By Greig McGill
Back in the mists of time, a long-running and fun podcast called Craft Beer Radio (now CBR and a lot more casual) wrote a parody sketch (warning, some humour hasn’t aged well, but hearts of gold etc.), skewering big beer companies for effectively fighting over who had the “coldest tasting” beer. As if temperature can be a flavour! In fact, the colder the substance, the less you can taste that substance. Perhaps there was a reason the big guys wanted you to have their beer as close to freezing as possible? I couldn’t possibly comment! But the marketing gold of “cold beer” is undeniable, and it seems that Cold IPA has come to us in recent years from the craft brewing world. But is it about marketing, or is it actually a fairly cool (sorry) idea, and a new take on the ever-evolving favourite style of hop-heads everywhere, the IPA?
I believe it’s the latter. With its crisp, clean profile and pronounced hop character, the Cold IPA offers a refreshing twist on the traditional IPA, blending elements from both lager and ale brewing techniques, and with a little more panache than the old India Pale Lager did - remember those? In this article, we'll delve into the origins of the Cold IPA, explore important considerations for brewing one, and provide a step-by-step recipe to help you craft your own Cold IPA at home.
Origins of the Cold IPA: A Hybrid Born of Experimentation
The Cold IPA is a relatively new style, with its origins tracing back to the creative minds of American craft brewers who sought to combine the best qualities of a traditional IPA with the clean, crisp, and most importantly, dry character of some lagers. The idea was to create a beer that maintained the hop-forward intensity of an IPA while offering a smoother, more refreshing drinking experience—especially appealing to those who prefer the lighter, more approachable qualities of lagers.
The style's genesis is credited to Wayfinder Beer, a Portland, Oregon-based brewery known for its innovative approach to beer making. In 2018, Wayfinder introduced their "Relapse" Cold IPA, which quickly garnered attention for its unique combination of hop-driven flavours and lager-like drinkability. The beer was brewed with a combination of ale and lager techniques, fermenting at cooler temperatures than a typical IPA, but warmer than a lager, and using a lager yeast. Wayfinder have also used a clean ale yeast, and a hybrid like a Kölsch-style yeast, so long as the resulting beer has a cleaner and drier profile that accentuated the hop bitterness and aroma. Wayfinder head brewer and originator of the style Kevin Davey (who brewed for my hero-brewery, the lager-forward Chuckanut in Bellingham, WA) has said that using corn or rice as an adjunct, in the same way that huge industrial breweries like AB-InBev do, was important to dry out the beer and allow the hops to shine.
Cold IPA’s appeal lies in its ability to deliver a hop-forward experience without the heaviness or sweetness that can sometimes accompany traditional IPAs.
Important Considerations When Brewing a Cold IPA
Brewing a Cold IPA requires a balance of traditional IPA brewing techniques with some of the precision and restraint typical of lager production. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when brewing your own Cold IPA:
Yeast Selection
Yeast plays a critical role in defining the flavour profile of a Cold IPA. While traditional IPAs typically utilise ale yeast strains, Cold IPAs often employ lager yeast or hybrid strains that perform well at cooler fermentation temperatures. The goal is to achieve a clean, neutral yeast character that allows the hop profile to take centre stage. That’s not to say that you can’t use an ale yeast, but you’ll want a nice neutral one that will ferment at cooler temperatures.
Many brewers opt for a lager yeast strain like WLP830 (German Lager) or W34/70, fermenting at temperatures around 13°C to 18°C. Alternatively, some brewers choose a clean ale yeast like WLP001 (California Ale) or US-05, fermenting at the lower end of the yeast’s temperature range to minimise ester production and achieve a cleaner profile. US-05 will certainly ferment happily away at 14-15C - I’ve done it! Don’t forget to ensure good nutrient additions and plenty of oxygen though, so the yeast ferments happily and cleanly. The keys are minimal ester production, and little to no sulphur.
Malt Bill
The malt bill for a Cold IPA should be simple and restrained, with a focus on light, clean malt flavours that provide a canvas for the hops to shine. Pilsner malt is typically the base, often accompanied by a small percentage of adjuncts like rice and/or corn to lighten the body and reduce residual sweetness. This approach helps to create a beer with a crisp, dry finish - essential for the style.
A grist consisting of 60% to 80% pilsner malt, with 20% to 40% rice and/or corn adjuncts, is a common starting point. Some brewers may also include a small percentage of character malts such as Vienna to add a touch of malt complexity, but these should be used sparingly to avoid overshadowing the hops.
