#strata hops

You may have tasted Strata a few years back when it was experimental hop X331, but you can soon taste it properly in beers from Sierra Nevada, Fort George, and others. Worthy Brewing is already making a new Strata hopped IPA, StrataSphere, look for it in bottles soon.

Full recipe here.

I've had a single hop Strata West Coast IPA on the cards for a while, this weekend I got round to actually brewing it. Although at the last minute I decided to switch it up a bit and turn it into a West Coast Black IPA! I do love a good Black IPA and haven't brewed one in quite a while. So the malt bill got a bit complex but hopefully it'll come out as intended. I went with 39% Best Pale Ale, 39%, Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner, 5.1% Carafa Special Type II, 4.2% Cara Gold, 4.2% Crystal Light, 4.2% Dextrin Malt, 2.5% Roasted Wheat and 1.5% Dark Crystal. Standard mash at 68c with a 75c sparge. I had run out of oak husks so the sparge was a little slow but I was only actually 1% below my usual 70% efficiency so not that much of an issue as I thought it might be. OG was 1.054. This is also the first time I've used Strata, the smell was amazing and I'm really looking forward to trying this one, love a bit of tropical dankness and I think it'll go well in a BIPA. I used 10g to bitter for 60 minutes with another 50g for 15 minutes and then 70g in at 75c for a 20 minute whirlpool. Now my friend who brews a lot of hoppy pales said I needed to put the lid on for the whirlpool to keep the volatiles in. The Brewzilla lid doesn't fit when there's a cooling coil and whirlpool arm in so I improvised with some clingfilm, lol. If it helps I'll be sure to report back later. Cooled to 20c and pitched Mangrove Jack's M44 West Coast yeast in. I followed that after 5 days with a final 70g dry hop addition. At this point it was down to 1.011 and I didn’t think it would drop much lower but when I went to cold crash after 4 days of the dry hop it had actually moved to 1.008 which with the dank fruity hops and roasted grains gave a very nice dryness to the finish. So far so good.

Echo in the Abyss by Trim Tab is an easy drinking DIPA that clocks in at 7.5% with a dry-hopped softness that makes you want to have just one more... love Strata hops and this is my first time having something made with Kohatu.

Wet Hop IPA // 7% ABV // STRATA. A very special beer that only comes around once a year. We use freshly harvested Strata hops from Crosby Hop Farms in Oregon. We’ve heard whispers from the brewhouse that this may just be in their top 3 beers they’ve ever brewed together. Soft like a cashmere sweater at the first hint of Fall or the ears of a puppy.