Citrafication Stratagy IPL All Grain Recipe Kit Northern Brewer

Citrus Meets Passionfruit Meets Pot.

A bit of a mish-mash of classic Helles and the ubiquitous American IPA, Citrafication Stratagy IPL showcases the best of both worlds using old-world style ingredients combined with newer and highly aromatic American hop varieties, Citra and Strata. The blueprint is to take a clean yet intriguing malt base, and ferment it with a super clean lager yeast in order to let the impressive hops take center stage. Additions of Citra and Strata hops mingle together to create an out-of-this-world aroma and flavor experience, full of bouquets of fruit notes combined with a pleasing herbal-dank-resin punch.

Brewing Notes:

• Style: Lager
• Fermentation Range: 48-56°F
• Original Gravity: 1.063
• SRM: 6
• IBU: 50
• ABV: 6.2%

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma: Clean malt notes with low hints of crusty bread and faint sweet caramel. Aroma is dominated by hops, consisting of passion fruit, grapefruit citrus, fresh berries with prominent yet complementary wafts of dank resin herbals.
• Appearance: Golden to light copper color with a thick and persistent white head.
• Flavor: Soft, faintly bready malt profile with an exceptionally clean and crisp quality. Massive flavors of a bevy of tropical fruits and citrus paired with a distinct resinous herbal character. Long, lingering finish on the palette.
• Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and smooth sipping with moderate carbonation and creaminess.

Looking for the Extract Version?

Notes from Brad, Northern Brewer Head Brewer:

“Strata has to be one of the most interesting and exciting newer hop varieties to be released in the last few years. I was intrigued by its description and figured it would go perfectly with Citra. Figuring that a relatively neutral malt base would be the best platform for this combination, I also had to keep it somewhat reminiscent of an IPA. Pilsner malt seemed like the obvious choice for a crisp and clean base malt, and then sprinkled in a little Vienna for some light toast character and added caramel 20L to give it some color without adding too much flavor. I was going to stop there, but then figured that fermenting it with a lager strain would keep the esters to a minimum so the hops can really come through. This recipe is the result.

I have to say, the description of Strata is spot on – super fruity with passion fruit, guava, berries and citrus intertwined with an herbal and resiny character similar to a certain combustible flower that you may be familiar with if you’ve ever attended a Phish concert. The addition of Citra really adds to the citrus character and plays perfectly with the aforementioned malt base. All of these flavors come through in the finished beer, all while maintaining a crisp and clean drinking experience. Sipping on Citrafication Stratagy is truly like eating a tropical fruit salad while sitting in the Mystery Machine.

If you do not have the ability to ferment this recipe at traditional lager temperatures, fret not. The choice of yeast strains paired with this recipe will also ferment very cleanly even at ale temperatures, albeit with a slightly increased ester profile. Be sure to aerate the wort well and pitch a healthy amount of yeast at this one to encourage the cleanest flavor possible and to achieve full attenuation. These particular yeast strains do tend to create a fair amount of diacetyl, so be sure to give this beer a thorough rest at room temperature for a few days after fermentation is complete before lagering (if you have the fridge space, that is). Following these pointers will reward you with an incredibly complex yet clean and crisp beer. You certainly will not be disappointed with Citrafication Stratagy.”