First IPA - Make recommendations?

[TapeDeck]

I intend to brew my first IPA this weekend. I am looking for mega bitter, good hoppy aroma, etc. I want to try to make the beer reasonably clear, and I am hoping for around 8%. Perfect would be ~8% and ~100 IBU.

So I am punching in ingredients into iBrewmaster, at LHBS owner's suggestions, and this is what I'm coming up with. LBHS owner is extremely cool... gave me his cell number and said to feel free to call him for tech support WHILE brewing, but I figured I could start rolling here, and save some of his time.

The point of this is that I want to segue out of kits and into ingredients, and hopefully into all grain by this summer... so I know I could buy a decent kit that has all of this worked out, and has instructions etc, but through the looking glass, I can see that this is where I'm headed, so I might as well bite the bullet.

Can anyone read this, make suggestions, warn of any obvious pitfalls, etc? I intend this as a 2.5 gallon batch, full boil.

I'm a newb at this, so I'm not going to take anyone's words lightly, and I appreciate your time.

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
0.50 lbs 8.89 % Briess Caramel 20L 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 17.78 % Light Dry Extract 60 mins 1.044
4.00 lbs 71.11 % Extra Light Dry Extract 60 mins 1.044
2.00 ozs 2.22 % Briess 6-Row Carapils 60 mins 1.034

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 74.31 Citra 60 mins 13.20
1.00 ozs 14.60 Simcoe 5 mins 13.00
1.00 ozs 9.54 Amarillo Gold 5 mins 8.50

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg Pacific Ale White Labs 0041

 

[ApolloSpeed]

be a real man and All-Grain it!

 

[TapeDeck]

Hahah! I absolutely will, but there's a $$$ question involved, even if I want to BIAB all grain it. Not going to happen until this summer.

Any ACTUAL suggestions etc?

 

[WarblyTremolo]

Don't even consider making this beer without dry-hopping it. Even with the aroma additions of simcoe and amarillo at 5 minutes, 7-10 days of dry-hopping will hugely improve the aroma of the beer. I typically use 2-3 oz. of pellets for dry-hopping and am a big fan of those big, citrusy hops (like citra).

 

[TapeDeck]

Accidentally posted this in the grain brewing section! Sorry bout that!

I intend to brew my first IPA this weekend. I am looking for mega bitter, good hoppy aroma, etc. I want to try to make the beer reasonably clear, and I am hoping for around 8%. Perfect would be ~8% and ~100 IBU.

So I am punching in ingredients into iBrewmaster, at LHBS owner's suggestions, and this is what I'm coming up with. LBHS owner is extremely cool... gave me his cell number and said to feel free to call him for tech support WHILE brewing, but I figured I could start rolling here, and save some of his time.

The point of this is that I want to segue out of kits and into ingredients, and hopefully into all grain by this summer... so I know I could buy a decent kit that has all of this worked out, and has instructions etc, but through the looking glass, I can see that this is where I'm headed, so I might as well bite the bullet.

Can anyone read this, make suggestions, warn of any obvious pitfalls, etc? I intend this as a 2.5 gallon batch, full boil.

I'm a newb at this, so I'm not going to take anyone's words lightly, and I appreciate your time.

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
0.50 lbs 8.89 % Briess Caramel 20L 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 17.78 % Light Dry Extract 60 mins 1.044
4.00 lbs 71.11 % Extra Light Dry Extract 60 mins 1.044
2.00 ozs 2.22 % Briess 6-Row Carapils 60 mins 1.034

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 74.31 Citra 60 mins 13.20
1.00 ozs 14.60 Simcoe 5 mins 13.00
1.00 ozs 9.54 Amarillo Gold 5 mins 8.50

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg Pacific Ale White Labs 0041

 

[Yooper]

Hahah! I absolutely will, but there's a $$$ question involved, even if I want to BIAB all grain it. Not going to happen until this summer.

Any ACTUAL suggestions etc?

First, welcome to the obsession!

Ok, now onto actual suggestions. First of all, a 100 IBU 8% beer would be an IIPA, so think of it that way. That means bigger and "Imperial". The key is that you want it big, bitter, and hoppy. BUT it needs to be quaffable as well, and not sweet and cloying. A couple of things that will do that for you- cut the carapils and crystal malts to no more than about 5% total, and consider using some sugar (like corn sugar) to boost the ABV while not giving more malt flavor and body to the beer.

