My first IPA, please advise

Pommy · 04-15-2010, 02:40 AM

OK so here's my recipe, I was wanting to make a good hoppy IPA that isn't too ridiculous. I'm looking for the reaction of, "now that's an IPA!" not somebodies face melting in front of me. I was thinking of maybe trying a 4 day primary followed by a 7 day secondary with the dry hop. So hop flavours, aromas and bitterness are good, just don't want anything stupidly bitter.

Batch Size: 23.00 L
Brewer: Pommy
Boil Size: 15.00 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: 21.2L Stock Pot

3.70 kg Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 88.1 %

0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.0 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 6.0 %

50.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 21.0 IBU
30.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 19.5 IBU
30.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (60 min) Hops 9.6 IBU

15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (15 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (15 min) Hops 2.4 IBU

15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (5 min) Hops 1.0 IBU

15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (2 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (2 min) Hops 0.4 IBU

10.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (0 min)
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (0 min)

15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (Dry Hop 7 days)
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.20%] (Dry Hop 7 days)

1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 %
Bitterness: 61.5 IBU
Est Color: 9.4 SRM

Cheers in advance for everyone's help

bkirkland · 04-15-2010, 03:25 AM

four day primary? thats pretty bold .. like babe ruth calling his hr... fermenting beer has its own internal clock... if it were my beer i would add more hops at 30min your adding a lot of aroma hops and leaving out the bitter hop addition.

bkirkland · 04-15-2010, 03:27 AM

you have to balance the hops to get an ipa not a pale ale...

Pommy · 04-15-2010, 03:33 AM

The IBU is already slightly above for the style, max 60 IBU. Also I'm only just over the min OG of 1.050 so expect bitterness will be high, is it just flavour that will be missing?

so maybe move the 2min hop addition to 30min?

Pommy · 04-15-2010, 03:43 AM

maybe give it a week primary and a week secondary?

bkirkland · 04-15-2010, 04:19 AM

American IPA or ? i would just to give it an upfront bitterness. other wise it will smell like hops but just lack the ipa feel.. more of a malty taste

bkirkland · 04-15-2010, 04:21 AM

as far as fermentation, its up to the yeast. final gravity can be tested or just wait for the air lock to tell you... with all the dry hopping you wont lose any nose if you let it sit...

thedidey · 04-15-2010, 04:34 AM

I agree with bkirkland, add a 30 minute addition and lose a late addition. I tend to think that the 30 minute addition is more for flavor than bittering though. That's where you get some of the complexity and some of that buttery hop oil thing going on. Your bittering hops at 60 minutes seem good though. just exchange some aroma for some depth.

Edit: and I also agree that the beer should decide when you should rack it to the secondary. you will have plenty of time to dry hop after the yeast has time to do it's thing. I think if you're doing 4 days. you're just moving to a different primary.

malt_shovel · 04-15-2010, 05:05 AM

Interesting mix of US citrus with an earthy UK hop. Probably not my thing, but if you have had it before or fancy a try then go for it.

If it were more a UK style IPA then I would simplify the hops and just keep it to Fuggles for aroma @ 20 mins & 5 mins then maybe some dry-hopping with same. Maybe consider some brown sugar / demerera (either subbing out LME or just add it in - maybe 8 to 12 oz / 225g - 340g) to dry it out a bit as the LME and S-04 may leave it a little too sweet for you.

My two cents.
Cheers

Yankeehillbrewer · 04-15-2010, 06:13 AM

I think you should leave it in Primary for at least 2 weeks, That seems to work well for me, plus I do an additional week in Secondary, usually for Dry Hopping. For hops, it just depends on what style IPA your going for, personally I'm not a fan of the Earthy,English Hop varieties for flavor/aroma, so I would bitter it with something like Chinook or Magnum and then use the Cascades & Amarillo later in the boil. That's my point o too.