IPA recipe critique

[Surgicalbrews]

This is my First post! I am new to all grain brewing and will be brewing my first IPA. I was interested in any critiques you all may have. I am looking for a well balanced IPA with good hop profile but not necessarily a hop bomb. Thanks in advance.

14 lbs 2 row
3 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs crystal 60
1 oz nugget 60 min
0.5 oz nugget 30 min
.75 liberty dry hop 10 days
.75 simcoe dry hop 10 days

Mash at 154 for 60 minute
60 minute boil
White labs California ale yeast starter

 

[Ticebain]

Not for sure but I think you are going to need to up your hops. And what abv are you targeting? I am just about to put a smash ipa into secondary and dry hop with the final 1 oz of Amarillo when I used 3 during the boil. I only used 10 lbs of Maris otter and I'm going to get something in the low 6's. I think your hop bill is a little small for all that grain if you are going for an American style ipa. Not sure though as I am a bit of a newb. Just seems like there will be a lot of sugar in there compared to hops. My .02

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

I am not an expert at brewing IPAs, even though I have brewed a number of them. Here are my comments. Unless you are expecting a very low efficiency, if this is a grain bill for a 5 gallon batch, 17.5 pounds is a lot of grains. Did you use BeerSmith or one of the free programs? Maybe 10 of 2-row and 2 of Munich. A lot of people will say you shouldn't use Crystal with Munich. Personally, I think a little is okay in an IPA, but I don't usually use Munich in my IPAs.

You need some flavor hops for an IPA. I know you don't want a hop bomb, but Nugget at 60 and 30 are going to basically give you just bittering. A 30 minute addition won't add much in the way of flavor. I would move some of the 30 minutes back to 60 to get the IBUs you want and save a few Nuggets. You need at least some flavor hops in the 5 to 15 minute range - probably the same types you are using to dry hop. I probably wouldn't mash any higher than 152, either.

That's what I would suggest. Good luck.

 

[lumpher]

are you trying for an american or english ipa? this seems to be a mix and match. the munich will make it very malty, but you almost seem to be trying for an american because of the hops and yeast

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I am trying to make an American style IPA with a
pronounced hop flavor and aroma but am not necessarily looking for anything over the top. When I put the recipe together I was thinking that the hops may be too low. I will bump them up with late boil addition with some simcoe most likely.

I used an online recipe formulator on brewers friend.com. The grain bill is so large because me efficiency on the only 2 all grain brews done up to the point have been low. 60%. I wanted an IPA with an ABV in the 7s and this is what I came up with. I basically started plugging in numbers and changing grain percentages, then looking around online for tips, and skewing my recipe as I thought fit. So in the end my recipe will be my own...tasty? well... Guess I will have to wait an see lol

Thanks for the guidance! I feel closer to the IPA promise land

 

[woknblues]

I am trying to make an American style IPA with a
pronounced hop flavor and aroma but am not necessarily looking for anything over the top. When I put the recipe together I was thinking that the hops may be too low. I will bump them up with late boil addition with some simcoe most likely.

I used an online recipe formulator on brewers friend.com. The grain bill is so large because me efficiency on the only 2 all grain brews done up to the point have been low. 60%. I wanted an IPA with an ABV in the 7s and this is what I came up with. I basically started plugging in numbers and changing grain percentages, then looking around online for tips, and skewing my recipe as I thought fit. So in the end my recipe will be my own...tasty? well... Guess I will have to wait an see lol

Thanks for the guidance! I feel closer to the IPA promise land

I think you are dead on. A bit more at flame out and you will be.perfect with your efficiency. Nice to see some balanced ipa's. Let us know how this turns out.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

The grain bill is so large because me [sic] efficiency on the only 2 all grain brews done up to the point have been low. 60%.

If your LHBS is milling your grains, ask them to run them through twice. This helped my efficiency when I started doing AG, but nothing works like having your own mill and being able to adjust it to your own preference. Good luck.

 

[Yooper]

As far as hopping, remember that hops bitterness comes from additions early in the kettle, while hops flavor and aroma comes from later additions (20 minutes from the end to flame out). Your recipe is skewed to bittering hops, with no flavor or aroma hops except for dryhopping.

In other words, a bitter beer with no hops flavor and aroma will be only from liberty hops (very faint) and simcoe hops (nice but that's a very small amount).

If you want a "real" IPA, it's important to balance the bitterness with flavor and aroma.

A traditional IPA hops schedule will be more like this;

.75 ounce bittering hops (or to about 35-40 IBUs with this addition) 60 minutes
1 ounce flavor hops 15 minutes
1 ounce aroma hops 5 minutes
2 ounces dryhops 5-7 days before bottling.

I prefer a bit more flavor and aroma hops, and my schedule is more like 60/15/5/0/dryhop, adding hops at flame out as well. An ounce at 15 and at 5 minutes is minimal- more is better for more hops flavor and aroma.

As far as mash temperatures, I think 154 is too warm and will give a "thick" result especially with that much malt. I'd mash at 150-152 for 60 minutes.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I have strongly considering double milling my grain, as well as 90 minute mash and will definitely mash lower! Thanks.

