Key Variables for Brewing A Hazy IPA
The most important things to get right in this style of beer are:
• Huge, juicy, tropical and fruity hop aroma.
• Low bitterness.
• Full and silky mouthfeel.
• The key to achieving a Hazy IPA that encapsulates these traits isn’t necessarily about making a murky beer but that the haziness is a by-product.

Hazy IPA Techniques
A few subtle changes in the way you brew an IPA can have dramatic differences in the finished beer, these changes are what keeps the beer hazy and introduces the luscious juiciness of the hop character.

Timing The Dry Hop
It goes without saying that you are going to want to have a heavy hand with the dry hops that go into the fermenter. It is also important to think about when you are adding the dry hop.

Conventionally, you would always wait for the primary fermentation to subside before adding dry hops. Brewing NEIPA’s, however, you will want to add your dry hops during active fermentation. 1 – 2 days after pitching yeast is a good time to dry hop for a Hazy IPA.

Dry hopping during active fermentation takes advantage of a process called biotransformation. What this means is the yeast fermenting the beer transforms compounds in the hops to slightly different compounds. This in part helps to draw out those intensely fruity and juicy aromas and flavours.

After this initial dry hop, dry hop again a few days after fermentation has finished and before packaging to really bolster the aroma.

MORE INFO ON DRY HOPPING

Focus On Aroma Hops Not Bittering
We want to keep the bitterness levels on the low side. This helps to push full, aromatic qualities of the IPA and keep them front and centre. This means adding the vast majority of the hops at the end of the boil.

There may be no 60 minute hop addition at all. You can try hopping 30 minutes into a 60 minute boil and also in the last 15 minutes. This allows for large amounts of hops at flameout or at the end of the boil without pushing too much bitterness.

Body Boosting Grains & Adjuncts
The addition of oats, flaked wheat or barley and other high protein grains and adjuncts is common. These types of grains boost the mouthfeel and body of the beer and also provide a silkiness. This is very typical of the style and these types of grains are found in nearly every example of the style. These grains also contribute to the haze that is one of the key features of the style.

High Chloride Water
The balance between sulphates and chloride in traditional IPAs and Pale Ales favours the sulphates. Brewing water with high sulphates accentuates the hop bitterness and provides a crispness that is required for traditional hoppy beers. Water that is higher in chloride compared to sulphate at around a 3:2 ratio will enhance the roundness of the malt character and provide a sweeter, fuller bodied beer.

In hazy IPAs and NEIPA we want to minimise bitterness as much as possible and focus purely on aroma and mouthfeel. Water high in sulphates enhances bitterness so you will want to think about this when preparing your brewing water.

Absolutely Minimise Oxygen Exposure
By far the best results were the hazy IPAs packaged in keg compared to bottling. Hazy IPAs are very prone to oxidisation which introduces off flavours, mutes aroma hops and in this case, causes discolouration in the beer.

In fact, bottled versions of these beers completely have changed after around 3 to 4 weeks. The colour of the beer went from bright yellow to a darker gold colour. This appears to be down to oxidation in the bottle or rather caused by the bottling process that is very hard to eliminate at a home brew scale.

Kegging the beer on the other hands is a great way to package and eliminate almost all the oxygen that will oxidise the beer. The kegs can be purged with CO2 and very little beer is exposed to the air when you are kegging compared to bottling.

Consume the beer when it is young when the flavours are at their peak.

FURTHER READING: BREW YOUR OWN MAGAZINE ARTICLE ABOUT NEIPA