My first IPA, input?

[bleedbluesgtr71]

I built my own recipe for a IPA and i was looking for input if sounds like a solid recipe. Its a small 2.5 gal batch.


1 pound Briess Caramel 40L
2 pounds Muntons Plain Light DME
1 pound Muntons Amber DME

1oz Simcoe Whole Hops (14.1 AA) at 60 Minutes
1oz Cascade Whole Hops (8.9 AA) at 15 Minutes

White Labs California Yeast WLP001

Steep specialty grains in 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes at 158 Farenheit
After steeping grains bring water level up to 1.25 gallons and bring to a boil. Add the 2 pounds Munton Plain Light DME and Simcoe hops, starting the 60 minute boil. With 15 left add Cascade hops and Irish Moss. Cool wort down to 70-75 degrees, top off with clean water to 2.5 gal and pitch yeast.

 

[coypoo]

I dont think 2oz in a 2.5gal beer is enough hops to call it an IPA. Could be an APA though, but you may want to break up the cascade and do 2 0.5oz additions at like 15 and 5.

Also, 70-75 is too high for a good fermentation. It will go, but your yeast will throw a lot of off flavors at that temp. Something in the mid 60's would be best if you can do it.

 

[kaconga]

Your ibu's are on track but you need an aroma hop addition. A dry hop wouldn't hurt either. Personally I think an IPA should be around 7% alcohol as well. But that's just how they are brewed in the northwest.

 

[Yooper]

That's too much crystal malt, plus with the amber DME it's even more crystal malt. I'd not use the amber extract and replace with light DME. I'd also cut the crystal malt in half, or even 1/4.

An IPA needs an OG of 1.056-1.075 so you'll need every bit of those three pounds of extract, ideally more like 3.5-4 pounds. IBUs should be 40-70, with plenty of hops added late in the boil to give more flavor and aroma. .

I'd go with something more like this:
2 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract Dry Extract
.25 pounds crystal malt
2 pounds light (or extra light) DME- flame out

1.00 oz Simcoe Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Cascade Boil 15.0 min Hop
0.50 oz Boil 1.0 min

Steep grains, and remove grains and throw away. Bring up to a boil, and add 1/2 of the extract. Bring to a boil again, and add hops according to the recipe. At the end of the boil, add the last of the malt extract.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Are those the AA of the hops you have on hand, or based off of brewing software? The Simcoe looks about right, but I haven't seen Cascade that high (the hops I get are usually in the 4.5-5.5 range, and very rarely above 6, don't think I've EVER seen them above 8).

If you can get more hops, I'd agree with Yooper's malt bill and process, but I'd add at least two more ounces of cascade, .5 oz at 10 mins, .5 oz at 5 mins, and then an ounce at least for dry hopping.

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

Yea thats what the Hopunion bag said the Alpha acids were on the packaging. And im not gonna keep it fermenting at that Temp, im gonna keep it at around 68. I was thinkin about the amber DME i added, at first i was gonna do 3 pounds of Light DME, but i didnt know if the malt would balance out the bitterness (the hopville software said the IBUs would be about 61). And i added the pound of Amber DME with 15 minutes left.

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

Unfortunaly i already completed the boiling stage. I do plan on dry hopping though with cascade or centennial

 

[malkore]

Unfortunaly i already completed the boiling stage. I do plan on dry hopping though with cascade or centennial

Cascade is my vote.

 

[sweetcell]

you could boil some additional hops for 10 & 2 minutes in a pot with just a little water, then add this "hop tea" to your batch for a flavor and aroma boost.

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

Well i drew a sample today to see how it was developing and it tasted pretty good. The hops are there and i gotta nice balance from the crystal malt. The only down side is the problem most of you mentioned on here, not enough hop aroma. But i think dry hopping for a few days will alleviate this and really make this beer shine. Another thing i was think of doing next time i brew this beer is using a small amount of Victory malt

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

Would cutting back on the Crystal 40 by half and adding like a pound of Marris Otter be feasible? I know id have to partial mash because the Marris Otter, but after tasting a sample id like a lil fuller and biscuity beer. And i heard Marris Otter works wonders.

 

[sweetcell]

MO + victory would def give you some biscuity beer.

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

what ratio would you recommend?

 

[sweetcell]

what ratio would you recommend?

first piece of info i need to know is: are you going all-grain, or will you be sticking with some extract?

assuming you want the most "biscuit-y" beer possible, you'd go with MO as your base malt and add in 15% victory. personally i think that's a bit much, so i'd scale back to 10% victory. use those percentages to figure out the specific quantities for a 2.5 gal batch, which is dictated by what OG you're aiming for.

now if you don't want to go all-grain, start substituting 1 lb of MO for 0.75 lb LME or 0.6 lb of DME. make sure that at a minimum you have twice as much MO as victory - so if your initial calculation (AKA your all-grain numbers) indicate that you should use 0.5 pounds of victory, you'll want a minimum of 1.0 pounds of MO. your victory malt won't change, you'll use that same 0.5 pounds (hypothetically) whether you do all-grain or with extract. only the quantity of MO will change. the victory will need to be mashed (converted) along with the MO.

 

[bleedbluesgtr71]

I plan on partial mashing... I just want more flavor and body than i got outta my crystal and extract, and ive heard great things about MO...