Juice Bomb Hazy IPA - Recipe & Review

All Grain Homebrew Recipe

Thanks to Cheeky Peak Brewery for the recipe and ingredients.

Date: 30/5/2021

Batch Number: 14

Batch Volume: 25L

Fermentables

• 2-Row Pale Malt - 4kg
• Flaked Oats - 0.8kg
• Malted Wheat - 0.8kg

Mash: 66c (60 mins)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.053

Final Gravity (FG): 1.012

Hop Schedule

• 10g Columbus/Tomahawk - 60 mins - 16.3% (16.3 IBU)
• 15g Amarillo - 7.8% - 80C Hopstand 20 mins (1.6 IBU)
• 15g Galaxy - 12.3% - 80C Hopstand 20 mins (2.5 IBU)
• 15g Mosaic - 11.3% - 80C Hopstand 20 mins (2.3 IBU)
• 50g Amarillo - 7.8% - Dry Hop High Krausen
• 50g Galaxy - 12.3% - Dry Hop High Krausen
• 50g Mosaic - 11.3% - Dry Hop High Krausen
• 50g Amarillo - 7.8% - Final Gravity
• 50g Galaxy - 12.3% - Final Gravity
• 50g Mosaic - 11.3% - Final Gravity

Yeast: Lallemand New England East Coast Ale

Mash Water: 23.55L

Sparge Water: 9.81L

Recipe Review

This beer is amazing - and is definitely my best all-grain brew to date. Thankfully my brews (in my opinion at least) have been trending upwards and getting better with each batch. I'm pretty certain the biggest difference with this batch was the adjustments I made to my water chemistry - which really helped to bring out the hop flavours.

The oats and wheat specialty malts gives the beer and nice, bright and light colour, with a slight amount of haze (which could also be from all the hops, or chill haze, or both) - it may clear over time, but for now it's definitely present. Taste wise it has a nice subtle and velvety mouth feel.

The Juice Bomb Hazy IPA in the glass

The combination of hops is also excellent and makes for a nice, fruity and juicy taste. Mosaic, amarillo and galaxy hops are popular hop varieties that work well together and complement each other nicely.

Although I have an unwritten rule about never brewing the same beer twice, this one is definitely making me reconsider - I don't think it will last long in the keg!

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Balter - Eazy Hazy - Beer Review

Brewed By: Balter
Beer: Eazy Hazy
ABV: 4.0%
Malts: Pale, Wheat
Hops: Unknown
IBU: Unknown

"Why use a stick of dynamite when a party popper will do the trick? Eazy Hazy brings the colour and spark while keeping things nicely chilled. Succulent US hops deliver lime, passionfruit and hints of coconut around a creamy, rolled-wheat base to balance the zesty bitter finish. Pull the ripcord on one without strain or stress. Your well-contained taste explosion."

Balter Eazy Hazy 375ml can

Review

The Balter XPA I consider to be one of my all time favourite beers - so I was excited to try the Eazy Hazy to see how it compares - and it doesn't disappoint. This beer is great. As the name suggests, there's a real haze to which reminded me of Stone & Wood's Pacific Ale. The bitterness is perfectly balanced with the tropical fruit punch taste that hits with each sip. For me, mango was the prevalent flavour - I wasn't detecting any of the lime and coconut that Balter themselves mention though? In any case, the hop combination used to achieve this flavour is excellent.

At 4% ABV, this beer is very sessionable but it unfortunately comes in a pack of 4 so some restraint was required not to polish them all off in one sitting. This is perhaps one of the best things about this particular beer - it's got all the flavour without all the alcohol - which Balter refer to in their opening line above - using a stick of dynamite when a party popper will do the trick.

Plenty of haze visible in the Eazy Hazy

I'm not able to tell for sure if the Eazy Hazy is a permanent fixture on the Balter beer list - but I sure hope it is. It's perhaps taken the place of their XPA at the top of my all time favourite beer list.

A shame Balter don't include as much information as other beer brewing companies regarding of what hops and malts are used to create their beers - would definitely be one worth trying to replicate in a future brew.

Rating

9.5/10

Stockade Brew Co - Mr Fruju NEIPA - Beer Review

Brewed By: Stockade Brew Co
Beer: Mr Fruju New England IPA (NEIPA)
ABV: 6.0%
Malts: Pale, Oats, Unmalted Wheat
Hops: Mosiac, Galaxy, Citra, Ella, Amarillo
IBU: 40

Mr Fruju by Stockade Brew Co

"Meet Mr Fruju, a hazy, tropical mash that's the perfect balance of bitter and juicy"

Review

I've read a lot about New England IPA's (NEIPA's), and am planning on eventually brewing one myself. I haven't taken the plunge yet though as I'm anticipating it will be expensive to make because of the enormous amount of  hops that are required to get the desired flavour - so I want to make sure I've got all my processes well defined and established before giving it a go.

This is my first NEIPA so I was very excited to give it a try and share my thoughts on it.

For those that aren't familiar - the most common term thrown around when talking about NEIPA's is "juicy". They're often hazy in apperance, once again, because of all the hop acids and oils that are present to give the desired flavour.

Enter Mr Fruju - a full strength NEIPA made by Stockade Brew Co. It certainly meets the expected criteria for such a beer. Lots of alcohol. Check. Hazy appearance. Check. Little to no residual bitterness. Check. Tastes like drinking fruit juice? Check. Name most likely abbreviated from "Fruit Juice"? Check.

