Maine Beer Co. Lunch Ipa Recipe

1. Heat strike water

Heat 4.5 gallons of mash water to about 165°F (to hit a mash temperature around 152°F when grains are added).

2. Add crushed Pilsner malt, flaked oats, and Carapils to the mash tun. Stir thoroughly to avoid dough balls and ensure even hydration.

3. Hold the mash at 150–154°F for 60 minutes. Gentle stir or recirculate once halfway through to maintain even temperature and improve conversion.

4. After 60 minutes, perform an iodine test to confirm starch conversion. If conversion is complete, begin vorlauf (recirculate) until runnings are reasonably clear.

5. Sparge with enough water to collect approximately 6.5 gallons of wort in the kettle (about 2 gallons additional for boil). Aim for pre-boil volume to account for evaporation and trub loss.

6. Bring to a boil

Bring the collected wort to a vigorous boil. Once boiling begins, add 0.75 oz Centennial hops and start a 60-minute timer.

7. At 20 minutes remaining in the boil, add 0.5 oz Chinook hops and the 0.5 tsp salt. Add 1 tsp Irish moss or Whirlfloc if using at 10 minutes remaining.

8. At 5 minutes remaining, add 0.75 oz Mosaic hops to build late hop flavor and aroma.

9. At flameout, turn off the heat and add 1.5 oz Citra hops to the kettle. Stir or create a whirlpool for 5–15 minutes to help hop oil extraction and allow hot break material to coagulate to the center.

10. Allow the wort to settle for 10–20 minutes, then chill quickly to yeast-pitching temperature (65–68°F) using a wort chiller. Aim to get to target within 30–45 minutes to reduce infection risk.

11. Transfer the chilled wort to a sanitized fermenter, leaving most trub behind. Top up with water if necessary to reach 5 gallons. If using DME to boost gravity, dissolve 0.5 lb DME in a small amount of hot water and add to the kettle before chilling to ensure full dissolution.

12. Aerate the wort well (shake, oxygenate, or pure oxygen) and pitch the yeast (one pack of US-05 or equivalent). Target fermentation temperature 66–68°F for a clean profile.

13. Allow primary fermentation to proceed for 4–6 days or until vigorous activity slows. After around day 4–6, when primary fermentation activity has slowed but before complete clearing, add dry hop additions: 1 oz Citra, 1 oz Mosaic, and 0.5 oz Centennial directly to the fermenter (use a sanitized hop bag if desired).

14. Allow dry hops to sit 3–5 days. Do not leave hops on for too long to avoid vegetal/autolytic character. After dry hopping, cold crash to near 34–40°F for 24–48 hours to help drop out hop particles and yeast.

15. Sanitize bottles, caps, siphon tubing, and bottling equipment thoroughly with a no-rinse sanitizer.

16. Prepare priming sugar: dissolve 3.5 oz (approx. 100 g) corn sugar in 12 oz (about 355 ml) boiling water, cool to room temperature, and add to a sanitized bottling bucket.

17. Rack the beer gently from the fermenter to the bottling bucket on top of the priming solution, mixing gently to ensure even distribution of priming sugar without aerating the beer.

18. Fill 8 clean 1-pint (16 oz) bottles leaving about 1 inch headspace, cap, and label. If you have more beer, adjust bottle count accordingly — this recipe yields roughly 5 gallons and will fill many more bottles; the provided 8 is for a 1-pint sample bottling.

19. Allow bottles to carbonate at room temperature (65–72°F) for 10–14 days. Once carbonated, condition bottles for an additional 7–14 days in a cooler place for flavors to mature.

20. Chill the pint bottle to 40–45°F before serving. Pour gently into a glass, leaving sediment in the bottle. This recipe aims to emulate a bright, hop-forward Lunch IPA profile: moderate bitterness, soft malt backbone, creamy mouthfeel from oats, and intense citrus/tropical hop aromatics.

21. Estimated original gravity ~1.060, final gravity ~1.012, ABV ~6.2%. Adjust mash efficiency, hop types/quantities, and yeast strain to dial in exact profile to your setup.