Help for First American IPA

A friend an I wanted to make our first IPA, so we pounded out this rough draft. Help/critique of the hop schedule are especially appreciated!

American IPA
All Grain 5.00 gal
ABV 7.09%
O.G: 1.068 F.G: 1.014
IBUs: 69.1 SRM: 7.8

Grains:
12 lbs 2-Row 92%
1 lb Crystal 40L 7.7%

Hops:
1 oz Tomahawk @ 60
0.5 oz Citra @ 20
0.25 oz Citra @ 15, 10
0.5 oz Citra @ 5
1.50 oz Citra @ 0

2 oz Citra Dry hop 5-7 days

Yeast: Safale S-05

Mash: BIAB 90 minutes @ 153
60 Minute boil

Ferment 2-3 weeks, then dry hop in primary. Bottle condition and consume!

Send me your feedback!

I think it looks good. I'm sure that some will chime in saying to up the 20-5 min additions but I think it will be a nice brew as written with the 1.5 at flameout plus the dry hop. I'd probably mash low to try to get this to attenuate well as that's a tad more crystal than I might use, but that's a personal preference thing.

Two words: Per, fect.

Your grain bill is simple, and your crystal amount gives enough sweetness for the hops to work against.

Your hop amounts also seem very well thought out. Many people want to bitter with Citra, and as much as I love the hop, its true potential just isn't utilized as a bittering hop. Your lower AA Tomahawk was a fine choice for a 60 min. addition.

I'm more of a fan of APA's than I am IPA's (I'm not a hop-head, and don't like to go much above 45 IBU's), but this is a recipe I would happily try! Keep us up with it!

Did you mean higher alpha acid with the tomahawk? my ctz is 17% aa and citra is usually around 9-10%. But I do agree the Tomahawk will be a good bittering hop. I haven't tried any citra yet but the hop additions look good! Try it out and let us know how it turned out!

Will do!

Solid recipe

My two cents dry hop 5 days after primary fermentation

I don't BIAB, so this is from the All Grain side of the kettle. I've found that my CTZ give a better and smoother bitterness if I use them as First Wort Hops. Mine are 17.5% AA and give a great white grapefruit bitter if I FWH with them. The grain bill is pretty straight forward, but I use less Crystal in mine. Other than that, it looks like it will be a very nice IPA!

I let mine ferment for 10-14 days and dry hop for about 5 days. Seems like I get a more fragrant nose from the hops this way.

For whatever reason, I was thinking Tomahawk was a lower AA. My bad. All the same, I completely support this recipe.

I always add some Flaked Wheat to my pale ales (granted, I've never brewed an IPA) because it makes a very smooth mouth feel, but that's more to do with personal preference than anything.

mrphillips said:

I always add some Flaked Wheat to my pale ales (granted, I've never brewed an IPA) because it makes a very smooth mouth feel, but that's more to do with personal preference than anything.

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Carapils will do this as well and not add the wheat flavor to your beer. I generally add about 4oz to add mouth feel and head retention.

looks good to me. i'm one to vote for more 20-0 hops. mix another oz of citra in. 1oz of columbus is enough to take it.

I would say up the boil additions with citra, or add some simcoe. Look at the Zombie Dust thread, for an APA they add 1.25oz of citra at 20, 10, 5 and flameout I think.

Would increasing the 20-0 minute additions drastically increase flavor/aroma?

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eonsend said:

Would increasing the 20-0 minute additions drastically increase flavor/aroma?

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That's the idea. I typically will use a few ounces total 20-5 min plus flameout and dry hop, but there are a few hops that tend to get a little fruity/sweet on me when I use them in large amounts by themselves (namely citra and amarillo). That's why I was thinking your original recipe looked good as is. That's just one experience though so if you want big hop prescence go for it.

chickypad said:

That's the idea. I typically will use a few ounces total 20-5 min plus flameout and dry hop, but there are a few hops that tend to get a little fruity/sweet on me when I use them in large amounts by themselves (namely citra and amarillo). That's why I was thinking your original recipe looked good as is. That's just one experience though so if you want big hop prescence go for it.

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i agree with the citra/amarillo comment. a little goes a long way with citra.

My APA uses 1.5 ounces of cascade and just one ounce of Citra from the 20-0 mark. Citra is my 5 min./flameout addition because the AA's are pretty high, but for an IPA it might be ok to add it earlier than that. For my tastes, I wouldn't add Citra before 20 min., but whatever you like, make it so!