Green Cheek West Coast IPA Is Dead!

Green Cheek head brewer Evan Price calls this 2018 GABF bronze-medal winner a “clear IPA, brewed without crystal malt, to keep the color light and malt flavor low—and to allow those Simcoe and Citra hops to shine through like crazy. Clean. Bitter. Hoppy.”

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)

Brewhouse efficiency: 72%

OG: 1.061

FG: 1.008

IBUS: 70-ish

ABV: 7.2%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

11.4 lb (5.2 kg) pilsner

HOPS SCHEDULE

1.3 oz (37 g) Simcoe at 75 minutes [53 IBUS]

2 oz (57 g) Simcoe at whirlpool [17 IBUS]

3 oz (85 g) Simcoe at dry hop

6 oz (170 g) Citra at dry hop

YEAST

Fermentis Safale US-05 American Ale

DIRECTIONS

Mill the grains and mash at 148°F (64°C) for 30 minutes. Vorlauf until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 90 minutes, adding boil hops according to the schedule. After the boil, stir to conduct a whirlpool, adding the correct amount of ambient-temperature water to hit target gravity and bring down the wort temperature to 192°F (89°C). Whirlpool with hops for 10 minutes, then allow 15 minutes to settle. Chill the wort to 66°F (19°C), aerate well, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68°F (20°C).

Once fermentation slows, rack off of yeast or drop yeast out of the conical, transfer to a sanitized and Co2-purged container, and add dry hops at 68°F (20°C). Once the beer clears diacetyl tests (see “Hunting for Diacetyl,” beerandbrewing.com), crash to 28°F (-2°C) for 3 days. Then package and carbonate to desired level.

BREWER’S NOTES

After transferring to a keg, use Biofine Clear to fine the beer. It’ll help settle out that residual dry-hopped bitterness and make the beer much cleaner.