The information on the official website for this beer claims it has 40 IBU's - which would lead to a relatively bitter initial taste in most styles of beers - but not in this case. I must admit I struggled to taste any bitterness when enjoying this beer which once again demonstrates how much flavour and aroma hops must have been added to absolutely overpower the bitterness.

The brewers notes mentions that no hops were added during the boil (I'm assuming bittering hops would have been added though, but perhaps not?) - and instead all hops were added after the boil during the 'whirlpool' phase to get the highest concentration possible. The brew was then double dry hopped during fermentation.

The combination of five different hops leads to a very tropical taste on the tongue - with predominantly citrus and particularly orange flavours shining through. This tropical taste lingers in the mouth after each sip leaving you wanting more - unlike traditional IPA's that in my experience tend to leave a lingering bitterness in the mouth. Wanting more can be problematic though because at 6% ABV it packs quite a punch.

Haziness is prevalent in the Mr Fruju NEIPA

A thoroughly enjoyable beer with plenty of enjoyable tropical fruit flavours. Little to no perceived bitterness it certainly meets the expected taste of "juicy". A very good introduction into the relatively new style of NEIPA's - would highly recommend.

Rating

8/10

What do you think of the Mr Fruju NEIPA, or NEIPA's in general? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Brick Lane - Supernova IPA - Beer Review

Brewed By: Brick Lane Brewing

Beer: Supernova IPA

ABV: 6.8%

Malts: Pale, Munich, Rolled Oats

Hops: Citra, Equanot, Centennial, Mosaic

Yeast: Chico

"Our Supernova IPA is a bright, tropical IPA with notes of tangerine, mango, lychee, pine and green pepper. A champagne supernova of flavours that hits the palate with a powerful aromatic punch"

Review

The Brick Lane Supernova IPA is the quintessential example of what an IPA should be. High alcohol content, a strong bitterness sitting subtly behind a nice strong blend of fruity hops making for an excellent and well balanced combination of flavours.

The malt backbone consists of a mixture of pale, munich and rolled oats which gives it a fairly light colour - with a slight amount of haze - most likely from the large amount of hops that are present. But the malts are only there to play a supporting role to what is the star of the show here - the hops.

Hops are a mixture of citra, equanot, centennial and mosaic - and there's plenty of them. The best way to describe the taste is tropical - not quite at the "juicy" level as say, a New England IPA, but not far off it. The bitterness does linger a little after each sip - more so than the tropical notes which doesn't always leave the most pleasant aftertaste in the mouth.

At 6.8% it packs plenty of punch - I wouldn't be drinking more than 1 or 2 at a time, but this is really what an IPA should be. A well rounded beer with plenty of everything - alcohol, bitterness and hop fruitiness.

Rating

7/10

Aussie Pale Ale Recipe & Review

All Grain Homebrew Recipe

Thanks to Cheeky Peak Brewery for the recipe and ingredients

Date: 11/4/21

Batch Number: 13

Batch Volume: 25L

Fermentables

• 2-Row Pale Malt: 4.4kg
• Wheat Malt: 0.3kg
• Crystal 10L: 0.2kg

Mash: 65c (60 mins)

Sparge: 76c

Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045

Original Gravity: 1.008

Hop Schedule

• 10g Super Pride (14.3%) - 60 mins
• 25g Galaxy (12.3%) - 0 mins (flameout)
• 25g Vic Secret (14%) - 0 mins (flameout)
• 25g Galaxy (12.3%) - Dry Hop 3 days
• 24g Vic Secret (14%) - Dry Hop 3 days

Yeast: US05

Mash Water: 21.45L

Sparge Water: 11.35L

Recipe Notes

This is our first batch to be fermented in our recently purchased Fermzilla All Rounder 30L. Actual OG was 1.042 - still a few points off the target/expected but getting better efficiency with each brew. Tastes great and first brew out of my new keg so hoping it will keep better than previous brews in bottles.

Aussie Pale Ale in the glass

Tasting Notes/Review

As mentioned above, this is the first beer that I fermented in my new Fermzilla All Rounder fermenter, and the first beer I've put into a keg instead of bottling. For me, this has made all the difference in maintaining a consistently good flavour in my beer when compared to my old process of bottling. The flavour of this beer is great - very easy drinking and not especially overpowering at only 4.5% ABV. 

The crystal malt gives it a somewhat dark and browny colour compared to other pale ales - but the mixture of different malts gives it a nice subtle balance which you'd typically expect from a pale ale like this. The level of bitterness is well matched with the amount of dry hops giving it a somewhat fruity flavour without being overwhelming or overpowering. A great baseline to use for creating other recipes - keep the quantities of ingredients but just change them out - perhaps some munich instead of crystal next time? Or perhaps some centennial and cascade hops instead?

Speaking of hops, the Vic Secret and Galaxy hops make an excellent combination that I haven't used before. I often found flavours reminscent of the Young Henry's Newtowner or the Matilda Bay's Fat Yak pale ale - two great Aussie Pale Ale beers that I love.

A tasty and straightforward recipe I'd encourage any pale ale fan to give a go.

Have you brewed the Cheeky Peak Aussie Pale Ale recipe or something similar? Leave a comment below and let me know.

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