The hops addition schedule laid out makes more sense now that it's presented out to me. When I made the initial recipe I was shooting from the hip and seeing what works. Should I keep my dry hop additions the same and then add maybe an oz of simcoe between 30-0, maybe even in a continuous manner? Or should I do something different? What is a good amount to add during this time period?

 

[Surgicalbrews]

Ok I have adjusted the recipe.

Mash at 150

.75 nugget @60
1 simcoe @15
1 simcoe@5
.75 simcoe dry hop
.75 liberty dry hop.

I already have the liberty and nugget and some of the simcoe, should I buy more simcoe to make the above hop schedule or would any other type of hop blend well. I fear that too many different varieties will muddle the flavors. Not sure if my thinking is correct on that though.

 

[Yooper]

Ok I have adjusted the recipe.

Mash at 150

.75 nugget @60
1 simcoe @15
1 simcoe@5
.75 simcoe dry hop
.75 liberty dry hop.

I already have the liberty and nugget and some of the simcoe, should I buy more simcoe to make the above hop schedule or would any other type of hop blend well. I fear that too many different varieties will muddle the flavors. Not sure if my thinking is correct on that though.

I like simcoe, but I like it better when used with a citrusy hop, like amarillo or cascade, or even centennial. I'd probably use .5 ounce each of simcoe and a citrusy hop at 15 minutes and 5 minutes.

 

[sok454]

I did a simcoe/cascade mix and likes it. But would double my total hop bill and add some much later!

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I like simcoe, but I like it better when used with a citrusy hop, like amarillo or cascade, or even centennial. I'd probably use .5 ounce each of simcoe and a citrusy hop at 15 minutes and 5 minutes.

Yoop's, so I read in another post that you continuously hop from 25-0 minutes. I am going to take your advice on this. I was going to do this schedule:

nugget 0.75 @ 60
Columbus 0.75 @ 15
Simcoe 0.75 @ 15
Columbus 0.75 @ 5
Simcoe 0.75 @ 5

dry hop
Columbus 1
Simcoe 1

I am going to combine the 15 minute & 5 minute additions and continuously hop from 25-0, then dry hop as above. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Yooper]

Yoop's, so I read in another post that you continuously hop from 25-0 minutes. I am going to take your advice on this. I was going to do this schedule:

nugget 0.75 @ 60
Columbus 0.75 @ 15
Simcoe 0.75 @ 15
Columbus 0.75 @ 5
Simcoe 0.75 @ 5

dry hop
Columbus 1
Simcoe 1

I am going to combine the 15 minute & 5 minute additions and continuously hop from 25-0, then dry hop as above. Does that sound reasonable?

I do continuous hopping with only one recipe- that DFH clone. I do it because the original brewery does it, and it comes out really great. I don't know if it really makes a difference doing it continuously vs at 15/5/0, though,l since I've never compared it head-to-head, but I think either way is fine.

I"m not a huge columbus fan in late additions, as it's a little "dank" for me but if you like it I think you'll be happy with the schedule you have there.

 

[seanppp]

That recipe looks A LOT better. Nugget is a very potent bittering hop so a little bit in the early stages goes a long way.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

So I brewed my IPA last weekend and everything went great! Overshot my predicted efficiency, hit 77%, 1.081 OG. I guess I'm making an IIPA now...

I have a question about fermentation schedules.

I was going to keep the IPA in the primary until stable FG met, then rack to secondary and dry hop for 7 days and keg. I wanted to use the yeast cake for a marris/simcoe smash APA, but not sure if the timing will be correct. I was thinking about brewing the APA on the 4th which would make it 11 total days in the primary.

Lets say the FG is met and stable by then, can I rack the IPA to the secondary and go ahead using the yeast cake, or am I rushing things?

Part of me thinks I should keep the IPA in the primary for like 3 weeks then dry hop in the primary and keg, and either buy new yeast for the APA and still brew on the fourth or just wait a few more weeks until the yeast cake is available

So many options! Lol

 

[mjohnson]

If you're worried about rushing it, you could wait until FG, rack to a keg (or secondary), flush with C02 and let sit for a week or 2 at room temp, then dry hop. You'd be able to use your yeast, then.

In my experience, if you pitched a lot of healthy yeast and had a well controlled fermentation, you can just rack, dryhop and keg like you suggested. This is what the pros do!

 

[kombat]

I'd say go ahead and rack after 11 days. Even if FG isn't quite stable, it'll continue to finish fermenting during the 7-day dry hop.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I also just realized that I have reused this yeast on 4 other beers, two of which were over 8 %. But I have had no issues with fermentation. Maybe is should just start a new lineage and put ole nessy to rest lol

 

[Jmarsh544]

If you have another fermentor I would just scoop slurry out of the current APA and add that to the DIPA wort so you don't over pitch and then you don't have to rush the APA.

 

[Surgicalbrews]

I'm currently fermenting the IIPA and want to do the APA. I have heard not to go down in ABV when reusing beer. So considering these factors may just start a new yeast generation. I think there is no right or wrong answer here.