After brewing a couple lagers and waiting for them to finish up for drinking I noticed that I didn't have any really flavorful brews, nothing hoppy to slake my lupulin lusts. I have my Saison in bottles and the 2 American Pilsners, that's it. I really enjoy White IPAs. I really enjoy session IPAs. And yesterday was National IPA Day. Seemed fitting that I brew up a nice sessionable White IPA. Around 4.5% ABV, 43 IBUs., dry, crisp, refreshing, fruity, bursting with hops.
I have really wanted to get into single strain 100% Brett fermentations for awhile now. I did a Brett L Oud Bruin in Spring that was supposedly mixed with some Lacto (no lactic acid in the beer though), and I have wanted to brew a hoppy Brett beer as the fruitiness of the Brett is a great compliment to fruity hops. Seeing as this is a split batch with a Session White IPA I don't really want a super fruity beer for this batch so I did a larger addition of Chinook to get a substantial amount of Pine with the Simcoe in there as well.
I decided to mash a little higher than normal for this beer since it is a smaller beer. I didn't want it to end up in the lower single digits on the FG and be thin, especially since Brett beers typically lack body. The high percentage of flaked products, the flaked oats, and the higher levels of Chloride compared to Sulfate should make for a decent finish on this batch even if the FG dips a little lower.
Last year I started a category of beers for my brewing called the BANGARANG series. Of course BANGARANG is from the movie Hook and this term expresses delight and enjoyment. As the second and third beers in this installment, I went with the twins. It seemed fitting since I was brewing up a 10 gallon batch and splitting it into 2 fermenters with two separate yeasts. Same wort, different fermentations. After brewing my Dopplebock I wanted to continue using the lager yeast while the weather was still fitting for it. I have tried a few Pilsners lately and have really enjoyed them so I decided to brew one up (but failed). I can't see why I would just brew 5 gallons of beer when I can easily brew 2, so I decided to do a 10 gallon batch and ferment the other 5 on a different yeast. I don't have any Saisons right now, and I love them, and warmer weather will be here in a few months, so I thought this would be the best way to split it. Both beers work well with a Pilsner Malt base, a firm bitterness, and a medium Noble hopping. So that's exactly what I did.
