New brewer needs IPA help!

[CHans3]

Hi!
I'm a college student who discovered how much I love good beer while studying in Australia. Now that I'm back state side, I want to give it a shot. I've done a fair amount of reading and I'm really excited to start brewing. I've decided to try my hand at an IPA first. I'm not sure how well it will turn out, as it will be the first beer I have ever brewed. Basically, I'm just looking for any input on what types of ingredients to add (ie: types of hops / malts). I'd like to do a PM for my first brew. I am a bit of a hop head, especially hops with fruity flavors and aromas. The taste I'd like to go for is probably something like LaGuinitas IPA. I'd like to start with Caramel 60 malts i think, but as for the malt extract, I have no ideas what to use. Maybe Columbus for bittering and Cascade, Citra, and/or Willamette for flavoring in terms of hops would work? Once I get a better idea for the kinds of ingredients to use I'll try and post what I think are correct calculations. Any input is much appreciated!

Cheers

 

[Kokopuff829]

Well I would use a light malt extract like NBs gold malt syrup. As for specialty grains. Crystal 40 or 60 would be fine. Maybe .5lbs? Hops Columbus would be a good bittering hop however I think willamette would leave to much grassy flavors and aromas. I just made a batch of an IIPA with Columbus bittering and aroma. Centennial as flavor and aroma. And chinook at 30min and 20min. I'm also dry hopping with the three hops.

 

[kegdawg]

Hey there, another sort-of noob here. One of the best IPAs that I have had is Surly Furious, never had the Lagunitas IPA, but I know Surly uses a ton of hops of the Amarillo and Warrior variety. Northern Brewer recently put out a kit in collaboration with Surly, but didn't mention the hop blend meant for dry hopping (for obvious reasons). The extract kit inventory is still on their website:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/Furious_Pro_Surly.pdf

Since you want to do a partial, you could modify it a bit, but I think if you enjoy hoppiness this is a fantastic recipe to base a beer on. Hope this helps somewhat!

 

[kh54s10]

I would suggest that you start with an extract or partial mash kit to start. Learn the procedures and then start to experiment.

 

[Kokopuff829]

I would suggest that you start with an extract or partial mash kit to start. Learn the procedures and then start to experiment.

Yeah I totally agree with him. Buy a nice IPA kit from Northern Brewer to start learning about the procedures

 

[h22lude]

Definitely go with a kit first to learn what brewing is all about. Grab How To Brew book and read it.

I just finished a keg of Citra Pale Ale from AHS. Not exactly an IPA but very close. I gave 2 liters to a buddy of mine I work with. Him and his wife love IPAs. They both said they would rather drink the citra pale ale I made over the commercial IPAs they typically have.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_162&products_id=12608

 

[CHans3]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm going to go to my local homebrew store tomorrow and pick the guys brain and maybe pick up a kit. I agree, it would probably be best if I started with a kit.

 

[frankstoneline]

In reality, if you can goto a HBS, putting something together vs. buying a kit is pretty similar. If you have some ideas of IPA's you like, thats a starting place for hop profile, beyond that, as was mentioned before, go for a light malt extract and if you are feeling sassy maybe some crystal 60l for color. For yeast go with something dry, us-05 is a nice clean ale yeast that should be readily available.
Really the big choice is going to be hops, and this will be somewhat dependent on what your shop has in stock.

 

[dcp27]

I say go for it and here's your kit right here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-brew-recipe-lagunitas-ipa-175370/

just decide how much malt you want to mash, and sub in 0.65lb light/golden/pale DME (or 0.75lb LME) for each remaining lb pale. may be best to use Fermentis S-05 or S-04 to start, unless you want to jump into making starters as well.

 

[apratsunrthd]

An additional tip for you. I brewed decent IPAs until I read this article: http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php

Now, I brew incredible IPAs. One of them silvered at Bluegrass Cup this year!

 

[beerkrump]

Didn't see it mentioned yet, google How to Brew, by John Palmer. It's an online version of his very good book. It's free!

 

[CHans3]

Yep. Already read How to Brew haha. Thanks for the help guys. My equipment should be here soon!

 

[temptnmonkey]

Good article ^^^^^

If you want to be creative with a self-recipe, at least look through hopville or other sites to browse through other's recipes. It will give you a great idea of what to do and not to do (without any personal experience).

If you just want practice without the additional worry of development and implementing a recipe, I'd go with a kit like everyone else suggests.

