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Recipe: Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA
This bright and bitter American IPA—still with a light touch of caramel malt—won gold medals at the 2023 World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival, then went on to become one of our Best 20 Beers in 2023.
Photo: Courtesy Fat Head’s
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ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.069 (16.8°P)
FG: 1.012 (3.0°P)
IBUs: 80
ABV: 7.5%
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ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.069 (16.8°P)
FG: 1.012 (3.0°P)
IBUs: 80
ABV: 7.5%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
10 lb (4.5 kg) pale two-row
1.3 lb (590 g) caramel/crystal 15°L
9.5 oz (269 g) wheat malt
9.5 oz (269 g) dextrin malt
HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
9.5 oz (269 g) dextrose at 90 minutes
0.35 oz (10 g) Pahto at 80 minutes [20 IBUs]
0.4 oz (11 g) Simcoe at 45 minutes [13 IBUs]
0.2 oz (6 g) each Centennial and Simcoe Cryo at 45 minutes [17 IBUs]
0.4 oz (11 g) each Centennial and Simcoe at 20 minutes [15 IBUs]
0.75 oz (21 g) Citra at 2 minutes [2 IBUs]
0.4 oz (11 g) each Simcoe and Simcoe Cryo at 2 minutes [3 IBUs]
0.6 oz (17 g) each Citra and Simcoe at whirlpool [10 IBUs]
1.5 oz (43 g) each whole-cone Mosaic and Simcoe at hopback
1 oz (28 g) Simcoe at dry hop
0.75 oz (21 g) each Chinook and Citra at dry hop
0.25 oz (7 g) Mosaic Cryo at dry hop
YEAST
White Labs WLP001 California Ale or other Chico strain
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 152°F (67°C) for 30 minutes, then slowly ramp to 170°F (77°C) for mash out. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as needed to collect about 7 gallons (26.5 liters), depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 90 minutes, adding sugar and hops according to the schedule. After the boil, do a whirlpool step: Stir or recirculate to create a vortex, cooling to 185°F (85°C) if possible; add the whirlpool hops (including whole-cone hops in a muslin bag) and allow 20 minutes to steep. Chill to 64°F (18°C), aerate the wort, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 64°F (18°C) for 2 days, then raise to 67°F (19°C) until fermentation is complete and the beer has passed a VDK test (see “Hunting for Diacetyl,” beerandbrewing.com), about 7 days. Add dry hops and rouse (preferably with CO2) three times over the next 7 days. Drop hops or rack, crash to 32°F (0°C), and cold-condition for 7–10 days. Package and carbonate to 2.75 volumes of CO2.
BREWER’S NOTES
Water profile: We target the following brewing liquor: calcium 162 ppm, magnesium 8.5 ppm, sodium 21 ppm, sulfites 285 ppm, chloride 23.5 ppm, and bicarbonate 104 ppm.
pH: We target a mash pH of 5.4 and post-boil pH of 5.2, adjusting as needed.
Pitch rate: About 0.75 million cells/ml/°P.
Hopback: If you have a hopback (ours is pictured at right), run the wort through the whole-leaf hops post-whirlpool, en route to chiller/fermentor.
