Another IPA

[Zanian]

Hey guys,

I'm (hopefully) brewing up an English IPA in the next few days. I've made up the following recipe and I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice. Here is the recipe:

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
OG: 1.061
IBU: 56.1
Colour: 10
Est ABV: 5.9%
Mash in: 156f

5.29 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.0 %
0.38 kg Aromatic Malt (Dingemans) (19.0 SRM) Grain 6.0 %
0.38 kg Biscuit (Dingemans) (22.5 SRM) Grain 6.0 %
0.32 kg Caramunich I (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
80.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 40.8 IBUs
28.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 11.0 IBUs
42.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 4.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg Thames Valley Ale (Wyeast Labs #1275) [124.21 ml] Yeast
28.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Dry Hop

I don't mind it being a strong and relatively robust beer (although comments accepted on that too!) but I'm a little worried about the hop profile - I don't want it to kick like an American IPA but I still want to bring out the hop flavors. Also, mash temperature?
Thanks in advance!

 

[friarsmith]

With 17% specialty/crystal malts, that's going to be one malty IPA. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it will be malty. If you stick with this grain bill, I'd recommend mashing at 148-151.

Hops look fine. Perhaps consider moving your planned 5 minute addition to the cooling phase at 140-150 (if you use an ice bath or immersion chiller) or stir them in at flameout and whirlpool a few minutes. With the latter you'll eek out a few IBU's. Both will provide good aroma.

My 5gal EIPA is 90/5/5 Maris/Special Roast/Crystal 60L. I mash it 75 minutes at 152 with a mash-out of 168 during re-circulation. Mine is all EKG too and around 60 IBU's. Dry-hopped 10 days with 3 oz EKG. It's won a few medals over the years.

Depending on your starting point with water, definitely consider adding some gypsum to the mash water and boil. Give that IPA some sulphate love!

 

[Zanian]

Thanks so much! All the stuff you have said, I have been considering anyway, so I'll definitely make some adjustments. I'll let you know how it goes and update the recipe!
Happy brewing

 

[Zanian]

A bit of a late reply but I just wanted to report that you were right from the get go. The beer ended up having a strong caramel flavour that dominated the beer (even with the adjustments). I made another recently and it was much better.

 

[friarsmith]

No worries. It probably still tasted like beer. Take your lumps and move on. I'm 400+ batches & 20 yrs in to this "hobby" and still learning every day and every batch...