The French IPA Recipe: Pythagore
- Color: Golden
- Alcohol: 6.3%
- Batch Size: 20 L
- Bitterness: Present
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Brew Time: 5 hours
Ingredients :
- 4kg Pilsner Malt
- 1kg Rye Malt
- 500g Golden Naked Oats
- 15g Barbe Rouge Hop (Ebullition : 60min)
- 20g Barbe Rouge Hop (Ebullition : 10min)
- 45g Barbe Rouge Hop (Hopstand : 20 min)
- 40g Teorem T45 Hop (Hopstand 20 min)
- 20g Barbe Rouge Hop (Dry Hop fermentation secondaire)
- 60g Teorem T45 Hop (Dry Hop fermentation secondaire)
- 2 packets of yeast Lallemand Farmhouse
- Total water volume: 31 L (Preferably sulfate > chloride: 2:1)
Brew our French IPA recipe “Pythagore”:
Step 1:
In your mash tun, heat 19 L of water to 70 °C and add the crushed grains.
Stir well to fully soak the malt, and don’t hesitate to break up any clumps against the sides of the vessel.
Mix until the temperature drops to 64 °C, then hold it there for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, heat 12 L of water to 75 °C.
Step 2:
If possible, perform a 10‑minute mash‑out at 75 °C.
Step 3:
Proceed with lautering and sparging.
Step 4:
Bring your wort to a boil for 60 minutes.
Add 15 g of Barbe Rouge at the start of the boil.
With 10 minutes remaining, add 20 g of the same hop.
Once the boil is finished, add 45 g of Barbe Rouge and 40 g of Teorem T45. Let them steep for a full 20 minutes.
If you are cooling your wort with an immersion chiller, remember to sterilize it in the wort during the last 15 minutes of the boil.
Step 5:
Cool the wort to 20 °C and transfer it to the fermenter, adding the yeast.
The expected original gravity is around 1.058.
Ferment at 20 °C for 4 weeks. Then raise the temperature to 22–23 °C for a final week.
Finally, 3 days before bottling, add 20 g of Barbe Rouge and 60 g of Teorem T45.
The final gravity should be around 1.011.
Step 6:
Sterilize 7 g/L of sugar (in a bit of water) for bottling.
Conclusion :
This Belgian‑IPA‑inspired recipe highlights the superb aromatic qualities of the Barbe Rouge and Teorem hop duo. Barbe Rouge brings raspberry, spice and citrus notes, but Teorem clearly takes center stage. Used here in T45 pellets — half the vegetal matter for twice the aroma — it fully expresses its fruity character, with beautiful pineapple and citrus notes. We chose to reinforce its spicy dimension to give the beer even more depth.
To achieve this, we incorporated a generous proportion of rye and selected Lallemand Farmhouse yeast. Rye, naturally spicy, enriches Teorem’s profile while adding complexity to the malt base. As for the yeast, it only develops its full saison‑like character above 27 °C; at 20 °C, it provides good attenuation and a light phenolic profile that pairs perfectly with the hop’s spicy notes.
Golden Naked Oats contribute texture and roundness. Their proteins help create a dense, slightly ivory foam. And since texture is an essential part of this beer’s identity, we opted for a bitterness that is present but controlled. To enhance it, we recommend a water profile with 2 to 3 times more sulfates than chlorides, as well as a mash pH around 5.1.
If you’re a beginner, don’t worry: these water adjustments are optimizations, not mandatory steps. The most important thing is to enjoy the process… and the unique character of this recipe.