I use Beersmith, but don't have it with me here in Texas so I'll give you a quick idea but please run it through some brewing software to make sure you have a good OG and IBU level (or someone else can do it for us).

You're a bit low on hops, because this beer NEEDS to be dryhopped!

Here's what I'd do:

.5 pounds crystal 40L (or even .25 pounds, which I would prefer in my beer)

Steep grains for 20 minutes at 150-160. Remove and bring to a boil.

4 pounds DME
1 pound corn sugar (at 10 minutes left in the boil)

1.00 oz ozs Citra 60 mins
.5 oz simcoe 15 minutes
.5 oz amarillo 150minutes
.5 oz Simcoe 5 mins
.5 ozs Amarillo Gold 0 minutes

Dryhop with 1 ounce of amarillo/simcoe (or 1/2 oz of each).

 

[spenghali]

Sounds like he should just make yooper's DFH 60 minute clone judging by his description of the IPA he wants! Can you actually get amarillo right now OP?????

 

[phuff7129]

Pretty darn good Yooper. Here's what Beersmith says:

Yooper's off the top of her head IIPA
Imperial IPA
Type: Extract Date: 2/9/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 3.00 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
End of Boil Volume 2.50 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 2.25 gal Est Mash Efficiency 0.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 1 9.1 %
4 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 72.7 %
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 73.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 12.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 19.6 IBUs
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) [Boil for 10 min](0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 18.2 %
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 7.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.089 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 113.3 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 12.0 SRM

 

[Yooper]

Pretty darn good Yooper.

Well, I LOVE IPAs, and love thinking about them. I'm drinking a DFH clone right now, which is a simcoe/amarillo beer and it's so awesome. I love that combo!

After looking at the Beersmith results, I'd do a bit more tweaking. One is I'd cut the crystal to 5-7% total. That'd be about 4-6 ounces. The other is I might consider reducing the 60 minute hops, getting 45-55 IBUs from them, and using them at flame out if you like the "tropical fruit" flavor and aroma citra provides. You have plenty of bitterness, but a bit more hops flavor would be nice.

 

[SilverZero]

If you want the aroma of an IPA, you should consider an ounce or two of dry hops. Amarillo would go great as it's already at the end of your boil.

If you really want to go hoppy, add another ounce of Amarillo at flameout, then dry hop with 2oz more for 7-10 days before bottling.

 

[ChessRockwell]

.

 

[brtisbuck]

If you are brewing extract, as it seems you are, you will want to steep the carapils and caramel as you would a kit with specialty grains. Make sure to enter it into your brew software that way so it accounts for it properly in your fermentables and gravity. You definately do not want to boil the grains in your wort.

 

[SilverZero]

If you are brewing extract, as it seems you are, you will want to steep the carapils and caramel as you would a kit with specialty grains. Make sure to enter it into your brew software that way so it accounts for it properly in your fermentables and gravity. You definately do not want to boil the grains in your wort.

True, true. Steep them separately, then add them to the wort during the boil.

 

[TapeDeck]

I just brewed... Did a few tweaks based on suggestions here and from LHBS and man, brewing an IPA indoors makes the house smell like heaven. Man...

So yes, I was using the term IPA a little loosely... This would be an attempt at a DIPA or IIPA. I do think I will try dry hopping like mad in the secondary.

I can't thank you guys enough for the responses and thoughts.

I was trying to keep this one simple (and small) and I think it's going to succeed. I figured I would see what happens, and get a better idea of what to tweak as a result. I'm really hoping for something massively unfriendly... My little group of beer idiots loves IPAs that hurt to drink. The only failures would be contamination, or sweetness. I tasted the wort, and it's sweet, obviously (reading 1.087 gravity at 84 degrees) but it's got that nasty bitterness I'm looking for.

I ended up doing whole leaf Simcoe as the bittering hop, Amarillo at 3 minutes, and citra at flame out. I added the first lb of light extract at 50 minutes, the next 2 lbs (extra light from here out) at 30, and the last 2 lb at 20. Half a whirlfloc tablet after I was back up to boil.

I'm totally okay with a failure if I get one... That was part of doing a small batch. But as I LOVE bitter beer, I figure it was time to get in on the IPA thing at home. I'm just bummed that my coffee stout still tastes a bit young, cuz I had to drink a commercial beer while brewing. . Thanks again... I'll report developments (hopefully not for the INFECTION thread) as they are imbibed.

Edit: gravity typo.