Let's Brew Wednesday - 1941 Whitbread weak IPA

After last week's not-true-to-style IPA, here's the proper version. Just about exactly half the the beer.

I've banged on about this before. But that's not going to stop me banging on about it again. This beer is typical of 20th century British IPAs. A gravity a little below average, but a healthy dose of hops. It's the true British IPA tradition which, sadly, has been almost totally disappeared as modern brewers produce what they think a "traditional" IPA should be.

I'll leave it at that. Don't want to be too repetitive.

Here's Kristen . . .


1941 Whitbread weak IPA

So guys, as I promised last week, here is the 'weak' version of the IPA I posted from last week. When you look at them they are very much similar in ingredients and percentages. I believe this weaker version would be much more hop forward than the stronger one drying out quite a bit in the end. This versions seems much more what a 'traditional' IPA would have been like.

Grist and such
This weak IPA is missing the 6row malt but all the other malts, including the sugars, are exactly the same. The percentages of the crystal malt and sugars are a little higher in the stronger version but on a whole, the theme is very much the same. Lots of 'old' malt here. The mash schedule is very similar but the temperatures are different. The weak one is mashed quite a bit lower which would equate to a much dryer beer with less body.

Hops
Its striking how fresh the hops are. This beer was made in October and the hops are from that same year. The good majority are from the previous year. All in all, still very fresh. I was suprised at the level of bitter in this beer. 40 bu's is quite high for any beer let alone a beer that is only 1.034 or so. The low finishing gravity of this beer along with the sheer hopping level would really accentuate the dryness.

Ferment
Nothing fancy. Moderately cool, beer is done in less than a week. The yeast gives a big estery 'light' fruit character for sure.





Tasting notes
Very similar to the strong version. Lots of floral and herbal overtones. Very fruit forward. Apples and pears as this yeast is known for. Very little malt, a touch of bread and hints of unrefined sugars. Mouthful of tannic hop resins finishing very dry with a long lasting bitter that refreshes the palate.