How To Make India Pale Ale At Home

Brewing your own beer at home is an amazing pastime. Not only can home beer brewing save you money in the long run but you can experiment with a ton of different recipes and get an opportunity to taste beers that you may not normally find in your local area. Recipes are easy to find on the Internet and all you need to do is find the ingredients to try out the new beer. And in these days of online shopping you can usually find all of the listed ingredients you need as well. One of the more famous brews available since the days of the 18th century is India Pale Ale. India Pale Ale lovers don't have to go far to seek out this favorite beer as we have a recipe below that the home beer master can easily use to brew up a batch of this all-time favorite.

India Pale Ale (also known as IPA) is a beer that has a high level of alcohol content and hops and was a beer originally made for export from Britain to India. British troops stationed in India, when it was still a British colony, loved this beer and couldn't wait to receive more from back home. Tradition holds that India Pale Ale was an offshoot of the English October beer of the day that was highly hopped and created to be stored for an extended time period. Heavily hopping the beer takes advantage of the acids in the hops which then acts as a natural preservative. In addition, lowering the density or the gravity of the beer, done by simply lowering the amount of soluble sugar in the solution, also acts as a preservative. A beer with this character of lower sugar content will not usually attract the microorganisms that could also spoil the beer over a long, long sea voyage. Those factors, along with having a high alcohol content that also deters microorganisms in a lesser way, allowed India Pale Ale to survive the long treacherous journeys over the sea to India during a time when refrigeration was not yet available.

The recipe for India Pale Ale shown below is a type known as all grain.

* 5 ounces, crystal malt (80L). Has a sweet, pronounced caramel flavor.
* 2-1/2, pounds pale malt. Due to mass production today this is the cheapest barley malt available.
* 1/2 ounce, finishing hops (Willamette). A top grade, versatile aroma hops with a smooth soft flavor.
* 5.5 AAUs, bittering hops (1 ounce of 5.5% Willamette). Described as mild, spicy, grassy with a floral aroma.
* Wyeast #1028: London ale. This is a rich product with some fruitiness to it.

OG: 1.043 FG: 1.008
Primary Ferment is 6 days
Secondary Ferment is 4 days

Steps: These instructions will make a 2-gallon batch. Mash in 5 quarts 132 degrees - 140 degree strike heat. Adjust the mash pH to 5.3. Boost the temperature to 150 degrees. Mash for 2 hours, maintaining the temperature at 146-152 degrees. Mash out for 5 minutes at 168 degrees. Sparge with 2 gallons of 165 degree water. Boil 90 minutes, adding hops in the last hour. Add finishing hops 5 minutes before end of boil. Ferment at 70 degrees, 6 days in primary ferment, 4 days in secondary ferment.

For the more advanced home brewer you can also involve yourself in the mash as well. Advanced home brewers mash their own grains to exert more control over the final flavor of the beer but this will require some additional equipment such as a mash tun.

But no matter how deeply you become involved in the craft of making your own beer, being able to brew your own India Pale Ale at home can add an amazing sense of accomplishment to the next get together when you are able to sit back and enjoy one of your home made brews with your family and closest friends.
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