Fruited Ipa Recipe

After hearing a lot of buzz about the unique WildBrew™ Philly Sour yeast, I decided to take a break from hazy IPAs and brew a fruited raspberry sour recipe. For those of you who don’t have any background on this strain, Philly Sour is a unique species of Lachancea that produces both ethanol and lactic acid. In other words, this strand will both ferment and sour your beer in as little as 8-10 days. Hops will not inhibit lactic acid production, meaning this yeast would work really well for sour NEIPAS—something I’m yet to try.

Philly Sour yeast is the newest player on the block when it comes to producing sour beers. I’d say it’s the most similar to kettle souring in terms of the timeline and process but even skips the lengthy sour mash step. In terms of the brewing process, it’s no different than brewing any other basic ale, making it quick and appealing for anyone hesitant to jump into the sour world. From everything I’ve read, this yeast is NOT bacteria and will be easily outcompeted by other strands, making it a safe choice for those concerned about infecting equipment.

Co-pitching and harvesting for re-pitch are not recommended because the yeast will either be inhibited by other strains or lose their ability to sour consecutive batches.

Range Brewing, 4: Triple Fruited Imperial Jam, 440ml

While I’m new to brewing sours, I’m not new to drinking them. This yeast produced a smoothly tart sour ale without being overly puckering. If I had to compare it to a kettle sour, I’d say it was very close in terms of the overall level of sour, but maybe a tad dialed back.

The yeast itself produces a distinct red apple flavor as described by Lallemand. I can confirm it does have a very prominent and fruity apple flavor. I’d almost compare it to the flavor of some hard ciders. Fruit additions will also contribute to the tartness and flavor depending on what you choose.

Below you can see how this beer fermented on my Tilt/Brewfather chart. This beer started to show activity about 21 hours post pitch. It

Ska Brewing Releases A New Beer… That's Not An Ipa

Normally for about 1 day before appearing to go dormant for another 22 hours or so. By day 6-7 I reached full attenuation. I thought I may see fermentation kick up again after adding the fruit but I saw no bubbling activity whatsoever. I added my fruit addition on May 5th.

I just missed my OG, in case you noticed, resulting in a lighter ABV than the recipe mentions below. I ended up finishing with 80% attenuation.

Thanks to this helpful presentation with Mathew Farber (who discovered Philly Sour) and this article, I decided to mash low and add corn sugar to really push the lactic acid production. I love SOUR beers so I wanted to get as much sour out of this yeast as possible. More fermentable wort helps with pushing lactic acid production.

Recipe: Narrow Gauge Brummel Sour Ipa

The only downside with corn sugar is the tradeoff with producing a drier beer. While I’m a fan of dry sours, I thought this recipe could have benefited from a little more body and sweetness. If I were to brew again, I may experiment with mashing a little higher or adding 8-10 ounces of lactose to the boil. It’s pretty amazing what a little extra sugar will do to a beer. I added a little simple sugar to a glass of this beer and it’s crazy to see the fruit flavors just pop. It’s certainly rounds out the beer and adds body.

As a final note, my beer went into the fermenter with a pH of 5.18 and the finished beer came in at 3.22. This is right in line with typical results in terms of final pH range. I’m sure the fruit also may have contributed.

For this recipe, I decided to use Oregon Fruit Puree, which is trusted by a lot of commercial breweries. There are a lot of aseptic fruit choices out there but Oregon Fruit seems like the closest thing to actually preparing your own fruit. The only caveat with using fresh fruit is the necessary prep work to ensure you don’t introduce unwanted bacteria or wild bugs into the beer with the fruit. Typical fresh fruit prep involves freezing, crushing, and heating to break down cell walls and kill any bacteria or wild yeast. I’d be really curious to experiment with this in the future.

