Last updated:
Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing is arguably the most famous Double IPA in the world, a beer that helped define the West Coast DIPA style with its exceptional bitterness, dry finish, and intense but non-cloying hop aroma. Russian River has published portions of this recipe, and combined with my own brewing experience developing West Coast DIPAs, I can give you the most accurate homebrewing version of Pliny available.
Pliny the Elder clone recipe (5 gallon / 19L batch)
Target stats: OG 1.072, FG 1.010, ABV ~8.0%, IBU 90–100 (measured), SRM 6–8, clear deep gold. Grain bill: 12 lbs (5.44 kg) American two-row pale malt. 1 lb (454g) Crystal 45L, moderate caramel for malt balance without excessive sweetness that would fight the massive hop bitterness. 0.5 lb (227g) CaraPils/Dextrine, head retention and body for the high-attenuation fermentation. 0.5 lb (227g) acidulated malt, mash pH management. 1 lb (454g) dextrose (corn sugar, added to boil at 10 min), Russian River adds sugar to Pliny to boost ABV while keeping body restrained; a DIPA without the sugar addition tends to finish too sweet and heavy. Hops, the defining element, use the freshest available: Bittering (60 min): 1.0 oz CTZ/Columbus (bittering, 60 min). 0.5 oz Chinook (60 min). Flavor (30 min): 0.5 oz Simcoe. Flavor (15 min): 0.5 oz Centennial. 0.5 oz Simcoe. Flameout/whirlpool at 79°C (174°F), steep 20 min: 0.5 oz Centennial. 0.5 oz Columbus. 0.5 oz Simcoe. First dry hop (in fermenter after primary, 7 days): 1.0 oz Centennial. 1.0 oz Columbus. 0.5 oz Simcoe. Second dry hop (added at packaging/kegging, 3–5 days): 0.5 oz Centennial. 0.5 oz Columbus. Russian River uses a two-stage dry hop process, the first dry hop during conditioning, the second at transfer/packaging. This layered approach produces depth and complexity beyond a single dry hop. Total hops: approximately 7.5 oz. Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale or Wyeast 1056 American Ale, the canonical West Coast clean fermenter. Ferment at 17–18°C (63–65°F) for minimal ester, maximum hop character expression. Pitch at full rate for 1.072 OG, 300+ billion cells. Water: High sulfate for West Coast hop crispness, calcium 150 ppm, sulfate 250 ppm, chloride 80 ppm. Sulfate at 250 ppm sharpens the massive bitterness and keeps the finish dry and crisp rather than lingering. Process: Single infusion mash at 64°C (147°F) for 75 minutes, very low temperature for maximum fermentability and the dry, crisp finish that characterizes West Coast DIPA. This beer should finish at 1.009–1.011. 60-minute boil with the major bittering additions. Add sugar at 10 minutes. Ferment 12–14 days. First dry hop when gravity is within 2 points of terminal. Second dry hop at transfer. Cold crash 48 hours before packaging. Keg is strongly preferred, bottle carbonation with a 8% ABV, heavily hopped beer is difficult to maintain for more than a few weeks. Consume within 4–6 weeks of packaging for peak hop character. Pliny the Elder’s hop aromatics begin fading at 6 weeks and the beer is significantly diminished at 12 weeks regardless of storage conditions.
Common Questions
Why is Pliny the Elder so hard to find and why does Russian River limit distribution?
Russian River limits Pliny the Elder’s distribution deliberately, not primarily as a scarcity marketing tactic, but because the beer’s hop-driven quality degrades rapidly after packaging and wide distribution would mean consumers receiving the beer in suboptimal condition weeks or months after production. Russian River has stated publicly that they view a stale Pliny the Elder as actively damaging their reputation, and that they would rather have consumers seek out fresh local draft than receive packaged product that’s past its quality peak. The hop compounds that create Pliny’s intense citrus, pine, and resinous aroma, primarily iso-alpha acids from boiling, alpha-acid oils from dry hopping, and various terpene and thiol compounds, oxidize, polymerize, and volatilize at room temperature within weeks. A can of Pliny at 6 months is a completely different beer than a fresh pint at the brewery. This freshness constraint is why homebrewing Pliny the Elder is legitimately rewarding, you can brew and consume the beer within the 4–6 week freshness window that Russian River optimizes for, which means your homebrewed version, consumed fresh, competes directly with the commercial beer in a way that most DIPA clones don’t. The best Pliny the Elder most people outside Northern California can ever have is a freshly brewed homebrewed clone.
