Breaking Point: Belgian IPA

As it turns out, if you practice anything enough you can get good at it.  As you practice you'll have ample opportunity to figure out all your problems, that's the easy part.  As you persevere you will then slowly begin to figure out all their solutions.  Our 7th beer is living proof.  After mashing our first three batches extremely hot (a fatal flaw the lead to over bittered and over sweetened lower than intended alcohol brews), not keeping proper notes on our California Common and severely overcarbonating our Saison, we seem to have come up with a beer that is a winner on all fronts.  Recording and adjusting our process has been key to our success.  I'm not saying the beer is perfect, and we still have a lot to learn, but I feel like we are at the point where we can dependably choose to make a beer that tastes a certain way, and make it so.

We wanted to brew up something called a Belgian IPA.  The style is still developing and is found in two forms; a West Coast style IPA that has been fermented with a Belgian ale yeast or a Belgian Tripel that has been aggressively hopped with English or American hops.  We wanted to brew the former.  We put together a recipe that would use a blend of both American and Belgian style character malts as well as Belgian Candi Syrup, to build a beer with American IPA like crystal malt sweetness, but with the bready, fruity tones of a Belgian Amber or Dubbel.  Then we hopped in the style of a West Coast IPA: Centennial for earthy bittering, Simcoe for pine and citrus flavors and Citra for its tropical fruit aromas.  It was all rounded out with a warm (ester producing) fermentation using Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale, to get some fruit and spice notes layered in.

All said and done, the recipe and fermentation schedule looked like this:

Beer Name: Tropic Thunder
Style: Belgian IPA
OG: 1.058
FG: 1.008
ABV: 6.7%
IBUS: 62

Grains:
4 lbs Pilsner Malt
3 lbs 2-Row
1 lb Munich 10L
8 oz Crystal 77L
8 oz Aromatic Malt

In the Boil:
1 lb Belgian Candi Syrup 45L @ 60 Minutes
1 oz Centennial Hops @ 60 Minutes
½ oz Citra Hops @ 30 Minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes
1 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 Minutes
½ oz Citra Hops @ 5 Minutes
½ oz Simcoe Hops @ 5 Minutes

Fermentation:
Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale Yeast in primary
Dry hopped with ½ oz Simcoe Hops in secondary
Primed with 4.5 oz Amber DME

Brew Notes:
17/05/13: Brewed
Mashed @ 156F
Fermented in Reflectix and Sleeping Bag
21/05/13: SG of 1.014
24/05/13: SG of 1.014, racked to secondary
28/05/13: SG of 1.013, double dropped (accidentally)
02/06/13: Fermentation seems to have restarted, SG of 1.010
11/06/13: SG of 1.008, bottled

Tasting Notes:
25/07/2013:  Pours a pretty orange tinged amber with a thick off white cap of head.  Leaves soapy lacing. On the nose lots of mango, banana, strawberry and a touch of citrus zest.  Dry with only the smallest hint of caramel malt background and yeasty spice.  Slightly bitter on the finish, layered with the yeast notes and more fruit.  Moderate body and carbonation.

I liked the appearance and flavor of this beer, it's something I would consider remaking.  All in all it's just a touch too subtle for me, as though all the flavors could be more pronounced.  Ditching the Pilsner Malt and adding more of the Crystal and Aromatic would help provide it a slightly sweeter finish.  Hopping could be upped considerably as I find this under bittered for an IPA.  Brew again!