IPA recipe help

[ImperialDrHops]

Need a little help with this recipe. I've been using the base of this recipe as my everyday west coast IPA for a while but came into a ton of hops at HomebrewCon that I want to experiment with. Never used cryo hops or Idaho Gem.

5 gallon batch:
Est OG: 1.065
IBU 47.7

13lbs US 2 row
8 oz Light Munich malt
5 oz Cystal 40
4.5 oz corn sugar
0.5 oz Idaho Gem 12.1% 60 mnutes
0.25 oz Simcoe (cryo) 23.2% 60 minutes
0.25 oz Idaho Gem 15 minutes
0.25 oz Simcoe (cryo) 15 minutes
0.25 oz Idaho Gem whirlpool at 160 degrees
0.25 oz Simcoe (cryo) whirlpool at 160 degrees
Wyeast 1056 American Ale
1.5 oz Idaho Gem dryhop 5 days
0.5 oz Simcoe (cryo) dry hop 5 days

I've never used Idaho Gem so not sure what to expect. Any thoughts?

 

[couchsending]

I’ve used Idaho Gem three times now. I would say the descriptors of it are correct in that it’s fruit candy like. It’s not overly strong in my opinion and it has an earthy component to it.

You can use it and the cryo Simcoe at 60 if you want but it’s sort of a waste. Just use some generic clean bittering hop. Magnum, warrior, etc for a large IBU charge them use everything else in WP and DH. You can do a 20 minute charge if you want but again you’ll get more of the pure hop character saving it until later. Personally I wouldn’t lower your WP temps that low either. 200 is fine especially if you want some bitterness for this style. You need way more dry hops though. Bare minimum for a modern WC IPA would 1.5-2#/bbl so 4-6ozs.

How much of these hops do you have?

I would go

40ish IBUs of warrior/CTZ/Magnum
1oz Idaho Gem @ 20
1oz Simcoe cryo @ WP (200)
1-2oz Idaho Gem @ WP (200)

3-4oz Idaho Gem DH
1-2oz Simcoe Cryo DH

 

[ImperialDrHops]

How much of these hops do you have?

6oz of Idaho Gem and 2oz Cluster Fugget, and then 1oz of each of the following cryo hops: Palisade, Citra, Loral, Chinook, Azacca, Ekuanot, Ahtanum, Simcoe (2oz). Besides Simcoe and Citra, I've never used any of these other hops. I kept the dry hops a little low because I was worried the fruit candy flavor would be too powerful.

You can use it and the cryo Simcoe at 60 if you want but it’s sort of a waste.

I don't want to buy anymore hops until I use the ones I have. Forces me to experiment a little otherwise I get stuck in a cycle using the same ingredients I always do. Any ideas on blending the hops I have above with the Simcoe and Idaho? I really like Simcoe and as I said use it in this recipe with a lot of Mosaic. I want to let Idaho shine through so maybe use Chinook to bitter and bring the Idaho boil hops into the purely dry hop stage?

 

[IslandLizard]

Personally I wouldn’t lower your WP temps that low either. 200 is fine especially if you want some bitterness for this style.

A lot depends on the chilling time between 200 and 170-160F
I'm not against using late boil, flameout, or early whirlpool hops in IPAs, but get much better flavor (and aroma) from longer and much lower temp whirlpools.

Now if you can chill from 200F down to 170-160F in 5-10 minutes, the 200F WP addition is probably very fine. But if it sits between 200 and 170F for longer than 10 minutes, I'd rather add them at lower temps. Or split them between 200F and 170-160F additions.

 

[Pappers_]

A lot of people give the advice shared above of only doing a bittering charge, whirlpool and dry hop. I think that throwing hops in the boil at 20, 15, 10 and 5 also give a complex and full hop flavor. Just my two cents, of course.

 

[Pappers_]

I want to let Idaho shine through so maybe use Chinook to bitter and bring the Idaho boil hops into the purely dry hop stage?

I use Chinook as a bittering hop at 60 often, I think that's a good idea.

 

[kh54s10]

I too was thinking that the amount of hops in total was very low to be an IPA. I use more than that in an APA. Just not so bitter.

 

[ImperialDrHops]

I too was thinking that the amount of hops in total was very low to be an IPA. I use more than that in an APA. Just not so bitter.

