Amarillo SMaSH recipe..thoughts?

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TimBrewz

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My homebrew coop is having a SMaSH "Throwdown" tomorrow, and I came up with this recipe. I have done an Amarillo/NW Pale Ale SMaSH at 1.050 and 35 IBU with 1056 that was really nice. I want to go bigger and bolder this time and do an IPA. I have a bag of Gambrinus ESB malt which is 3.5L and sort of the Canadian Maris Otter, but not as "biscuity". I also have an lb. of 2010 Amarillo Whole hops, so here is the recipe.

**I may try to caramelize the first 1/2 gallon of wort on the stove top to add some body and extra caramel character to balance the beer. Any thoughts on this? **
I am planning to mash in the 155-6f range to have some dextrins as I am using WLP 007 Dry English Ale Yeast a very attenuative strain.


MaSH IPA-ESB/Amarillo
14-B American IPA

Size: 6.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 77.0%
Calories: 234.01 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.070 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 9.04 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.12% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 67.3 (40.0 - 70.0)

Ingredients:
15.5 lb ESB Pale Ale Malt 3.5L
.5 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added first wort, boiled 90.0 min
0.50 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.0 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
.5 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - steeped after boil
2.0 oz Amarillo 11.3 (11.3%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
.5 L starter White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale

Notes
Mash at 155-6 for 60 min

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3
 
I always draw off a bit of the first runnings to caramelize a bit, just until it gets thick and starts bubbling like caramel does. I also use a couple decoctions to help with the maltiness of my SMaSH recipes too.
 
Looks good. I've used 0.50 lb of corn sugar in some of my IPAs to help light up the body. Just a thought.
 
If you're going for an IPA and want the hops to shine, I wouldn't caramelize the 1/2 gal of wort. Instead, I would throw 2 pounds of your base ESB Pale Malt and toast it to about Munich/Biscuit level. I like a drier IPA so I would mash at 150 for 75 minutes. Also, I would bump up your late addition hops, 1oz at 10, 1oz at 5, 2oz at flameout. I'd dryhop twice, 2oz for a week then another 2oz for the second week. I love SMaSH beers, our club is tasting theirs on the 9th during a big group brew of an Imperial Porter we are going to secondary in a Bourbon Barrel. have fun with it.
 
If you mash at 155F and also carmelize the wort a bit, I think your FG is going to be fairly high...maybe as high as the 1.020 range depending.
 
If you're going for an IPA and want the hops to shine, I wouldn't caramelize the 1/2 gal of wort. Instead, I would throw 2 pounds of your base ESB Pale Malt and toast it to about Munich/Biscuit level. I like a drier IPA so I would mash at 150 for 75 minutes. Also, I would bump up your late addition hops, 1oz at 10, 1oz at 5, 2oz at flameout. I'd dryhop twice, 2oz for a week then another 2oz for the second week. I love SMaSH beers, our club is tasting theirs on the 9th during a big group brew of an Imperial Porter we are going to secondary in a Bourbon Barrel. have fun with it.

We are following strict rules, and as a group decided that toasting the malt is just like using specialty malt, so we can't do that. I would do so otherwise;) I may not do the caramelization and a high mash temp, but with this yeast hitting 80% attenuation for most of my brews I think 152 would be my low end with no crystal malts.
 
I'm reviving/hijacking this to see how this beer turned out. I recently brewed an (almost) all Amarillo IPA, and it turned out to be a boozy, astringent mess. It is the first of 35 batches that I actually can't drink.

Recipe was:

12lb Golden Promise
4lb English Mild
1lb Caramel 40
2oz Biscuit

1oz Amarillo @ 60 min
1oz Amarillo @ 45 min
1oz Amarillo @ 30 min
1oz Amarillo @ 15 min

2oz Cascade Dry Hop @ 5 days

Fermented without Temp Control (as per usual)

Re: malt bill - I did not set out the build an IPA recipe, but tried to convert ingredients I had on hand for a Scotch Ale that I decided not to brew.

Fermented with Scotch Ale Yeast.
 
tmac, the beer I made was good, but I did take some of the first runnings and probably over carmelized, as the beer had a unique sweetness that though OK, was a bit out of place in an IPA.

As for your beer, bummer. I can only guess that the "boozy astringent" character may have been due to low mash temp (higher fermentabilty) and over sparging (astringency) and/or mash pH issues. I don't think the Amarillo would play a role in either of those issues. The scotch ale yeast is usually not a big attenuator, but like most strains if you mash on the lower end, oxygenate and pitch a big quantity you can get much higher attenuation. So there is my guess:)

Don't feel too bad, 35:1 success to failure ratio is pretty good.

Cheers,
Tim
 

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