TriColor 1824
Member
I seem to have a recurring problem that I've been having with my recipes: I utilize the BeerSmith software when formulating my recipes and try and stay within the style guidelines as indicated by the software. I prefer beer with good mouthfeel and moderate - strong malt backbone and moderately strong hop bitterness. Although my beer has been drinkable, I find that the malt flavor overpowers or dominates the hops despite adequate IBU's. The easy solution would seem to be to continue brewing the same recipe but progressively increase the hopping / IBU's until the desired flavor profile is reached but this would put the IBU's outside the style guidelines as per BeerSmith. My question is why is this happening and is there anything I can do to correct this flavor unbalance and yet stay close to the style guidelines? Below is my latest recipe which might provide a clue:
Summer of Discontent IPA
American IPA
(All grain 5.25 Gallons)
4.5# Blacklands Pale Moon Malt (2 Row)
4.25# Maris Otter Malt
1# White Wheat Malt
1# Red X Best Malz
1# Carapils
0.75# Carastan Malt
0.5# Biscuit Malt
0.25# Victory Malt
5 gallons of well water (very hard) heated to 162F and added to grains in a 10 gallon picnic cooler. Initial temp of mash 148F (I was shooting for 152F.
1 gallon of mash removed, brought to a boil and added back to mash tun about 35 minutes after initial mash in.
I got called out and by the time I returned, the total mash time was 3 hours. pH 5.0 , Iodine starch test negative.
Mash out with 2.5 gallons of 200F water to achieve wort/ grain temperature of 168-169F.
Wort recirculated X15 minutes and then slowly lautered into boil kettle.
Remaining grains slowly sparged w/ 2.75 gallons of 200F water.
Total volume into boil kettle: 7.75 gallons.
Pre-Boil gravity: 1.050
Wort brought to boil w/ the following additions:
Beginning of boil:
0.7 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
0.5 oz. Centennial Pellets AA 10%
45 Minutes into boil:
0.5 oz. Cascade Pellets AA 5.3%
0.3 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
5 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 Whirfloc Tablet
At Flameout:
1 oz. Lemon Drop Pellets AA 5.2%
0.5 oz. Cascade Hop Pellets AA 5.3
Cooling commenced 20 minutes after flameout and temperature dropped to ~88F.
Post Boil Gravity: 1.063 Flavor good but on the malty side.
Carboy sealed and refrigerated overnight.
Yeast pitched the next day w/ wort temperature 68F. A 1.89L yeast starter (made w/ Pilzen DME and 1 packet of WLP060 American Yeast Blend) was used. Wort aerated X5 Minutes. Vigorous activity noted w/ in 6 hours. Fermentation temperature stabilized at 66F.
Kegged 30 days later from the primary. Final Gravity: 1.007
Dry Hopped in the keg w/:
1.2 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
1 oz. Lemon Drop Pellets AA 5.2%
0.5 oz. Centennial Pellets AA 10%
0.3 oz. HBC 438 Pellets AA 15.7%
*All the above hops were recently acquired and vacuum sealed.
Kegged @ 13 PSI at 33F.
Keg Tapped two weeks after kegging. Flavor profile as noted above.
IBU's per BeerSmith 57.6 (style guide lines 40-70)
IBU's per Brewer's Friend 64.3
I've brewed several American Amber Ales w/ IBU's in the 40-42 IBU range (style guidelines per BeerSmith 20-40) but the same malty profile seems to predominate.
Thoughts, comments, slings, arrows?
Summer of Discontent IPA
American IPA
(All grain 5.25 Gallons)
4.5# Blacklands Pale Moon Malt (2 Row)
4.25# Maris Otter Malt
1# White Wheat Malt
1# Red X Best Malz
1# Carapils
0.75# Carastan Malt
0.5# Biscuit Malt
0.25# Victory Malt
5 gallons of well water (very hard) heated to 162F and added to grains in a 10 gallon picnic cooler. Initial temp of mash 148F (I was shooting for 152F.
1 gallon of mash removed, brought to a boil and added back to mash tun about 35 minutes after initial mash in.
I got called out and by the time I returned, the total mash time was 3 hours. pH 5.0 , Iodine starch test negative.
Mash out with 2.5 gallons of 200F water to achieve wort/ grain temperature of 168-169F.
Wort recirculated X15 minutes and then slowly lautered into boil kettle.
Remaining grains slowly sparged w/ 2.75 gallons of 200F water.
Total volume into boil kettle: 7.75 gallons.
Pre-Boil gravity: 1.050
Wort brought to boil w/ the following additions:
Beginning of boil:
0.7 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
0.5 oz. Centennial Pellets AA 10%
45 Minutes into boil:
0.5 oz. Cascade Pellets AA 5.3%
0.3 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
5 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 Whirfloc Tablet
At Flameout:
1 oz. Lemon Drop Pellets AA 5.2%
0.5 oz. Cascade Hop Pellets AA 5.3
Cooling commenced 20 minutes after flameout and temperature dropped to ~88F.
Post Boil Gravity: 1.063 Flavor good but on the malty side.
Carboy sealed and refrigerated overnight.
Yeast pitched the next day w/ wort temperature 68F. A 1.89L yeast starter (made w/ Pilzen DME and 1 packet of WLP060 American Yeast Blend) was used. Wort aerated X5 Minutes. Vigorous activity noted w/ in 6 hours. Fermentation temperature stabilized at 66F.
Kegged 30 days later from the primary. Final Gravity: 1.007
Dry Hopped in the keg w/:
1.2 oz. El Dorado Pellets AA 12.8%
1 oz. Lemon Drop Pellets AA 5.2%
0.5 oz. Centennial Pellets AA 10%
0.3 oz. HBC 438 Pellets AA 15.7%
*All the above hops were recently acquired and vacuum sealed.
Kegged @ 13 PSI at 33F.
Keg Tapped two weeks after kegging. Flavor profile as noted above.
IBU's per BeerSmith 57.6 (style guide lines 40-70)
IBU's per Brewer's Friend 64.3
I've brewed several American Amber Ales w/ IBU's in the 40-42 IBU range (style guidelines per BeerSmith 20-40) but the same malty profile seems to predominate.
Thoughts, comments, slings, arrows?