What is a Hazy IPA?
A Hazy IPA, also known as a NEIPA (New England Indian Pale Ale), is a style of IPA that uses fruit forward hops and is unfiltered and cloudy in appearance.
The style became popular because the fruit forward hops were used to counteract the bitterness of a traditional IPA. Making it popular for anyone who enjoys the taste of an IPA but wanted more of a fruit forward hops profile and a full body. They are often referred to as “juicy.”
What makes a Hazy IPA cloudy?
There are several factors that will contribute to the “hazy” look of a Hazy IPA.
- Late Fermentation Hopping: Many brewers will add additional hops late in the fermentation to not only enhance the hops flavor, but also to create that cloudy effect.
- Unfiltered: Hazy IPAs are also unfiltered. Typically, brewers will use a filtering process that will remove the particles that cause cloudiness in a beer. Before Hazy IPAs became popular, haze in a beer showed that it had either gone bad, or that it was of low quality. Meaning it was standard practice in commercial beers to filter these out. It did not only affect the visuals but also made the beer have a lighter mouthfeel. But Hazy IPAs intentionally avoid this process or using finings to clarify the beer.
- Yeast: When brewing beer, yeast will cause solids to remain in the wort and beer. These solids will cause visual cloudiness and haze which can be seen in a Hazy IPA.
Water Profile for a Hazy IPA
This is an example of a water profile for a Hazy IPA. Different brewers will use different water profiles, and all end up with unique, delicious beers. This should be used as a starting point when planning your water chemistry for a Hazy IPA.
Calcium: 100 ppm
Magnesium: 20 ppm
Iron: 0 ppm
Sulfate: 120 ppm
Bicarbonate: 50 ppm
Alkalinity: 50-100
pH: 6.5 – 8
Total Chlorine: 0 ppm
Hardness: 120
