Mélèze DIPA
By Ian Cosier
Recipe is part of Recipe Index
BJCP 2021 Style - 22A Double IPA
This is a recipe named after the deciduous Mélèze (European Larch) which grows all over the French Alps and turns a golden-yellow in autumn.
The grist is designed to be relatively rich and bready, without any crystal notes. Any of the old school C hops work well, together with something like Citra/Galaxy to add a slightly more modern fruity touch.
Awards
West Coast Best Coast 2025 (Twickenham, London)
3rd - Strong
LAB Open 2025 (Queens Arms, Battersea, London)
2nd - Best of Show
1st - American and Speciality IPA
Measures
- IBU 93
- ABV 8%
- OG 1.077
- FG 1.017
- EBC 15
- Batch Size 24.5L
Ingredients
Water
Water treatment is 2:1 sulphate to chloride, with 120ppm calcium. I aim for a mash pH of 5.2 in order to compensate for the amount of hops later in the recipe, and target a final pH of around 4.4 in order to the beer tasting bright.
Malt
- 7300 g Pale Malt (Weyermann) (6.0 EBC)
- 840 g Munich I (Weyermann) (15.0 EBC)
- 280 g CHÂTEAU BISCUIT (50.0 EBC)
Hops
- 100 g Simcoe leaf [0.00 %] - Mash 60.0 min
- 9 ml Flex Hop Extract [65.00 %] - Boil 60 min
- 2 g Apollo [18.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
- 20 g Centennial [9.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min
- 25 g Centennial [9.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min
- 20 g Chinook [11.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
- 100 g Citra [13.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 27 min
- 50 g Centennial [9.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 27 min
- 15 ml Chinook Incognito
- 10 g Mosaic Spectrum x6 [12.25 %] - 4 days into secondary
- 100 g Citra [13.40 %] - 3 days into secondary
- 50 g Chinook [11.00 %] - 3 days into secondary
- 40 g Mosaic - 3 days into secondary
Yeast
- 2.8 pkg Nottingham Yeast
Other
- 1 pkg Clarity Ferm
- 1.25 gram Aromazyme
Process
Mash
- 60 minute infusion at 62C
- 30 minute at 70C
- 30 minute at 77C
Boil
I use extracts for a portion of the hopping at various stages in order to reduce the amount of vegetal matter. I have labelled these “x6” in order to remind me that they are roughly the equivalent of six times the amount of pellet hops when I do any g/L calculations. I also find that with my hop spider I need to increase the IBU’s by 10 in order to achieve an equivalent bitterness to loose hops, so you may need to reduce this depending on your process.
- 60 minute boil
Ferment
Given the OG, it is worth rehydrating the yeast and adding O2 for 2 mins. Fermentation is held at 18-19 deg for the first 5+ days until about 80% of attenuation is complete, and then raised to 22-23 deg in order to ensure a vigorous finish.
The Spectrum is added about 3-4 days after fermentation has started, once the initial high level of activity has dropped. Once fermentation has completely finished, the beer is chilled to 4 deg, yeast dumped, and the rest of the dry hop is then added. This is left in for 2 days and roused with CO2 a couple of times a day.
- 2 mins of O2 before pitching.
- Started fermenting at 19 degrees and held until 1.020 at which point raise to gradually to 22 degrees until FG is stable.