Hop Selection and Usage
Hops are the star of the show in a Cold IPA, but it's less important which varieties you choose than how you use them. Much like their “frenemy”, the New England/Hazy IPA, modern hops are favoured, and are often added while fermentation is still in progress, at or just after high krausen, to achieve some biotransformation of the hop compounds.
Hops like Mosaic, Citra, Sabro, and Simcoe are popular choices, offering a broad spectrum of flavours from bright citrus to juicy tropical fruit, coconut, and resinous pine. Old school hops like Centennial, Cascade, Chinook etc. are just fine too, and often included in the boil to add some West-Coast IPA-like bitterness and resinous character. The hop schedule should include generous whirlpool and dry hop additions to maximise aroma and flavour, but watch the IBU levels. While this is still a bitter IPA, the focus is on dryness and drinkability which can be overwhelmed by too-aggressive bitterness. Clean, quenching bitterness is the goal.
A typical hop schedule might involve a modest bittering addition at the start of the boil, followed by smaller boil additions, and large whirlpool and dry hop additions to pack in as much hop character as possible without overwhelming the palate.
Water Profile
Water chemistry is another critical factor in brewing a Cold IPA. The goal is to create a water profile that accentuates hop bitterness and flavour while maintaining a clean, crisp finish. This typically involves a sulphate-to-chloride ratio that leans heavily toward sulphate, which enhances hop bitterness and dryness.
A common target water profile for a Cold IPA might include 150-200 ppm sulphate, and 50-75 ppm chloride. Adjusting the water profile to achieve these levels can help to emphasise the hop character and contribute to the desired crispness. Personally, I target a “Northern German Pilsner” type profile.
A Recipe for Cold IPA: Crisp and Hop-Forward
OK, with all that covered (my fingers hurt!), how about we have a bash at a recipe? This recipe is designed to produce a beer with a clean malt profile, vibrant hop character, and a crisp, refreshing finish. I’ve targeted a Grainfather setup, as Grainfather provides Beersmith equipment profiles. If you plug that in to your software-of-choice, you should be able to easily scale to your particular system.
Greig’s Cold Heart
Batch Size: 23L
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.008
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: 55
EBC: 8 (4 SRM)
Ingredients:
Grist:
5kg Gladfield Pilsner
2kg Gladfield Malted Maize
Hops:
Yeast:
Lallemand Diamond Lager
I love this yeast - it’s a little cleaner than Fermentis/Saflager 34/70, but go with what you like. You could also give Novalager a whirl.
Water:
Adjust to a profile of 150 ppm sulphate, 50 ppm chloride, and 100 ppm calcium. You'll want at least 10 ppm magnesium for yeast health but will likely get this from your grain. Ask your supplier ( Brewshop, natch) for the malt CoA if in doubt.
Process:
Mash in at 63-64C for 60 minutes. Yes. This is low. Also yes. Gladfield malt will handle it. Give it the full 60 minutes, or perform a conversion test to ensure full conversion. We want this fermentable as hell!
Ideally, perform a mash-out at 76°C for 10 minutes, but don’t stress if you can’t do this.
Boil for 60 minutes.
Add hops as follows - note, these are my hop additions, I will list IBUs so you can adjust with what you have:
15g Columbus at start of boil for 27IBU
50g Mosaic with 15 minutes to go to flameout for 18 IBU
Whirlpool at 80C and add 50g of Mosaic - whirlpooling for around 30 minutes for 10ish IBU
Rapidly cool the wort to your fermentation temperature - 14C if using Diamond Lager
Ferment until approximately midpoint (take gravity reading to check - around 1.035) then…
Dry Hop:
50g Citra, 50g Mosaic, 50g Nelson Sauvin
When fermentation is complete, dump these hops and repeat that addition. Leave the beer in contact with the final dry hop for 72 hours then dump. Yes. That’s a total of 13g/L of dry hop over two additions. It’s hoppy! What can I say?
Lager the beer at around 0-1C for a couple of weeks at least, ideally four to six. For best results, lower the temp slowly - 0.5 degrees C twice a day. This preserves foam quality and reduces crash-cooling off flavours. Don’t worry if you can’t - we poor commercial brewers don’t have this luxury either!
Finally, carbonate to 2.5-2.7 vols of CO2 and drink it, after sending me a bottle of course!
Also, for those who read this far… here’s a “postshow” Alex and I recorded with Craft Beer Radio in the suburbs of Pittsburgh - playing Cards Against Humanity. Lots of beers… no responsibility taken etc. Please don’t cancel me!