Jeff Erway, president and brewer at La Cumbre Brewing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has graciously shared the recipe for his award-winning IPA. We’ve converted it to yield a 5-gallon (19-liter) batch size with 72 percent brewhouse efficiency.
ALL-GRAIN
OG: 1.07
FG: 1.015
IBUs: 100+
ABV: 7.3%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
10.75 lb (4.88 kg) Canada Malting Superior Pilsen malt
1.2 lb (544 g) Rahr wheat malt
0.55 lb (250 g) Durst Munich II
0.55 lb (250 g) Hugh Bairds Carastan (30L)
HOPS SCHEDULE
1.75 oz (50 g) Columbus hops at FWH
1.25 oz (35 g) Columbus at 30 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Chinook at 15 minutes with 1 tablet Whirlfloc T and yeast nutrient
1 oz (28 g) each Centennial, Chinook, and Columbus at flameout
1 oz (28 g) each Simcoe, Mosaic, J-17, Centennial, and Nelson Sauvin at dry hop (6 days)
DIRECTIONS
Mash at 151°F (66°C). Sparge with 168°F (76°C) hot liquor.
Boil for 90 minutes. Cool to 66°F (19°C) and oxygenate to 12 ppm. Pitch the yeast and let ferment for 5 days, raising the temperature to 72°F (22°C) by day 4. On day 6, rack to secondary with dry hops. Let sit on dry hops at 70°F (21°C) for 3 days. Crash to 32°F (0°C) on day 4 and add silicic acid (sold as Biofine Clear) on day 5 and let sit for 2 days. Transfer to keg and carbonate to 2.5 volumes (about 11 psi at 38°F/3°C) and serve as fresh as possible.
YEAST
Your favorite American ale yeast
BREWER’S NOTES
I really like Hugh Bairds Carastan (30L) malt, but if you can’t get it, try for a very low-color caramel malt. Albuquerque water is around 170 ppm of CaCO3, and we put it through a carbon filter. Use gypsum at FWH to adjust your water chemistry, if desired.
To boost the IBUs, you can add HopShots at 90 minutes.
J-17 is an experimental South African hops. It is woody with notes of blueberry. I really don’t think there is anything like it around, which is why I am so sad that I have less than 1,000 pounds of it left. Part of the point of using so many different hops is to account for changes, so I would try Galaxy, Waimea, Rakau, Riwaka, or Dr. Rudi in place of the J-17.