Honey Ginger IPA

Jefe and I bottled the Honey Ginger IPA tonight.

I got the idea from Randy Mosher's "Radical Brewing", a must for any homebrewer. He has it listed under his Holiday Brews. I took the liberty of of not using his standard IPA recipe (insert apology to Randy HERE), but instead using the one from Clone Brews by the Szamatulskis that is a clone of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale (of which the original is in my personal Top 10... HopHeads Unite! Insert thanks to Szamatulskis HERE). The only difference there was that I did not dry hop (though, now I'm thinking I should have) to get the hoppy bite and pure flavor in the final beer.

I've been sipping on the non-carbonated version since we bottled and I have to say, despite the fact that I am not a big ginger fan (I actually used this recipe to be a gift for my wife and Jefe who are big ginger fans), I'm really liking it. Even uncarbonated, there's enough ginger *snap* to give it the zing it needs to feel good in the mouth with no gas. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of honey notes and that makes me bummed. I was really hoping for a sweeter beer we could share with friends and family as gifts, but alas, the dream goes on. Next time, maybe less ginger, and a stronger clover flavored honey.

Basically, here's the recipe:

Mosher's Honey Ginger IPA Base idea (IPA recipe plus 2 pounds of honey and 4 oz of candied ginger. I got both at Whole Foods.)
Clone Brew's Sierra Nevada Pale Ale recipe (minus dry hopping)
Primary fermentation for 8 days until most activity slowed
Racked to secondary, added honey and ginger and let set for another 2 weeks.
Added 3/4cup priming sugar, will let sit for 2 weeks for carbonation.

I'll post in a few weeks and let you know how it turns out.

Interested in trading homebrews? Email me and let the adventure begin!