Fruit Ipas (ii: How To Brew A Fruit Ipa)

Oregon Fruit Puree comes ready to pitch directly into your beer with no prep necessary. I added 1.5 49 ounce cans to my batch. Each can weighs about 3 pounds, putting me at about 4.5 pounds in a 5.5-gallon batch. The fruit was really refreshing and flavorful without being overpowering. If I were to brew this again, I’d likely recommend two full cans for a more pronounced fruit flavor. I was on a bit of a rushed timeline for this batch (Mother’s Day brew), so my beer only had about 3.5 days on fruit. While this felt like enough time to add plenty of flavor, I’d recommend a few more days.

The only downside with aseptic fruit is the price. Each can of Oregon Fruit averages around $25-$35 per can, making them a pricy option for convenience, especially at this scale. There are other aseptic fruit providers out there, I’ve just heard really great things about the Oregon brand and have had a positive experience so far.

I added a single 8-inch Light toast American oak spiral to the fermenter along with my fruit addition. As mentioned, I only left this beer on the oak for about 3.5 days due to my tight timeline. If I was were to brew again, I’d like to leave on the oak longer and probably use two spirals for quicker durations. I can’t say I detect much if any oak in this beer at all. I was really nervous about overpowering the beer, so I erred on the side of caution. Just to note, the oak should be boiled before adding to the fermenter to sanitize.

El Dorado Single Hop Ipa Recipe

Overall, this beer resulted in a crowd-pleasing and refreshing dry sour ale with beautiful notes of raspberry, thanks to fruit puree. I did pick up some very subtle esters from my batch. Not sure if this was the yeast, fruit, or phantom flavors I was detecting. For whatever reason, I only noticed shortly after introducing the fruit.

It’s definitely something I would brew again with very minor tweaks based on my own personal preferences. If anything, I would just like to see the beer finish a little higher, maybe 1.014-1.016 for a little extra sweetness and body. Cheers!

This yeast will likely produce lactic acid first and then start to ferment afterward. I pitched at 75°F and held steady the whole time. I added fruit and oak on day 5-6, nearly at terminal. Let sit on fruit for at least 5-7 days. Cold crash for 24-48 hours before transfer. I added a little Biofine to help settle pulp in suspension. The beer pours hazy with no pulp and a nice creamy head.

Rushmore Ipa (all Grain)

As mentioned in my post, this beer would benefit from a few more days of fruit and oak contact time. I added 4.5 pounds of fruit (1.5 cans), but I wouldn’t hesitate to add two full cans next time. I would also experiment with two oak spirals for more pronounced oak character.

If you prefer a higher final gravity or want a bit more sweetness, I would experiment with adding lactose towards the end of the boil.Jeff Hardesty of Narrow Gauge Brewing Company (Florissant, Missouri) shares this homebrew-scale recipe for their sour IPA brewed with lactose and cassia bark, dry hopped with Citra and El Dorado, and aged on blackberries and vanilla beans.

Mash the grains at 155°F (68°C) for 45 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge the grains to obtain 6 gallons (23 l) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 60 minutes. For the lactose, remove the kettle from the heat, stir in the lactose, return the kettle to the heat, and bring it back to a boil for the remaining 10 minutes.

Brew York Deuce Forsyth

Blend. There’s no need to hold the heat at 95°F (35°C), but don’t allow it to drop much below 75°F (24°C). After a pH of 3.2–3.3 is obtained, reheat the wort to 180°F (82°C) and follow the hopping schedule for the second whirlpool. After the whirlpool, rest for 15 minutes, then chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 66°F (19°C). Aerate the wort and pitch the British Ale yeast.

Hold fermentation at 68°F (20°C) for 24 hours once signs of fermentation are visible. Allow the temperature to rise to 70°F (21°C) during the remainder of fermentation, following the dry-hop schedule. After adding the vanilla and blackberries, allow the berries to ferment out at 70°F (21°C).

This beer was a fun one to create and one of our first regular-rotation sour IPAs. The recipe is pretty interchangeable with fruit as it is designed to be like a cobbler. We have brewed a peach version (Momotaro) and a sweet-cherry

Hazy Ipa Recipes You Can Brew At Home