Another "please critique this recipe"- American IPA

**Southwood** · 02-07-2008, 09:17 PM

Hey all! I am trying to develop a "house" IPA. I have a bunch of Centennial & Amarillo hops. Bell's Two-hearted & Boulder's Mojo IPA are some of my fav's, so I was thinking of blending qualities of each. I would also like to enter this in a competition, so I'd like to keep things true to style.

While I realise that brewing a hop-heavy IPA is not exactly the most responsible thing to do right now, I've been itching to do one & currently have the resources to produce the following:

Boil Volume: 3.5 gal
Batch Volume: 5 gal

7 lbs Light DME

1/2 lb Crystal 20
1/2 lb Carapils
1/2 lb Flaked Wheat

1 oz Centennial (9.7%) @ 60 min
1 oz Amarillo (8.9%) @ 20 min
1 oz Centennial (9.7%) @ 20 min
1 oz Amarillo (8.9%) @ 7 min
1 oz Cascade (6.7%) @ 7 min
1 oz Amarillo - Dry Hop

I've also thought about adding some crystal 40 or munich for added complexity. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Cheers!

Professor Frink · 02-07-2008, 09:28 PM

Looks good, but I would definitely add a little darker crystal (40 or 60) for some residual sweetness to balance out the hops some.

SRFeldman79 · 02-07-2008, 09:32 PM

since im in chicago ive been denied two hearted for awhile, but the mojo definitely has a nice malty/sweet balance with the amarillo.
ive got a home brewed "tribute" to Mojo Risin' Imperial IPA in my primary right now.

Danek · 02-07-2008, 11:37 PM

That recipe looks like it'll make a very nice beer. I've got a batch of Bells Two Hearted in primary at the moment - the recipe I had used only Centennial hops, and included some Vienna as well. That's a little different to your recipe, but it's not a biggie. Cascade and Amarillo are a really nice pairing.

**Southwood** · 02-08-2008, 12:53 AM

Yea, I was going to do a Two-Hearted clone, but then I thought "if centennial is good, then centennial + amarillo should be great!"

Also is Caravienne anything like the Vienna you suggest? I do want to give this some malt complexity behind those hops. Maybe something like:

1/2 lb Crystal 20
1/2 lb Crystal 40
1/2 lb Vienna
1/2 lb Flaked Wheat

Btw, I had my 1st Mojo Risin' last night, and... wow.

Danek · 02-08-2008, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Southwood

Also is Caravienne anything like the Vienna you suggest? I do want to give this some malt complexity behind those hops. Maybe something like:

1/2 lb Crystal 20
1/2 lb Crystal 40
1/2 lb Vienna
1/2 lb Flaked Wheat

Caravienne and Vienna are different (according to http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart ). I've never used Caravienne so I don't know how different it'd be, though from the chart on the Wiki it looks darker in colour than Vienna. I've also never used flaked wheat, but other folks on here have - hopefully they'll be along soon to give their opinions. I think it looks good. I'd bet money that that will be a good beer.

**shafferpilot** · 02-08-2008, 10:51 AM

Personally, I don't think wheat belongs in an IPA recipe. If you put it in there for body, I'd rather use carapils (dextrin), or a little malto-dextrin. But to each his own.

Danek · 02-09-2008, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shafferpilot

Personally, I don't think wheat belongs in an IPA recipe. If you put it in there for body, I'd rather use carapils (dextrin), or a little malto-dextrin. But to each his own.

I just had a look at "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels, and you're right that wheat in IPAs is pretty uncommon. It's used in less than 30% of the recipes RD looked at, and where it is used, it's in proportions of between 1 and 8% of the total grain bill (with an average of 4%). It's a little more common in English brews.

RICLARK · 02-09-2008, 11:01 AM

The Ibu's are about 20 ticks High for what your making, I would scratch the Wheat and up the DME plus add the C-40. On your other question..Vienna Malt has a SRM of about 4 I believe and CaraVienne has a SRM of about 23 So it will give you a quite darker beer.

Beerlord · 02-09-2008, 02:28 PM

Looks tasty