As late August and early September hit, I begin to dream about Wet/Fresh Hop ales. Over 2 years ago I decided that I would take this passion for wet/fresh hop ales into my own hands. I planted my own hops and in turn would brew my own wet/fresh hop ale. The first year the hops grew rapidly and produced a good amount of Chinook, Cascade, and a small amount of Nugget. My girlfriend Lynn and I brewed a fresh hopped pale ale that was a hit at our Halloween party. The second year did not fare so well for our hops as they were attacked by some killer aphids. Our dreams were crushed as we were unable to harvest any hops. Going into 2013 I was very excited once again as the prospect of having fresh hops was on my mind.

As this year’s harvest grew closer, the Chinook and Nugget hops had provided their fruit and a lot of it. I decided I wanted the hops to land themselves into an IPA. So, I went to my favorite fresh hop ale from last year for inspiration, Elevation Brewing’s Downpour. This India Red Ale had a nice big malt backbone that also packed a good hoppy punch. I decided to dream up a Red IPA that did not have quite the same malty punch as Downpour but had a nice red color with light malt backbone. This is where Wet Hop Dream was born.  I was unsure of the Alpha Acids in the fresh hops so I decided that all of the Wet Hops would go in as an aroma addition and I would use Summit for the bittering addition as I could control the IBU’s imparted into the beer. For the malt, I decided that would create a nice base with American 2 Row with a little bit of Munich malt to added a nice malt backbone. Aromatic and Crystal 120 were added for extra complexity. To achieve the  nice red color I was looking for but keeping the malt slightly subdued I added Carafa II. This will create most of red color in the beer.

On brew day, we harvested over 15oz of fresh hops to go into Wet Hop Dream. All of these hops were added at the end of the boil and rested as the hops cooled for a hop stand.

 

Wet Hop Dream  – Fresh Hop Red IPA

Recipe Specifications
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.0 Gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 13.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 71.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00%
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Grain:
10 lbs               Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)                    72.0 %
2 lbs                 Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)                                  14.4 %
8 oz                  Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)                              3.6 %
8 oz                  Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)       3.6 %
1.0 lbs              Carafa II (412.0 SRM)                                       .9 %

Hops:
1.50 oz               Summit [10.00 %] – Boil 60.0 min                              71.2 IBUs
15.00 oz              Fresh Chinook and Nugget – Hop Stand 0.0 min       0.0 IBUs

Yeast:
6 Gallons – Denny’s Favorite 50 Wyeast 1450

Mash:
Rest at 152 for 60 mins