Sorry, My Horse Is Sick

Won 1st in New England IPAs category at London LAB Homebrew Competition 2019 (held at Fourpure Brewery), out of 20 entries in category. Notes weren't fulsome in praise, score was only 37/50. Essentially comments were that all elements were present, but it was let down by a muted hop aroma and flavour. Malt flavour and balance were praised. Suggests the samples were a bit old (at about 2 months since brewday), as we noted falling aroma before we prepared the samples to submit.

Hops should be as fresh as you can possibly obtain. If fresher crops are available of other varieties that work in NEIPA (avoid piney, go for fruity/tropical and maybe some citrus) then go for these rather than older crops of the indicated hops.

After fermentation has begun, take extreme care not to introduce oxygen, as this will kill hop aroma very quickly. Take particular care at the second dry hopping step (ideally purge hops with CO2 before quickly adding), during transfers (purge vessels and lines before transferring), during bottling (using a bottling gun with CO2 tank preferred). We keg and we purge the kegs beforehand by filling 100% of volume with sanitiser and then pushing this out with CO2.

Hopstand method to avoid over stewing: cool wort to 85C and insert bag with hops. Stir inside bag to wet them, and try to get a decent amount of wort in the bag to absorb hop flavours. Allow to soak for 20 mins, then remove bag and hops, squeeze out liquid (with ideally sanitised rubber gloves, but wort at 80C+ is still likely to be sanitary) and continue to the remainder of chilling. With a Grainfather, this method requires some additional heating to retain temperature above 80C.

Yeast should be built up with a large starter to avoid over-stressing it. We use 1.8 litres at the expected OG of the wort and pitch this as close as we can to high krausen. If you prefer not to pitch the starter liquid then make the starter earlier and allow it to ferment out, then settle it in the fridge and pour off most of the clear liquid from the top before swirling and pitching the yeast. Do use the indicated strain or another known for NEIPAs, as it makes a big difference.

For dry hops: these are divided into two equal weight charges, as shown in the recipe by the different contact times (11 days vs 7 days - just guidelines). 1st charge should be at high krausen after 36-48 hours (airlock should be bubbling vigorously, otherwise wait until it is). Next charge should be around day 7 after pitching, when primary fermentation has either stopped or significantly wound down. Don't worry too much about air introduction at first dry hop step, but try hard to avoid introducing air at second dry hop. Both dry hops done in primary fermenter and no secondary fermenter employed, to minimise possibility of aeration during transfers.

Fermentation temperature regulated to 20C throughout until chilling. Chill when FG reached, ideally slowly over 3 days and to get to as close to 0C as possible. Hold at this temperature for at least a few days to allow yeast and hop particles to settle - ideally for a couple of weeks or longer to allow it to mellow. Keg or bottle with fairly high carbonation and as little oxygen introduction as possible. Do not fine. Appearance should be very hazy. If you're getting a hop burn flavour, allow it more time to mellow before drinking. This will fade with time, before the aroma does.