Brü It Yourself | Werk Force Brewing’s Bad Polaroid

Author: Steve Thanos

After cutting the ribbon in January 2012, Plainfield, IL’s Werk Force Brewing rather quickly earned a reputation for crafting uniquely delicious beers. As a local, I’m proud to say I’ve been a regular patron of Werk Force since their inception, and more recently, they granted me Brülosophy data collection privileges in their taproom.

As much as I enjoy the crisp, clear IPA originating from the West Coast and the soft, hazy IPA stemming from the East Coast, my Midwest roots are obvious in my preference malt-forward hoppy ale. One of my favorite local commercial beers that I feel beautifully exemplifies this is Werk Force Brewing’s Bad Polaroid, which they describe as “a double red brewed with a boatload of Citra, Columbus, and Cascade hops in the mash, boil, and the fermenter.” Speaking my language!

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Amanda and Brandon Wright, owners of Werk Force Brewing, and mentioned my love of Bad Polaroid, at which point they offered to share the recipe with me. Excited to try my hand at making a personal fave, I took detailed notes, scaled the recipe down to 5 gallons/19 liters, and got to brewing!

| Making Werk Force Brewing’s Bad Polaroid |

Huge thanks to Werk Force Brewing for providing me with this recipe, which I scaled down in a manner to keep it as true to the original as possible.

Werk Force Brewing’s Bad Polaroid

NOTE: “Aroma” in recipe indicates post-boil hopstand

After collecting the full volume of filtered water and adjusting it to the proper mineral profile, I lit the flame under the kettle then proceeded to weigh out and mill the grain.

Once the water was adequately heated, I incorporated the grains then checked to make sure it was at my target mash temperature.

While the mash was resting, I prepared the kettle hop additions.

Once the 60 minute mash was complete, I removed the grains then boiled the wort for 60 minutes before rapidly chilling it with my JaDeD Brewing Hydra IC.

Refractometer readings showed the wort had a bit higher OG than the 1.067 target.

After transferring the chilled wort to a fermenter, I placed it in my chamber for a couple hours to finish chilling to my desired fermentation temperature of 68°F/20°C, at which point I pitched a pouch of Imperial Yeast A09 Pub.

After 10 days, I took a hydrometer measurement confirming FG had been reached.

At this point, I cold crashed the beer to 36°F/2°C and left it for 1 more week before pressure transferring it to a sanitized keg. The filled keg was placed in my fridge and left to condition for a week before it was ready to head out with me on vacation!

| IMPRESSIONS |

Melding the malty characteristics of Red X, Dark Munich, and Vienna malts with the fruity combination of Citra, Cascade, and CTZ hops, Werk Force Brewing’s Red Polaroid strikes a delicious balance of flavors that makes it one of my local favorites. While I have ample access to this killer beer, those residing in other areas aren’t so fortunate, which is why I was so excited when the owners of Werk Force offered to share the recipe with me.

One thing I don’t suffer from in my homebrewery is poor efficiency, which in this case resulted in a beer that was quite a bit stronger than the commercial version. Werk Force does make a Double Bad Polaroid that has numbers more inline with the batch I brewed, but seeing as I used the recipe for Bad Polaroid that was provided to me by the brewery, I felt it only appropriate to keep the name and view the differences as being a function of my particular system.

Despite being a bit more boozy than the original, I was incredibly happy with how my version of Bad Polaroid turned out! Was it a carbon copy of Werk Force’s beer? Of course not, but it was still good enough that I’d brew it again. In future iterations, I’d be inclined to water the wort down to the OG Werk Force targets for Bad Polaroid, and I might also use some sort of fining just to clear it up a bit.

If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

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