The answer is just a coincidence of names that makes me laugh. It's funny in a random way, much like that Scrubs clip. But, if by some strange chance Ms. Ripa reads this post and wants to get wicked Ripa'd with me, I'm totally down. Let's do this, girl! Kelly Ripa!
*SNAP!*
The Beer:
The idea for this beer is to make a hoppy American IPA with the added malt depth from rye. The only rye beers I've had were Hop Rod Rye from Bear Republic and Ruthless Rye from Sierra Nevada. I also once brewed a RIPA that came out great, which is my only other pun-named beer, Rye So Serious?.
All of these beers have potent hop noses, but with a deep malt character that you don't get from a typical IPA. Usually when someone refers to an IPA as "balanced", they really mean "not that great". A good IPA (to me) has a moderate to heavy bitterness, and an over the top, hoppy aroma. A bad IPA (to me) has low aromatics, and are usually under-attenuated. The Rye IPA is the exception to the "balanced rule". Instead of a heavy, caramelly sweetness from crystal malts, a good RIPA has a spicy, bready character from the rye malt.
This recipe is based off the previous RIPA I brewed (Rye So Serious?), but with some tweaks that I think will improve the outcome. The last RIPA had an intense hop nose of Cascade and Centennial, giving off a candy-like fruitiness. I used 16% rye in the malt bill, which gave me a nice rye accent that I thought could be higher. The following recipe has a higher percentage of rye (20%) and a different hop bill.
Recipe (6 gallons):
Planned O.G: 1.060
Planned F.G: 1.015
IBU: 63
ABV: 6.1%
Malt:
11# American Pale Malt (75%)
3 # Rye Malt (20%)
8 oz. Crystal 60L (3%)
4 oz. Black Patent Malt (2%)
8 oz. Rice Hulls (non fermentable, used to prevent stuck mash)
Mash 154 degrees at 1.25 qt/lb for 30 minutes.
Collect 1.5 gallons of recirculated first runnings
Add 6.5 gallons to mash at 185, rest at 170 for 10 minutes, collect recirculated second runnings to reach 8 gallons in kettle.
Boil for 90 minutes, adding the following hop schedule. Wort reduced to 6 gallons. After boil, whirlpool and chill wort.
Hops:
1.25 oz each of Cascade (leaf, 8.6% AA), Nugget (leaf, 15.1% AA) @ 20 minutes
1.5 oz each of Cascade, Nugget @ 5 minutes
1.5 oz each of Cascade, Nugget for dry hop after fermentation
Yeast:
Wyeast American Ale 1056. Top cropped from previous batch, refrigerated for one week and put into a 1 Liter starter
Original Gravity: 1.057
30 minutes of oxygen pump, pitch yeast at 65 degrees, ferment at 65.
See this recipe on hopville: Kelly RIPA!
