Session IPA — Home Brew Recipe
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Style: Session IPA | ABV: ~3.8% | Volume: 23 litres | Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
About This Recipe
All the hop aroma and flavour of a full-strength IPA but at a lower ABV that lets you enjoy more than one. A session IPA is achieved by reducing the malt extract while keeping the hop additions high. The result is bright, hoppy and wonderfully refreshing.
Ingredients
- 2.0kg pale malt extract
- 100g Pale Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett)
- 15g Centennial hops (T90 Pellet) — 30 min
- 20g Citra hops (T90 Pellet) — 10 min
- 20g Citra hops (T90 Pellet) — flameout
- 25g Citra hops (T90 Pellet) — dry hop
- 1 packet Gervin GV12 Ale Yeast
- ½ Protafloc tablet — 15 min
Method
- Sterilise all equipment.
- Steep pale caramalt in 2.5L at 65°C for 30 min.
- Boil 60 min with hop schedule above. Keep malt extract light for lower gravity.
- Cool and ferment at 19–21°C. Lower gravity means faster fermentation — check after 4 days.
- Dry hop with 25g Citra for 3 days in a straining bag.
- Bottle with carbonation drops. Condition 10 days. Drink fresh.
Brewer's Notes
Session IPAs are all about balance — you want the hop character to shine but without the alcohol warmth to back it up. Using a clean-fermenting yeast like Gervin GV12 is crucial to keep the beer crisp and not cloying.