First Recipe from scratch(ish)

[Arkhomer]

I decided Sunday afternoon at the last minute I would brew Monday. Got to the brew store about 20 minutes before they closed. Had a recipe I found online, however the homebrew store was wiped. This resulting in me piecing together most of my own ingredients. Take a look at this recipe and see if what you think and if this would be considered a pale ale or IPA.

11.5 lbs - 2 Row
.75 lbs - Crystal 40
.25 lbs - Crystal 90

1 oz - Magnum 60 min
1 oz - Amarillo 30 min
1 oz - Cascade 10 min
2 oz - Cascade Flameout

Whitelabs WLP001 California Ale

Mashed at 153 for 60 minutes
OG = 1.059


I am tinkering with the idea of possibly dry hopping with another couple of ounces of Cascade? Any input is appreciated

 

[eetu]

I would skip the 30min boil, it's a waste of precious Amarillo hops. I would save them for whirlpool or dh.

My suggestion for hop schedule would be something like this:
-Magnum 60min
-Cascade late boil and/or flameout/whirlpool
-Amarillo dry hop

Malt bill looks good to go. Personally I like a bit less Crystal, maybe cut both to .25.

If going for pale ale, ibu/og ratio between 0.7-0.8 is a good target. For an ipa 1+.

You can tinker with the hop schedule and switch/add Cascade for dry hops if you like. Main thing is to add enough and add them late. Especially if going for the ipa style.

1oz/gal of dry hops is a good "norm" for an ipa. For pale ales you can halve that.

Happy brewing!

 

[Arkhomer]

Thanks for the response. Why is the 30 min Amarillo addition a waste? AA not high enough to be considered a flavoring hop? I'm still relatively new and still have a lot to learn about hop additions.

 

[bleme]

At 30 minutes you will just get bitterness from the Amarillo and you can get bitterness for a lot cheaper. To keep the flavor of Amarillo, it has to be added at 15min or later.

 

[eetu]

Thanks for the response. Why is the 30 min Amarillo addition a waste? AA not high enough to be considered a flavoring hop? I'm still relatively new and still have a lot to learn about hop additions.

Alpha acids have nothing do with flavor. It only tells you how much bitterness you are going to get at given amount and boil time. The longer you boil, the more bitterness you get. And vice versa, the longer you boil, the less aroma you get.

Magnum is good for bittering. High AA and relatively neutral aroma, plus it's affordable. You can use it in pretty much any beer style. 60min addition is usually what you call the bittering hops.

If hop aroma is desired, you want to add them as late as possible. I usually start planning my hop schedule from the latest kettle additions. For pale ales i want to add the amount that would give me roughly half of the desired IBU in total, for ipa's maybe two thirds or more. Then add enough 60min hops to hit the target. It's not uncommon to skip the early additions altogether, and add everything in the last 15 minutes+whirlpool.

I hope this helps.

 

[Arkhomer]

Thanks!

 

[whovous]

My suspicion, unconfirmed by feeding your recipe to a calculator, is that your recipe gets almost all of its IBUs from the Magnum bittering charge. Is that what you are looking for? My inclination would be to either cut back the Magnum or else increase the later additions. But that is because I like the balance to tip more toward flavoring than bitterness charges.

 

[ProblemChild]

for me - 1 lb of crystal is tipping point for a pale. Too high for a mid-6% IPA. It can be done, but 90 is pretty noticeable. Not saying don't use 90 in a pale, just be sure to understand that the darker flavors will show up. (granted, .25 lb is manageable). All that to say is watch you results and see what you want to do next.

I am also inclined to agree with moving the Amarillo at 30. A 30 min addition to me often seems like a function of people having (and wanting to completely use) a single ounce of a hop in a way that allows them to hit an IBU target.

I am curious - was an ounce of Magnum not delivering the IBU's you wanted? seems that at 1.059 it would be plenty. Move the Amarillo under 20 and closer to flame-out. While Magnum is a great bittering hop, consider a higher AA hop for bittering (use less hops for bittering that way). There are lots out there.