Voyager IPA

This is my attempt to replicate the flavour and aroma of the American-style IPA,
which seems to be truer to the style than the current IPAs on the English market.
Hop bitterness and aroma dominate with a fantastic floral hop flavour.

Brewer:	Templar Brewing		Email:	-
Beer:	Voyager IPA		Style:	India Pale Ale
Type:	Partial mash		Size:	5 Imp. gal.
Color:	12 HCU (~8 SRM)		Bitterness:	61 IBU
OG:	1.038		FG:	1.008
Alcohol:	3.9% v/v (3.1% w/w)
Water:	North Wiltshire tap water with 1/2 tsp gypsum. pH still a little too high
Grain:	3kg British pale 250g British crystal 70-80L
Mash:	48% efficiency
	Strike temp: 80°C. Held mash at 68-70°C for 1 hour. Sparged with 3 litres of water at 80°C. Low mash efficiency due to it being my second time and my poor sparging technique.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.095	2 Imp. gal.
	1kg Light dry malt extract
	1 tsp Irish Moss added at last 20 mins.
Hops:	1.5 oz. Pioneer (9.3% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Centennial (9.5% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (7.3% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (7.6% AA, 15 min.)
Yeast:	Safale S-04 dry yeast, rehydrated in 12oz water with a few spoonfuls of wort. Pitched when wort at 25°C
Log:	Primary fermentation: 7 days (SG: 1.010) Secondary fermentation: 9 days (dry hopped with 1oz Cascade) Primed with 4oz brewing sugar Conditioned indoors for first 13 days (about 18°C) then moved to garage (about 10°C)
Tasting:	After the first 2 weeks there was a pronounced bitterness, outweighing the sweetness of the malt. The hop character was overwhelming, especially in the aroma, which was pretty much what I was going for anyway. After four weeks the beer was superb and the flavours had balanced out a little. It does need a little more maltiness to balance out the bitterness, which an improved mashing/sparging technique should accomplish.

Recipe posted 04/17/09.