal Malt and heat up SLOWLY (over a 15 to 20 minute period) until just short of boiling. Strain the liquid into your fermenter, and discard the grain residue.
3. Put half a litre of cold water into a saucepan and add 25gms of fresh "Noble" British hop pellets (in my opinion there are only two to consider and they are Goldings and Fuggles), bring to the boil as quickly as you like, and boil for 5 minutes. Add the strained liquid into the fermenter and discard the residue.
Follow the usual kit instructions for the remainder of the brew. This version will have much better malt and hop profile and more body or mouth feel than a straightforward kit alone.

Malt Extract Version
Base Malt - 4kg Light Malt Extract
Grains - 400 gms Crystal Malt, 80 gms Wheat Malt, & 20 gms Roast Malt.
(Follow the method in point 2 of the enhanced kit instructions above)
Adjuncts - 500 gms Demerara Sugar
Hops - Preferably only English hops should be used, I generally use medium alpha
Northern Brewer for Bittering, Goldings or Fuggles for flavour and aroma.
(For bittering aim at around 45 IBU's. Quantity will vary depending on the %Alpha Acid of the hops being used. Grain & Grape staff will be happy to do the calculations for you.)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1098 British Ale as a good reliable performer
If you prefer the convenience of dry yeast then try DCL Safale S-04.

Full Grain Version
Grains 4500 gms British Ale
1000 gms Light Munich
300 gms Crystal (Lightest colour available)
100 gms Wheat
Mashing regimes are many and varied. Most English malts are very well modified
and only need a simple single step infusion mash to obtain very good results.
Adjuncts - 250 gms Golden Syrup.
Hops - Aim at 45 IBU's using Northern Brewer for Bittering, Goldings or
Fuggles, for flavour, aroma and dry hopping. (I recommend dry hopping with
30 gms Goldings after racking)
Total boil time should be 90 minutes with the hops boiled for only 60 minutes.
Yeast - I recommend Wyeast 1098 (See above) or Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

Next month I will write an article on American Pale Ale.