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Beer of the Month Article - Riggers on India Pale Ale
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.
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