I think brewers have gotten a bit carried away in recent years in how they brew IPAs. My house recipe only uses 6 oz total in hops and it tastes amazing. I've gotten excellent feedback on it from different BJCP judges at my LHBS and I don't feel the need to throw in tons and tons of hops. Maybe my tastes are old school. That's why in the above recipe I'm only planning on about 6oz total for 57 IBUs. Going to switch hop profile as follows to allow more flavor/aroma from the Idaho Gem. Hoping the Simcoe pineyness will blend well with the fruit candy.

Chinook cryo 60 minutes for 35 IBUs
Simcoe cryo 60 minutes for 17 IBUs
0.25oz Idaho Gem at 15 min
1.25oz Idaho Gem at whirlpool
0.25oz Simcoe cryo at whirlpool
2.5oz Idaho Gem dry hop
0.5oz Simcoe cryo dry hop

 

[couchsending]

The blend of hops you have is really odd and you have mostly Idaho Gem. Do you have a vacuum sealer? If not you’re gonna want to use anything you open in this beer. Just make an Idaho Fem focused beer and see how it turns out. It’s not going to be bad, it’s a pretty cool hop. It’ll be different though.

Burning any of these hops for bittering is a waste. I’d be hesitant to use cryo for bittering personally. The bitterness might be really harsh from it. I’ve never used it outside of WP and DH. Maybe someone else can chime in.

If you have to split the Chinook for 60/30 (or go spend $1.99 on some CTZ pellets)

1oz Ekuanot, .5 oz Simcoe, 2 oz Idaho Gem WP

4oz Idaho Gem, .5 Simcoe, 1oz Citra cryo would be my DH.

 

[kh54s10]

I think brewers have gotten a bit carried away in recent years in how they brew IPAs. My house recipe only uses 6 oz total in hops and it tastes amazing.

Well the recipe in discussion has only 3.75 ounces of hops.....

 

[ImperialDrHops]

The blend of hops you have is really odd and you have mostly Idaho Gem

Indeed. Like I said, got them all for free at HomebrewCon and figured I would play around with them. Definitely bummed I was only able to get a little of each. I've never used cryo and never used most of these varieties so a bit in the dark. I don't have a vacuum sealer so once I open them I was going to use them quickly. The only partial bag being used is Chinook so I can just brew up another batch with the 0.5oz remaining which I would do in a couple weeks.

Well the recipe in discussion has only 3.75 ounces of hops.....

Think I missed a digit somewhere. The updated one is using 5.5oz but some are cryo so this is going to translate to somewhere around 7oz.

 

[couchsending]

The cryo version of a hop variety is quite different than the normal T-90 pellet version. In general they are a lot more resinous. It’s sort of hard to describe.

 

[ImperialDrHops]

Reading what Denny Conn wrote here: https://www.yakimachief.com/homebrewing-with-cryo-hops/
Says cryo should only be used as whirlpool or dry hop. Seems like good advice and maybe I'll go pickup generic bittering hops as couchsending suggested and save the cryo for late additions/dryhop.

 

[Pappers_]

Looking through what you've got, Loral is a new-ish hop and works well in hoppy/bitter beers. Definitely could use that in your IPA. Like I said above, Chinook is great in IPAs and for bittering additions. Azacca hops are very fruity and tropical, good for your IPA perhaps.

 

[ImperialDrHops]

Denny Conn actually blends Simcoe, Loral, and Ekuanot as his cryo dry hops in one of his batches in the link above so maybe that will be my next batch. It seems like all the hops I got are best used for dry hopping or late additions.

 

[couchsending]

Looking through what you've got, Loral is a new-ish hop and works well in hoppy/bitter beers. Definitely could use that in your IPA. Like I said above, Chinook is great in IPAs and for bittering additions. Azacca hops are very fruity and tropical, good for your IPA perhaps.

Have you used the cryo versions of those hops? I don’t think Cryo Loral, Chinook, Ahtanum, Palisade, Azacca have been available to homebrewers until YCH handed them out recently. Like they haven’t packaged them in 1oz packs. I could be wrong on the Loral. All the hops he has that aren’t Idaho Gem are Cryo.

 

[Pappers_]

No, I've never used cryo hops. I have used pellet versioons of Loral, Chinook, Ahtanum, and Azacca. I don't think I'd use the Ahtanum in an IPA, but the others would be good.