Single hop beers are all the rage nowadays, and the kegerator at Clawhammer's HQ has been running low lately. With Summer just around the corner, we need a tasty summertime beer that we can start drinking immediately. That's why we brewed a Session IPA with Lemondrop hops using Clawhammer's 10.5 gallon Electric Brewing System. It's our first crack at making a single hop beer using this variety. Will it be good? Read on or watch the video to find out.

Session IPA Style Guidelines

• Golden or copper color
• OG - 1.038 - 1.052
• Low ABV - 3% - 4% - Beers exceeding 5% ABV are not considered Session IPAs
• Medium Bitterness - 40 - 55 IBUs

Single Hop Lemon Drop - Homebrew Recipe Video

Here's the video, in case you aren't the readin' type. However, if you're interested in brewing this beer, scroll down for full recipe details.

Water

Beginning water volume: 7.04 gallons (26.6 liters), with chemistry adjusted to produce the following profile:

• Calcium: 100ppm
• Chloride: 136ppm
• Sulfates: 75ppm
• Sodium: 14ppm
• Magnesium: 6ppm
• Bicarbonates: 25ppm

Note: we also added half a campden tablet at the start of the brew day.

Malts

• Pilsner (2 row) Ger (2.0 SRM) - 6lbs. (2.7kg) (70.6%)
• Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) - 1lbs. (.5kg) (11.8%)
• Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) - 1lbs. 8oz. (.7kg) (17.6%)

We finely crush all of our malts in a mill before mashing

Mashing

We mashed at 152F (66.7C) for 60 minutes then did a mashout for 10 minutes at 170F (76.7C).

Mashing in

Hops

We added our Lemondrop hops after our 60-minute boil. We cooled the wort down to 165F (73.9C) and did a whirlpool addition using 4 oz. (113.4g) of hops.

Weighing out hops

Adding them to our hop basket

This is our first time using Lemondrop hops and we're hoping it gives our beer a nice citrus, lemon flavor. Although, others who have used this hop tell us the lemon flavor it yields is fairly subtle.

Fermentation

We used Imperial A24 Dry Hop Yeast at the end of the brew day.

This yeast will make our final hop aroma excellent. We fermented for 13 days at 68F (20C).

Pitching yeast

Dry Hops

We dry hopped this beer with 2 oz (56.7g) of Lemondrop hops starting on day 4 of primary fermentation and left the hops in the beer for 3 days.

Benchmarks

• Post boil volume - 6.04 gallons (22.9 liters)
• Post-boil gravity - Actual: 1.042
• Volume into the fermenter - 6.04 gallons (22.9 liters)
• Final Gravity 1.010
• Final keg volume: 5.0 gallons (18.9 liters)
• ABV - 4.20%

Tasting Notes

This one finished with a nice golden color and a little bit of haze. When we tasted it, we could immediately tell why they're called Lemondrop hops. There were a lot of lemon and citrus notes we could smell and taste and no perceivable off flavors, making it a really refreshing and light beer. With an ABV of 4.20%, this should be your go to summertime beer to brew.

"A crushable summer beer for sure"