Dry vs. "Wet" IPAs

[blueberry]

Just doing some listening to some podcasts. They're some brewers that like to dry out their IPA's and APA's with low mash temps. On the other hand I'm starting to realize that brewery's like Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas like to mash high to balance out the BU loads of the IPAs and finishing around 1.015ish. I'm also really liking the the balance of the beers put out by Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas breweries more than the "dry" IPAs and APA's. I'm not sure where i'm going with this but I will be mashing higher on my IPA's and APA's in the future to balance out my beers a little better. I'm not a west coaster, I do in fact prefer balance, go figure. Anyone else out there prefer the "wet" kind of IPA's?

[biertourist]

I think the term is "sweet" vs. "wet"; and when the IBUs climb up, I do prefer a sweeter IPA/DIPA.

I'm still fine with a really hoppy dry IPA, it's just when the IBUs get higher that I feel the FG should be a bit higher.
That's my take anyway.
(When you typed "Dry vs. "Wet" IPAs" I thought you were going to ask about dry hopping vs. wet hopping.)

Adam

[Travisty]

I've come to some of the same conclusions in my brewing as well. I just made an IPA that I loaded with hops late in the boil. I mashed at 154 to retain some extra mouthfeel. IIRC it finished at about 1.016 and I really like the mouthfeel. I think that as long as you have a good complete fermentation so that there are not a bunch of shorter chainer "sweeter" sugars left over, a higher FG can be quite nice in a hoppy beer. That's not to say that I don't like the dry ones too though.

[spiderwrangler]

What's the wetness factor?

[CRBrewHound]

The one thing I would say is that I think you hit the nail on the head with the term "balance". I think to figure out what you are shooting for, you need to account for the IBU's you are putting into the beer. If it is 50 then a drier version would probably work better, however, if you are hophead and are putting up an IBU of 120 or something then a much sweeter (higher FG) should be targeted to provide the balance you are looking for. Not sure if anyone has done any studies on creating any sort of algorthym or trend on IBU-to-FG before.

You could use the BU:GU (Bitterness Units:Gravity Units) ratio. Which will give you this somewhat. However, this is the ratio of Theoretical IBU's to Opening Gravity and not the Final Gravity which would determine the dryness of the beer. However, your FG in many instances will follow a curve in relation to the OG. So I would take a look at that and for an IPA I would probably shoot for a BU:GU ratio of between 0.75 to 1.25 or so. However, I don't like my Pales and IPAs to be overly bitter, I like them to hop flavorfull versus excessivly bitter. Just my two cents. Not even sure I said anything in above rant.

[Crackin]

Don't forget how JZ likes to go on about Russian River's Pliney as being unconventional, because Vinnie makes it dry, but relies on all the hop oils to take the place of residual gravity and provide mouthfeel, achieving balance.

[thatguy314]

I think it's dry versus "sweet". Beers with residual sugar make you salivate, beers that don't are "dry." Dry drinks encourage you to have

You should never have a sweet IPA. You can have IPAs with more residual sugar and mouthfeel. If it's sweet it's just a bad beer.

I think it's a matter of balance. Bitterness and sweetness balance each other. So you can have a beer that would be sweet for all the bitterness, but the net result should not taste sweet.

You can add this balance with residual gravity (which I think, if done properly adds very little sweetness, just body), with specialty malts (munichs, crystals, which I do think add some sweetness), or with yeast choice (Cal Ale is clean, but some English and Belgian yeasts leave a sweet character in the beer even if it attenuates all the way). Whatever you do, the beer should have a crisp finish. More or less malty flavor can be there, but it should always be supportive of the hops and not combat it.

[ChrisKennedy]

You should never have a sweet IPA. You can have IPAs with more residual sugar and mouthfeel. If it's sweet it's just a bad beer.

Eh that isn't true. A sweet IPA could be perfectly acceptable if that is what is intended/desired. There is no such thing as a "bad" beer in any sort of general/objective sense until you start applying arbitrary standards on beer like it's done in competitions.

I wouldn't want/like a sweet IPA, and you might not want/like a sweet IPA, but that doesn't make a sweet IPA "bad" (except, again, in the context of a competition where arbitrary standards are applied).