I always need to keep a hazy IPA on tap, and we blow through 5 gallons pretty quick around here. Next up, some fresh 2020 riwaka to hold us over through the end of the year.
I’ve heard great things about this hop, only had one commercial beer that has it in it, and have never brewed with it. It smells fantastic, and I hope the taste follows suit.
I’m calling this one Hecka Riwaka
| Basics | ||
| Batch Size (fermentor): | 5.5 gallons | |
| Boil Length: | 60 minutes | |
| Mash Temp: | 152F | Single Infusion |
| OG: | 1.078 (estimated) | 1.072 (actual) |
| FG: | 1.016 (estimated) | 1.018 (actual) |
| ABU: | 8.14% (estimated) | 7.09% (actual) |
| IBU: | 38ish | |
| SRM: | 6.64 | |
| Fermentables | ||
| 2-Row | 43% | |
| Malted Oats | 43% | |
| White Wheat | 5.5% | |
| Golden Naked Oats | 8.5% | |
| Total | 100% | |
| Hops | ||
| Yakima Hop Shot | 1.8 ml | FWH or 60 min |
| Iadho 7 | 1 oz | 10 Min |
| Riwaka | 2 oz | Flameout |
| Idaho 7 | 2 oz | Whirlpool @ 170 |
| Riwaka | 4 oz | Dryhop 24 hours after pitch |
| Riwaka | 4 oz | Dryhop 5 days after pitch |
| Total | 13 oz + 1.8 ml extract | |
| Yeast | ||
| Imperial A24 Dryhop | 2 packs | Pitch at 68, let free raise to 72ish after a few days |
| Water | ||
| Mash pH | 5.25 | |
| Calcium | 95 | |
| Mg | n/a | |
| Sodium | 30 | |
| Sulfate | 60 | |
| Chloride | 180 | |
| Notes | ||
| With 5 min left in boil, start adjusting pH down to 4.6. | I add 3 mL Lactic Acid at a time while recirculating. | This takes a few minutes after you cut the flame |
You can see I stick with my pretty standard NEIPA grain bill. Half malted oats/half 2 row for the base, plus white wheat and golden naked oats for some extra goodness. I love the golden naked oats. If you haven’t brewed them, you gotta try it.
Pics from the mash. Nailed my 152 pretty spot on. Always happy to see temps perfect!
11/21 – Brew Day – What I find interesting is the look of the wort during the mash (above), compared to the look of the wort in the last 10 minutes of the boil when I turned my pump on (below). I love the color of the below pic, I think it’s perfect and I would be happy if it didn’t change one bit to the final product – although I know there will likely be a little darker at the end of the road. OG sample came out at 1.072.
11/22 – Above is a quick picture of the beer around 36 hours post pitch, the 4oz of riwaka is mixed in well with the krausen. Don’t mind the Tilt in my blow off, I wanted to sanitize it as it just came out of a brett saison batch. This is my first batch with the Fermzilla All Arounder. I got it because I was tired of splitting batches between kegs when I brewed 10+ gallons.
11/29 – FG sample, above came out to 1.018 giving us a 7% ABV beer. I thought it was a little high and I expected it to drop a little more, but the attenuation is spot on with the yeast manufacturer’s stat.
12/1 – Off to the keg to carb up. I think we have another winner on our hands!
12/10 – Tasting Notes and Finished Pics
Definitely a winner. Very citrus and fruit heavy. Maybe grapefruit but certainly not tart like that. Maybe passionfruit. Tropical. I’m terrible with tasting notes. It’s hecka delicious. Great balance of bitterness to juiciness. Head leaves laces on the side, but doesn’t last more than a few minutes. The nose is very up front, in the best way possible. Color is the perfect yellow orange that I love.
I am going to go Riwaka heavy on the next hoppy pils I brew. Here are some show off pics. Brew on!
Simple Homebrew 
Hi! So, I’m new to home brewing! Three total batches, two successful. I’m curious how to understand the fermentable percentages in relation to weight? Or am I totally misunderstanding this? Sorry, newbie! Anyway, beer looks beautiful! Would love to try my hand at it one day soon!
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Hey my man. I provide percentages so people can scale the the ABV or batch size to their liking when they input the recipe into whatever they’re using to build/compile their recipes.
But, to make things simple, here’s the recipe I used loaded in Brewer’s Friend with the grain amounts….But the yeast in this link is wrong. I used the yeast listed in this blog post – A24 dryhop.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1076181/hecka-riwaka
Any other questions, I’m happy to answer. I know the info included in this recipe for a beginner might be a bit overwhelming – like the water profile, the ph of things, etc. Let me know!
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Man I can’t believe the incredible color you are getting on these! Cant stop looking at it. So bright even with pretty high OG.
I’ve done about 20 or so hazy ipas and I have a pretty similar set up to yours. But I haven’t been brave enough to use that much oat malt before. Do you think starting with just 50/50 two row oat malt is a good place to start.
With this much high protein adjunct so you make a point whirlflocc, whirpool, and transfer off cleaner wort? Any issues with gummed up mash or sparge or does the bag solve that issue for you?
Also curious about your preference for on some hopping details. How long do you typically whirpool or hop stand? Do you do any cold crash prior to dry hopping?
Enjoyed reading thru your blog, thanks 👍🏻
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Hi Mark, thanks for your comments. Glad you’re enjoying reading through.
Re: your questions- I’ve never gone over 44% malted oats on a grain bill. If you’re nervous about it, Start off at 20-30% and see how you like it. Honestly though, the only draw back with using so much that I’ve seen is a lower mash efficiency. There’s probably other draw backs that I’m naive too, but I love my results, so I’m not going to question them!
I don’t typically use whirlflocc – Can’t tell you why, I just never have. I do whirlpool from when about 5 minutes left in the boil all the way until I’m chilled to pitching temps. It makes a nice cone inside the immersion chiller.
No issues with gummed up mash ever using a bag.
I don’t sparge anymore – Just full volume mashing, another reason why my efficiency likely comes out a tad on the lower end. I usually whirlpool for 15-20 minutes or so. I usually let it go as I’m prepping the fermenter, cleaning something, having a snack, etc. I usually don’t time this. I just let it go for an arbitrary amount of time and come back to it whenever time permits.
Most of the time, I do cold crash but really it depends on which fermenter I’m using and if it’s pressure capable. If I’m fermenting in my fermzilla all around or a corny keg, yes I will for sure cold crash it knowing I have enough PSI already in the fermenter to avoid a vacuum. If I’m using my Ss Brewbucket, which I’ve been using less and less of these days, I don’t cold crash because I’m too lazy to rig up a balloon or whatever you need to avoid suck back and oxygen exposure. Any other questions let me know! -Nick
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Brewed this a little while back and it was awesome. definitely the best Hazy IPA i have ever brewed. I used different hops due to availability but the grain bill is for sure my new go-to.
quick question. i wanted to whip up another batch, but only have about 50% of the malted oats that i would need for this. Any reason i shouldn’t make up the difference with flaked oats? curious if you had any experience with that either positive or negative?
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Hey Jon awesome to hear it turned out well for you. I’ve tweaked the recipe back and forth a few times with the malted oats ranging anywhere from 25% to 50% of the total. I probably wouldn’t even worry about subbing in anything else, and just make up the difference with your base malt. I’m sure subbing in flaked oats would be fine as well, if you wanted to experiment. That’s how we make recipes our own anyways…
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