Thoughts on this West coast IPA?

[Cricca]

How does this look? Too much wheat? Replace wheat with something else? Good hop combination ? Sorry for the bad picture

 

[Miraculix]

I would only use one bittering addition at 60min and move all of the rest to a 5 or 10 minute addition, except the dry hop off course.

With an ibu this high, I would mash a bit higher, to catch more sweetness. Maybe I would also add about 10% medium crystal (depends on your personal taste).

Wheat should be fine, but I like a bit more wheat in my ales anyway.

 

[Cricca]

Hmm I like IPAs as dry as possible... steep gives more hop aroma then adding at 5-10 min before flameout right?

 

[Miraculix]

Hmm I like IPAs as dry as possible... steep gives more hop aroma then adding at 5-10 min before flameout right?

Then it looks spot on to me, except for the hops, which I would time differently.

I would, maybe also remove citra and replace it with equal amounts of the other two hops, I don't think it leaves enough room for the others to shine.

Define steeping please.

 

[Cricca]

Then it looks spot on to me, except for the hops, which I would time differently.

I would, maybe also remove citra and replace it with equal amounts of the other two hops, I don't think it leaves enough room for the others to shine.

Define steeping please.

Okey! So no citra...

Yeah I usually step the hops after flameout at 168f for 40 minutes because I read everywhere that it will bring more hop flavor ... ?

 

[Miraculix]

Okey! So no citra...

Yeah I usually step the hops after flameout at 168f for 40 minutes because I read everywhere that it will bring more hop flavor ... ?

That's probably true. It also adds a bit of a different flavor, at least in theory.

If you like steeping, I would go with 60 minutes addition for bittering, any neutral high alpha hop should do it, for example Magnum, but you can obviously also use the other hops you quoted.

Then I would split the remaining amount of hops 50/50 between late addition and steeping.

I personally don't dry hop much, but you can obviously do this if you want to.

 

[couchsending]

I would add way more bittering hops than that if you want a true “west coast” IPA. The IBU calculators are way off especially for heavily dry hopped beers. As long as your boil pH isn’t high and you don’t have much alkalinity in your water it won’t be that bitter trust me.

Pliny for example has additions at 90/45/30 that would total way more than 200 theoretical IBUs. They don’t add any hops from 30 until the whirlpool and they don’t drop the temp of the wort before whirlpool. Supposedly now they don’t even whirlpool, just send the wort through a hopback before the heat ex.

I’d add a large bittering charge (ideally hop extract) at 90 on top of what you’re already doing. If you’re whirlpooling at 168 you won’t get any isomerization from those additions so disregard any IBU contributions Beersmith says you’ll get, it’s wrong.
All you have is 1oz at 30 for bitterness which is 36 IBUs so this will essentially be a 30 IBU beer.

I personally don’t think wheat has a place in this type of beer but that’s just me. All you need is 2row, maybe some Carapils, and say 2% of some malt for color. Pliny is 2% C60. You could do 1% CaraAroma. 2% honey malt is pretty popular as well.

 

[Miraculix]

I would add way more bittering hops than that if you want a true “west coast” IPA. The IBU calculators are way off especially for heavily dry hopped beers. As long as your boil pH isn’t high and you don’t have much alkalinity in your water it won’t be that bitter trust me.

Pliny for example has additions at 90/45/30 that would total way more than 200 theoretical IBUs. They don’t add any hops from 30 until the whirlpool and they don’t drop the temp of the wort before whirlpool. Supposedly now they don’t even whirlpool, just send the wort through a hopback before the heat ex.

I’d add a large bittering charge (ideally hop extract) at 90 on top of what you’re already doing. If you’re whirlpooling at 168 you won’t get any isomerization from those additions so disregard any IBU contributions Beersmith says you’ll get, it’s wrong.
All you have is 1oz at 30 for bitterness which is 36 IBUs so this will essentially be a 30 IBU beer.

I personally don’t think wheat has a place in this type of beer but that’s just me. All you need is 2row, maybe some Carapils, and say 2% of some malt for color. Pliny is 2% C60. You could do 1% CaraAroma. 2% honey malt is pretty popular as well.

My bad, I misread those steep/whirlpool additions for boiling additions!

I agree with what you said, there are not enough ibus in it, the whirlpool won't get you much maybe 5 or something low like this.... If you don't cool down before whirlpool you will get more ibus but it will be hard to calculate.

 

[Cricca]

I would add way more bittering hops than that if you want a true “west coast” IPA. The IBU calculators are way off especially for heavily dry hopped beers. As long as your boil pH isn’t high and you don’t have much alkalinity in your water it won’t be that bitter trust me.

Pliny for example has additions at 90/45/30 that would total way more than 200 theoretical IBUs. They don’t add any hops from 30 until the whirlpool and they don’t drop the temp of the wort before whirlpool. Supposedly now they don’t even whirlpool, just send the wort through a hopback before the heat ex.

