Recipes: Take Off & Birthday Beer

As part of our San Diego Homebrew Summer program, every Monday between now and the end of August, San Diego Beer News will publish homebrew-scaled recipes for beers professionally produced by craft breweries throughout the county. This week, San Marcos-based Rip Current Brewing, a commercial brewery that was founded by award-winning homebrews (including the winner of the prestigious national Ninkasi Award) and has maintained the homebrew spirit over the better part of a decade, is letting homebrewers in on the secrets behind its strong yet graceful Take Off Tripel. Not to be out done, Linda Vista’s Home Brew Mart is gifting the homebrewing community with the recipe for a hop-burst West Coast IPA called Birthday Beer. Our cups (and steins) runneth over! Scroll down for the stories behind these beers as well as recipes from the source.

Take Off Belgian-style Tripel

Q&A with Rip Current Brewing Co-founder & Brewmaster Paul Sangster

Why did you decide to share this particular recipe?

This has been a seasonal favorite of the Rip Current team for several years. We love the flavor profile that the Westmalle Trappist yeast imparts in the beer. We strive to make it crisp, dry and refreshing despite its huge ABV (alcohol-by-volume). We just released a batch at our tasting rooms in San Marcos and North Park and it’s tasting great, so we wanted to share how homebrewers can make this beer and compare it to what we have on tap.

What are some tips you have for homebrewers?

This beer is all about the yeast, so a proper healthy pitch is essential. I always recommend doing a starter and while you can under-pitch a Belgian beer, I don’t believe that is necessary to get expression of the yeast esters and phenolics. We also prefer to pitch a bit cooler and then ramp up the temps during fermentation to help the yeast do its job without overly stressing them and creating fusel alcohols or other off-flavors. 

Please share some memories from your homebrewing days?

Wow, so many it’s hard to just pick one. I had such a great experience being a part of homebrew clubs, QUAFF (Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity) and the Society of Barley Engineers, over the many years. For quite a few years I ran the clubs’ competitions along with Harold Gulbransen. It was very rewarding helping members gain their BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judging certification and watching them climb the judging ranks. Similarly, it was fun to work with homebrewers to help tweak their recipes and watch them go on to win big awards. Personally, a great moment was trying to help QUAFF win the Club of the Year award for most medals won at the 2011 National Homebrewer’s Conference competition and, shockingly, winning the Ninkasi Award for top homebrewer in the country. San Diego hosted the event in 2011, so we had many club members in attendance. 

How did homebrewing lead you to want to make brewing your career?

As a homebrewer I learned so much about how to brew different styles of beers from around the world and achieved enough success in blind, judged competitions that I just felt it was time to brew in greater volumes to share it more broadly. The craft-beer industry is such an exciting collaborative industry, that it wasn’t hard to want to be a small part of that.

Birthday Beer West Coast IPA

A summary from Home Brew Mart Assistant Manager Derek Lauridsen

2020 was an intensely difficult year for everyone. Luckily, a Home Brew Mart employee was determined to celebrate his birthday in style and created this IPA recipe, which focuses on hop-bursting techniques and has an incredible aroma from the multiple dry-hops. 

San Diego Homebrew Summer is brought to you by our partners at Ballast Point Brewing, and you can find all of the ingredients to make this pair of beers at Home Brew Mart.