 

[Tim_Kreitz]

Two words to remember when designing your IPA grain bill: Honey Malt :rockin:

 

[apratsunrthd]

Two words to remember when designing your IPA grain bill: Honey Malt :rockin:

Another good suggestion. I'm more of a Munich guy myself but the sweetness of either helps build a good backbone so you don't end up with 5 gallons of 'hop water.'

 

[Tim_Kreitz]

Another good suggestion. I'm more of a Munich guy myself but the sweetness of either helps build a good backbone so you don't end up with 5 gallons of 'hop water.'

Yes, +1. I'm a huge fan of Munich as a balancing malt. Actually, I'm just a huge fan of Munich period.

 

[ozzy1038]

I would suggest that you start with an extract or partial mash kit to start. Learn the procedures and then start to experiment.

Sound advice there!

 

[Ravenshead]

Here's Lagunita's recipe according to CYBI:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Lagunitas IPA
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.58 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 8.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 43.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10 lbs 14.6 ozPale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.50 %
1 lbs 4.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 9.00 %
13.9 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 6.02 %
13.1 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.67 %
8.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.81 %
0.30 oz Summit [17.50 %] (60 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.35 oz Horizon [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.20 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 4 days) Hops -
1.20 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 4 days) Hops -
0.40 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
0.81 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 14.45 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 18.06 qt of water at 172.8 F 160.0 F

I like their Lil'sumpin sumpin better but this one is pretty good.


I'll convert to extract if you like but you should probably do a few kits first.

 

[ozzy1038]

An additional tip for you. I brewed decent IPAs until I read this article: http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php

Now, I brew incredible IPAs. One of them silvered at Bluegrass Cup this year!

Great read. This is on my to do list!

 

[CHans3]

Thanks again guys. I have bought the ingredients to make the PM laguinitas recipe and I plan on brewing that first and then a dry irish stout which can sit in my primary while the laguinitas sits in the secondary. I'll let you know how they come out!

 

[CHans3]

So the first beer I brewed was a dry Irish stout to get some experience and a bit of a handle on the whole process. I then made a recipe for an IPA, which by tasting the wort, may be a spicy caramel IPA. Here is the recipe for the partial mash:

Grains:
3 lbs: Munich LME
3.5 lbs: Extra Pale LME
1 lb C-90
1 lb CaraMunich

Yeast:
Fermentis Safale US-05

Hops:
2 oz Chinook at 20 min
2 oz Amarillo at 10 min
2 oz Kent Golding at 10 min

Target OG: 1.0767
Actual OG: ~1.050

So I steeped the caraMunich and C-90 for 30 minutes at around 160F and then added the LME. After it came to a boil again I started a 60 minute boil with the hopping schedule I showed above. The idea with the hops was to late hop as much as possible based on that article posted about late hopping. The OG I measured was only 1.050. Everything went smoothly in the brewing process, and based on what I read, the only way my OG could have turned out to be so low was if the wort was to thick or my calculations were off. Any ideas or suggestions on the recipe?

The brew has been sitting in my primary for a little over 3 weeks. I plan to rack it to the secondary this weekend for another 3 weeks then condition in in bottles for another 3. Should I dry hop this IPA? My target IBU number was around 70 and from what I remember, the spicy flavor of the Chinook was pronounced but the wort wasn't very bitter. What hops are good for dry hopping an IPA like this one?

Thanks for the help guys!

Chans

 

[dcp27]

your calculation must have been wrong, cuz 1.05 is about what this should be (6.5 * 36 + about 32) / 5 = 1.053.

IMO, thats far too much crystal for an IPA, especially one using extract. depending on what your FG turns out to be, id consider adding a little sugar to help dry it out a bit more to help the hops show. I would definitely dry hop it as well since you didn;t add any at flameout, maybe a combo of the amarillo and chinook.

also, I wouldnt bother racking for another 3 weeks. I'd dry hop it for a week and then bottle it up

 

[CHans3]

Yeah, I just looked back at my numbers and realized I wasn't even close to 1.07. Not sure how I came up with that one haha. How much sugar is a little sugar?

 

[dcp27]

it really depends what the fg turns out to be and how the sample tastes. it should be around 1.013, which is actually ok, but I prefer a lil drier, so I'd add about 0.5lb. I look at this as more of a hoppy amber, so you could also just leave it alone. maybe pull a sample tonight to get a better idea of what needs to be done.

 

[CHans3]

Thanks for the help. I just racked it this afternoon and added 2 oz of Chinook and 2 oz of Amarillo to the secondary along with 1/2 a lb of sugar. I'll let ya know how it turns out!

Cheers