I’d add a large bittering charge (ideally hop extract) at 90 on top of what you’re already doing. If you’re whirlpooling at 168 you won’t get any isomerization from those additions so disregard any IBU contributions Beersmith says you’ll get, it’s wrong.
All you have is 1oz at 30 for bitterness which is 36 IBUs so this will essentially be a 30 IBU beer.

I personally don’t think wheat has a place in this type of beer but that’s just me. All you need is 2row, maybe some Carapils, and say 2% of some malt for color. Pliny is 2% C60. You could do 1% CaraAroma. 2% honey malt is pretty popular as well.

Thank you!
So I should double up on the Chinook then ... and perhaps no citra?

I have never used wheat in an IPA until my last batch which was a clone of Aurora Hoppyalis, and I really enjoyed that one, dont know if that was because of the wheat though

 

[Miraculix]

Thank you!
So I should double up on the Chinook then ... and perhaps no citra?

I have never used wheat in an IPA until my last batch which was a clone of Aurora Hoppyalis, and I really enjoyed that one, dont know if that was because of the wheat though

Wheat gives a bit (or if you use more, a lot) boost in mouthfeel and it makes the head of the beer really nice. It does not contribute much flavor wise. I always use 20 to 50 percent of spelt flour in session beers. For a bigger beer I would dial it back to 10 to 20, but would go for it, especially if there is no 20 minute mash out step at 77c, which would otherwise increase the head.

 

[couchsending]

Thank you!
So I should double up on the Chinook then ... and perhaps no citra?

I have never used wheat in an IPA until my last batch which was a clone of Aurora Hoppyalis, and I really enjoyed that one, dont know if that was because of the wheat though

I’d add a large addition of something clean for bittering at 60 or 90 (however long you boil for). Magnum, warrior, bravo, Co2 extract, whatever. You could also add an ounce of Simcoe to the Chinook charge at 30. I see no reason to ditch the Citra at all. It’s a great hop, if the stuff you have smells good definitely use it.

 

[Miraculix]

I’d add a large addition of something clean for bittering at 60 or 90 (however long you boil for). Magnum, warrior, bravo, Co2 extract, whatever. You could also add an ounce of Simcoe to the Chinook charge at 30. I see no reason to ditch the Citra at all. It’s a great hop, if the stuff you have smells good definitely use it.

I also like citra a lot, but I think it easily overpowers the rest and mosaic already brings some of citras qualities so therefore I thought it would not be necessary. But I am not the biggest IPA guy anyway, so take this idea with a grain of salt.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Pro tip @Cricca: CMD-Shift-4 will let you take a screenshot of a specific area on your MacBook screen. Much easier to read than a photo of the screen.

 

[Boleslaus]

Agree with other posters. This looks like a great "new school" IPA. Those IBU's won't come across that strongly, but it will be a nice hoppy beer in flavor and aroma. If you're going for a true West Coast style I would move a lot of the IBU's from whirlpool to 60 min. Some whirlpool is still appropriate. Personally I don't have any crystal malt in my IPA. 2-row and a bit of Munich.

 

[Cricca]

Agree with other posters. This looks like a great "new school" IPA. Those IBU's won't come across that strongly, but it will be a nice hoppy beer in flavor and aroma. If you're going for a true West Coast style I would move a lot of the IBU's from whirlpool to 60 min. Some whirlpool is still appropriate. Personally I don't have any crystal malt in my IPA. 2-row and a bit of Munich.

Munich? Thanks really appreciate the input!
But should I keep the amount of whirlpool hops and just add extra hops to the 60 min add?

 

[Boleslaus]

Munich? Thanks really appreciate the input!
But should I keep the amount of whirlpool hops and just add extra hops to the 60 min add?

Depends on your personal taste and how true to style you are trying to stay. I don't think its over the top whirlpool.

 

[couchsending]

Keep your whirlpool additions as they are.

Add a solid bittering addition and maybe some simcoe with that Chinook at 30.

 

[DiscDuffer]

I would be against munich in an ipa.

 

[Cricca]

Is this better? Cara-pils instead of wheat and more chinook ... Or sub chinook against something else?

 

[couchsending]

Do you only boil for 30 minutes?

 

[Cricca]

No, actually don't know why I chose 30 min . Copied from a similar recipe

 

[couchsending]

You need IBUs not more Chinook flavor. Add something high alpha at the start of the boil for 30-40 IBUs. If all you have is Chinook, that’s fine. Warrior and Magnum are great choices.

 

[Cricca]

You need IBUs not more Chinook flavor. Add something high alpha at the start of the boil for 30-40 IBUs. If all you have is Chinook, that’s fine. Warrior and Magnum are great choices.

oh ok! I think I have a lot of columbus, some pacific jade, some citra and a lot of centennial