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When sitting down to work up a recipe for an IPL, make a lager first, then fit an amplified hops character to it. Otherwise, you run the risk of simply making a boring, ester-free IPA. Go for the L to score the W!
For more on this style and the thinking behind this recipe, see Make Your Best India Pale Lager.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.015
IBUs: 45
ABV: 6.1%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
5.25 lb (2.4 kg) Maris Otter
5.25 lb (2.4 kg) Munich 10L
7.5 oz (213 g) biscuit
7.5 oz (213 g) Caramunich
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.7 oz (20 g) Polaris at 30 minutes [32 IBUs]
0.7 oz (20 g) Polaris at 5 minutes [8 IBUs]
1 oz (28 g) Polaris at whirlpool [5 IBUs]
YEAST
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Recirculate until your runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6 gallons (23 liters) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. After the boil, either add hops at flameout or do a whirlpool step: Stir or recirculate to create a vortex, add the whirlpool hops, and allow 15 minutes to steep. Chill the wort to about 55°F (13°C), aerate well, and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 55°F (13°C) for 14 days, then allow free-rise to room temperature, and hold there for 7 more days or until fermentation is complete. Crash to 35°F (2°C), then package and carbonate to about 2.5 volumes.
BREWER’S NOTES
Whirlpool: If you can drop your whirlpool temperature to about 170°F (77°C), it does great things for the hop aroma in this beer. The cooler whirlpool preserves more of the volatile oils in the hops, making dry hops arguably unnecessary.
EXTRACT VERSION
Substitute 10 lb (4.5 kg) Munich dry malt extract (DME) for all malts. Bring 5.5 gallons (21 liters) of water to a boil, switch off the heat, and add the DME in batches while stirring to dissolve completely, being careful not to scorch. Return the wort to a boil and continue as above.