HBR Recipe#2 Tropical IPA
An IPA bursting with pineapple, passionfruit, and citrus notes. Close your eyes, take a sip, and visit the Pacific Island of your choice.
The vibrant amber will grab you first and the tropical aromas leave you with no illusion that this brew must have been inspired by island life.
This medium body beer has a silky-smooth finish that slides through your mouth and leaves you with an easy bitterness.
And with an ABV of 5.5-6.5% the brew packs a punch.
What you need for fermentation
2 x Black Rock Lager (1.7kg total)
1 x 1.5kg Mangrove Jack’s Amber Liquid Malt Extract
1 x Fermentis SafAle US-05 Yeast 11.5g
1 x Sachet of Mangrove Jack’s Finings or Liquid Beer Finings
Suggested hops
100g Moutere Hop Pallets
Taking a flexible approach with your hops
The additional malt extract that we use in the wort builds up a good body in the finished product, which carries the hop forward profile incredibly well.
If you particularly want a big hoppy character the recipe could carry 30-50 grams of additional hops, depending on your personal preferences – but note that we have only personally made the recipe stated.
If we did experiment with additional hops one alternative we would consider would introducing some more citrus to bring some balance to the tropical notes which currently dominate the flavour profile.
Recipe Instructions
1. On brew day, clean and sanitise your fermenter, airlock, mixing paddle and any other item that will be used in the production of your beer.
2. Place the extract kits and liquid malt extract in a bowl of hot water for ten (10) minutes directly prior to mixing your wort.
3. Add three (3) litres of boiling water to your fermenter. Pour the contents of the (2) Black Rock Lager extract kits into the fermenter.
4. Pour the contents of your Mangrove Jacks liquid malt extract pouch into the fermenter and squeeze out the remains.
5. Top the fermenter up to 23 litres with cold water.
6. Check the liquid temperature is below 25 degrees celsius ideally between 20-24 degrees celsius, then add the contents of the Fermentis SafAle US-05 Yeast. (Discard the yeast that is included with the Black Rock Lager extract kits).
7. Once your yeast is pitched, we suggest you aim for a fermentation temperature range of 15-20 degrees celsius.
8. Ferment for three (3) days and then add 50 grams of Moutere hop pallets.
9. On day eight (8) or once specific gravity reaches is 1.020 add a further 50 grams of Moutere hop pallets.
10. Fermentation will be complete once your specific gravity returns the same value for three (3) consecutive days (this is greater than the standard two (2) day ‘rule’). Depending on your fermentation temperature range this could take until between days ten (10) and twelve (12). Final specific gravity is expected to be between 1.011 and 1.013. When fermentation is complete add Mangrove Jack’s Finings or Liquid Finings 24-28 hours before bottling your brew.
Bottle Maturing
Condition your brew in a cool and dry space. We recommend somewhere not in direct sunlight and allow the brew to mature in the bottles for six-eight (6-8) weeks before drinking to allow the flavours to mature.
As a minimum let the brew mature in bottles for four (4) weeks. If you start drinking the brew earlier or even from four (4) weeks, the hop flavours will not have fully settled. Drinking the brew from an earlier stage you can expect a stronger hop forward flavour initially.
Refridgerate for 24-48 hours prior to drinking.
3 Things you can do to improve your finished product
Temperature Control
When fermentation temperature is too hot yeast can create adverse flavours in your beer. When fermentation temperature is too low fermentation can become lethargic affecting the fermentation process. To improve the flavour of your finished product and consistency of result use temperature control to maintain a target range.
Cold Crashing
Cold crashing is the process of chilling your brew to a temperature between 2-4 degrees Celsius normally for 1-2 days before you bottle. The process helps move sediment that may have been suspended in the brew to the bottom of the fermentation vessel supporting a cleaner and clearer finish.
Racking-Off
Racking-off is the process of transferring your brew from the primary fermenter into a secondary vessel for bottling. Applying this process before you bottle ensures that you separate the yeast cake from your brew and minimise the risk of residual material transferring to your final product in the bottling process.
