“The Bitter Bitch”
Today we are brewing Bitter Ex West Coast IPA, also known around here as The Bitter Bitch.
This is a bold, bitter, old-school style West Coast IPA with a clean fermentation, a firm hop bite, and a nice punch of citrus, pine, grapefruit, and a little tropical pop from the dry hop.
No soft, sweet, hazy juice bomb nonsense today.
This one has some attitude.
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Bitter Ex West Coast IPA Recipe Overview
Style: West Coast IPA
Batch Size: 5 gallons packaged
Fermenter Volume: About 5.5 gallons into the fermenter
Expected ABV: Around 7%
Expected IBU: Around 74
Colour: Pale golden
Yeast: SafAle US-05
Fermentation Temperature: 65–68°F
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Equipment You’ll Need
This is an all-grain recipe, so you’ll need a proper all-grain brewing setup.
You can brew it on an all-in-one system, a traditional all-grain setup, or using the Brew in a Bag method.
If you’re still building out your setup, check these out:
👉 Recommended Brewing Equipment
If you want to keep things simple, Brew in a Bag is one of the easiest ways to make all-grain beer at home:
Grain Bill
- 12 lb Canadian 2-row
- 1 lb Vienna malt
- 0.5 lb flaked oats
- 0.5 lb dextrin malt / Carapils
The 2-row gives us the base.
The Vienna adds a little malt backbone without making the beer sweet.
The flaked oats help with mouthfeel.
The dextrin malt helps with body and head retention.
This is still a hop-forward West Coast IPA. We are not trying to build a sweet malt bomb here.
If you want to learn more about using oats in beer, check this out:
Mash Schedule
Mash at 153°F for 75 minutes.
Mash out at 169°F for 10 minutes.
If you are newer to all-grain brewing, these posts will help:
👉 All Grain Brewing Instructions
👉 Introduction to Mashing Temperature
👉 What is a Mash Out and How to Do It?
Boil Schedule
Boil for 60 minutes.
Hop Additions
- 0.75 oz Chinook at 60 minutes
- 0.5 oz Centennial at 30 minutes
- 1 oz Cascade at 10 minutes
This gives the beer that firm West Coast bitterness without turning it into a 125 IBU tongue scraper.
If you are newer to bitterness numbers, this post will help:
Whirlpool
After the boil, cool the wort down to around 170°F and whirlpool for 15 minutes.
Whirlpool Hop Addition
- 1 oz Chinook
- 1 oz Centennial
- 1 oz Cascade
The whirlpool addition builds more hop flavour and aroma without adding the same harsh bitterness you would get from boiling those hops for the full 60 minutes.
If you want more info on the whirlpool process, check this out:
Chill and Transfer
After the whirlpool, chill the wort down to yeast pitching temperature.
Transfer about 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.
The goal is to end up with around 5 gallons packaged after fermentation, dry hopping, cold crashing, and losses.
If you are newer to brewing and want the full process laid out from start to finish, check this out:
👉 How to Home Brew – The Complete Guide
Yeast and Fermentation
Pitch SafAle US-05.
Ferment around 65–68°F.
US-05 is a clean, reliable yeast and it works great for this kind of beer because it lets the hops do the talking.
If you want to learn more about fermentation temperatures, check this out:
👉 Fermentation Temperatures in Homebrewing
Check Your Gravity
The target original gravity should be somewhere around 1.068–1.070, depending on your system and efficiency.
The expected final gravity should be around 1.014–1.016.
That should put this beer around 7% ABV.
If you are not comfortable using a hydrometer yet, this post will help:
👉 How to Read and Use a Hydrometer
Dry Hop
Once fermentation is mostly complete, dry hop for 3 days.
Dry Hop Addition
- 1 oz Cascade
- 1 oz Citra
The Cascade keeps the beer in that classic grapefruit and citrus West Coast IPA zone.
The Citra gives it a little modern pop without turning it into a hazy IPA.
If you want to learn more about dry hopping, check this out:
Cold Crash
After the 3-day dry hop, cold crash the beer if you are able to.
Cold crashing helps drop hop debris, yeast, and other particles out of suspension before packaging.
For more on that, check this out:
Packaging
You can bottle or keg this beer.
For bottling, use your normal priming sugar or carbonation drops and let the beer condition until carbonated.
For kegging, carbonate around 2.4–2.5 volumes of CO₂.
If you bottle your beer, check this out:
If you keg your beer, check this out:
And if you want more help with carbonation, check this out:
What Bitter Ex West Coast IPA Should Taste Like
This beer should be:
- Bitter
- Clean
- Citrusy
- Piney
- Grapefruit-forward
- Lightly tropical from the Citra
- Crisp enough to keep you going back for another sip
This is not meant to be soft and sweet.
It is meant to have a bite.
That’s why we call it Bitter Ex West Coast IPA.
Or around here…
The Bitter Bitch.
Final Thoughts
Bitter Ex West Coast IPA is a Big Rob Builds recipe for anyone who wants a proper bitter IPA with some backbone.
It has the classic West Coast bite from Chinook, Centennial, and Cascade, then a little Citra in the dry hop to make the aroma pop.
She’s bitter.
She’s bold.
And hopefully she’s worth keeping around.
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