My first high abv IPA

[galaxy]

Hi All,

I am brewing my first high abv IPA and I am very excited to start doing this regularly. I'm a newb, and I would love your opinions of this rough draft of a recipe that I've come up with so far, with the help of my local beer store.

Briess CBW Golden Light malt extract (6.6 lb)
Briess CBW Pilsen Light Dry malt extract (1 lb)
Corn Sugar (1lb)?
Crystal 20L cracked grain (1 lb)
(haven't constructed my hop schedule but its going to go something like this)
Bittering Hops - 3 oz Amarillo, 3 oz cascade
Finishing/dry Hops (4 oz Galaxy)
Wyeast - Ringwood Ale

Questions:
Is this too much malt? My first brew was a pale ale, and it turned out to be too malty IMO, and I don't want that to happen again.
Is Crystal 20L a good choice for a crisp, high abv IPA?
How much Corn Sugar is necessary?
What is the benefit of doing a longer boil and how long of a boil is necessary for an IPA like this?

ALL and any suggestions are very much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[metanoia]

I'd rethink the hop choices. Those are both low-to-mid AA hops, so you'd spending a lot to get that bitterness, on part with the 6oz you have projected. I'd incorporate a higher AA hop like Summit or Simcoe for bittering along with some of the Cascade, then save the Amarillo for flavor and aroma additions since that is where it really shines, maybe cut with some more Cascade.

 

[smiffbrewing]

I agree with the using a high AA hop at 60 min. That being said i would only bitter enough at 60 min to make a balanced beer. Take all the rest of those hops and bomb the snot out of it after 20 min. This way you will be getting your remaining IBUs and both flavor and aroma from those aromatic hops. You might want to think about a more clean and attenuative yeast like 001. getting a low finishing gravity can be tough with extracts. good luck and cheers!

 

[galaxy]

|I agree with the using a high AA hop at 60 min.
|Those are both low-to-mid AA hops,..

I was going to use the Galaxy hops, (15.2 AA) toward the end of the boil. Aren't the double digits on the higher side?

I'm a fan of simcoe hops for sure. Would it definitely be worth bittering with them and saving the Amarillo for more toward the end of the boil, or would using the cascade and amarillo at 20-40 minutes compensate for that? Sheesh... this is ending up to be an expensive batch! I guess that was expected for a big IPA like this - I've spent $80 on all this.

 

[chickypad]

Agree with the above posters, seems a waste of the amarillo and cascade, and you won't need 6 oz for bittering. One common schedule would be a high alpha bittering addition (like 0.5-1 oz warrior/magnum/chinook, etc.) at 60 min to get about half of your IBU's, then at least one oz of your other good flavor and aroma hops at 15/10/5/0 plus a few oz dry hop. There are many ways to do this,and I'd recommend plugging in to a calcuator or software to make sure the IBU's come out right, but that would be a basic schedule.

The grainbill doesn't look too "malty", though I would consider keeping the crystal to 1/2 lb. Do you do late extract addition (i.e. add a significant portion of your extract a flameout or end of the boil). Boiling a concentrated extract batch for too long can lead to darkening and some flavor compounds that you might be perceiving as "malty". A full lb of sugar may be a lot for a regular gravity IPA (looks like you'll be about 1.065-1.067) but that might be okay on an extract batch so you don't finish too high.

I'm not familiar with that yeast but it's described giving fruity esters with a malty profile. For what you seem to want I would also vote for a cleaner, high attenuatiing yeast for this. Make sure to look into pitch rates and pitch enough yeast, which generally means a starter for liquid yeast. Also temp control is important to keep the flavor profile clean.

 

[chickypad]

|I'm a fan of simcoe hops for sure. Would it definitely be worth bittering with them and saving the Amarillo for more toward the end of the boil, or would using the cascade and amarillo at 20-40 minutes compensate for that? Sheesh... this is ending up to be an expensive batch! I guess that was expected for a big IPA like this - I've spent $80 on all this.

You generally won't get much if any flavor from the bittering addition, IMO simcoe would be a waste there. The reason many use a high alpha cheap hop like magnum is that you don't need much to bitter and you're not going to taste it anyway, then you save your other hops for flavor/aroma. You could use a little of the galaxy if that's the highest alpha you have - at 15% you won't need much. Then use the rest of your galaxy plus amarillo and cascade for all the late additions.

 

[galaxy]

Agree with the above posters, seems a waste of the amarillo and cascade, and you won't need 6 oz for bittering. One common schedule would be a high alpha bittering addition (like 0.5-1 oz warrior/magnum/chinook, etc.) at 60 min to get about half of your IBU's, then at least one oz of your other good flavor and aroma hops at 15/10/5/0 plus a few oz dry hop. There are many ways to do this,and I'd recommend plugging in to a calcuator or software to make sure the IBU's come out right, but that would be a basic schedule.

The grainbill doesn't look too "malty", though I would consider keeping the crystal to 1/2 lb. Do you do late extract addition (i.e. add a significant portion of your extract a flameout or end of the boil). Boiling a concentrated extract batch for too long can lead to darkening and some flavor compounds that you might be perceiving as "malty". A full lb of sugar may be a lot for a regular gravity IPA (looks like you'll be about 1.065-1.067) but that might be okay on an extract batch so you don't finish too high.

I'm not familiar with that yeast but it's described giving fruity esters with a malty profile. For what you seem to want I would also vote for a cleaner, high attenuatiing yeast for this. Make sure to look into pitch rates and pitch enough yeast, which generally means a starter for liquid yeast. Also temp control is important to keep the flavor profile clean.

Thank you for your suggestions!

So do you think it would be worth a trip to the store for some bittering hops that you described? I feel like bittering with galaxy would be a waste.
I could do something like 1 oz magnum @ 60 min, then the rest of the hops I have at 15, 10, 5 and 0 min.

I have not done a late addition of malt, but this is sounding like a great idea. I think I will go with adding 1 lb of the dry extract at the beginning, then all of the liquid extract at the end of the boil.

I've read that this yeast is good for IPA's. I could live with a little maltyness I suppose, not that big of a deal. If I'm going to the store for bittering hops anyway, I'm sure that the guy would let me swap out the yeast for something more attenuating.

 

[chickypad]

If you're making a trip then sure get some magnum or other cheap hop, but you may only need like 0.5-.75 oz of the galaxy at 60 if you're using all those other hops late. Up to you with the yeast, I've never used it but it seems to be more of an English strain so if you like that great. If you're expecting more of a clean west coast style IPA then I'd get a chico strain or some other clean yeast. It also sounds like the Ringwood can spit out diacetyl (buttery flavor) which some folks like, but it may need some attention to fermentation if you want to avoid too much of that.

 

[metanoia]

If you're still looking for an IBU calculator, I use this one all the time. It'll help you get a feel for how many IBUs you're going to get depending on the weight, alpha acids, and length of boil for each hop addition.