First All Grain IPA - Need Malt Help

[skepace]

Looking at brewing my first all grain IPA tomorrow. Weather will be nice and warm(50's) so I can run the garden hose for my chiller.

I have a bunch of 2 row so that's ok. I'm a little confused on which adjunct malts to use. Here is what I was thinking:

10 lbs Rahr 2 row
1.5 lb Caramalt
1.5 lb Victory
1.5 lb Vienna


Is that enough? I have another 1.5 lb of Crystal 120 if need be.

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

I like Vienna in there- that bring something very nice.

Some victory is very nice, or some caramalt can be nice as well. But that is way too much of both.

Victory is "toasty" and brings a slight biscuit taste. Caramalt is also a very nice addition to some IPAs. It brings slight caramel sweetness to a beer.

In an IPA, I would use no more than 5% of either of those malts, and definitely not both, depending on what your goals are for the beer. a 1/2 pound of victory would be more than enough of that grain.

 

[lumpher]

I'd consider the 2 row, a lb of Vienna, and 8 oz of c120. The Vienna would add a little flavor, and the c120 would add color and flavor, too. That would be for more of an English IPA.

 

[slym2none]

I'm with Yooper - basically, keep the 2-row & the Vienna, then just a half-pound of any one of those other malts.

Boom.

 

[MEPNew2Brew]

Depending on what you like - 2 row and 1.5 lbs of Victor or Vienna (I'd go with Vienna) and nothing else. Or, add a bit of the C-120 for a more mid-West/East Coast style. 4.5 lbs of other malts in addition to the two row is probably too much.

 

[skepace]

Thanks guys! Coming from partial brewing I am just trying to understand all of the malts. Using BeerSmith software now with the recipe guide. Does BeerSmith calculate fly sparge amounts?

 

[TWAL]

For comparison to what you have here's the recipe Avery brewing had listed on their old website for their IPA,which being in Colorado I'm sure you're quite familiar with.
Haven't brewed it yet to say how close it is, I can tell you there are super sacks of c- 120 all over the brewery/warehouse..

11 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 93.9 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 4.1 %
4.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)


0.73 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min 33.2 IBUs
0.77 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min 26.8 IBUs

Steeped Hops Amt Name Type # %/IBU

1.64 oz Cascade [6.90 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.64 oz Centennial [9.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.64 oz Chinook [11.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

 

[skepace]

Thanks TWAL! Yes I have had that a lot being in Denver so much I can't drink it any longer.

If I am brewing with LemonDrop and Citra hops, would Crystal 60 or 120 be better? I can't find Crisp Caramalt in Beersmith 2 so I might omit it.

 

[skepace]

Also, do I have to have 6 oz of hops for an IPA?

I was think of this

1 oz Cascade
1 oz Citra
1 oz Citra
1 oz Citra
1 oz Lemon Drop
1 oz Lemon Drop

Thoughts?

 

[slym2none]

I'm using 4-1/2 oz of hops in a 2.5 gallon batch...

 

[TWAL]

Thanks TWAL! Yes I have had that a lot being in Denver so much I can't drink it any longer.

If I am brewing with LemonDrop and Citra hops, would Crystal 60 or 120 be better? I can't find Crisp Caramalt in Beersmith 2 so I might omit it.

Yeah I'm pretty sick of it too...
As far as the caramalt goes just go to the maltsters website and get the info and plug it into beersmith.
As for Crystal malts go,in an IPA / APA I usually use nothing higher than c-45
I know very good pro brewers (in the Denver area) that have stopped using crystal malts altogether in some of their beers.

As far as hop schedule I can't really comment as I don't know when those are to be added..
I tend to not stick to a straight 1 oz here 2 oz there schedule,I like to load up hops towards the end,a light dose of magnum at 60 then everything else is 30 down.I also add them according to what i'm looking to get out of them.
30 min. may be 3/4 of an ounce and 20 min. might be 2 1/2 ounces ...