chamomile IPA help

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N3rdM3t4l

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I am new to homebrewing and due to limited space in my tiny apartment I am restricted to 1gal batches for now. That said, I want to go nuts with my small batch brewing but want to avoid dumping my messed up brew down the drain. So here I am, asking you all for your help in formulating recipes that will work and make sense so I don't make the fatal mistake of "throwing crap into a pot and calling the resulting crap beer". Here is what I am thinking for a chamomile NWIPA (being an Oregonian I have a fondness for hops with a C in the name).

Chamomile NWIPA

2lb extra light DME
2oz honey malt

.25oz cascade at 60min
.25oz cascade at 10min
.25oz citra dry hop (twice) for a total of .5 oz citra
1bag chamomile tea

Safale us-05

Add DME to 3qt water and heat to about 154°f
Steep honey malt in grain bag for 40min
remove grain bag and rinse with 1qt water heated to about 160°f
boil for 75min and add boiling hops according to schedule
Pour into 1gal glass jug and add yeast in enough water to reach 1gal mark (not sure how big this starter should be to be honest)
add .25oz citra to primary and attach airlock and blowoff.
At 2weeks transfer to secondary with last .25oz citra and 1gram (single bag) of chamomile tea
allow tea to steep in seconday for an hour then remove
1week of secondary then prime with corn sugar and bottle.

Hopefully this will result in a very floral citusy ipa with honey and chamomile notes. The teabag gets an hour because it will be steeping at fermenting temp not boiling so it needs a little extra time.

Any help in making this better or realistic(if it isn't a very realistic recipe) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance HBT community.
 
Will an hour be long enough for the chamomile to really make an impact?
I'd be tempted to leave it in the secondary for a week until bottling.
But then again, that's the beauty of 1 gallon batches, inexpensive and therefore less wasteful when experimenting.
 
I've brewed with whole chamomile flours. 1 hour in the boil. Yes, there is a noticeable flavor and aroma. If you've had chamomile tea, you know it doesn't take much time at all to get the flavor out.

BTW, the whole flowers are easily available at natural food places. Probably cheaper than the dustings you get in the teabags.
 
I have used chamomile in a pale ale with great results, but I agree with passedpawn; get yourself some whole leaf chamomile. Put an ounce in a hop bag or muslin bag and throw it in your boil. I put it in the boil during the last 15 minutes and left it in during cooling. Of course it isn't going to take you long to cool a gallon, so you may want to add it earlier in the boil. Good luck. The recipe sounds good.
 
Okay. I was unsure about when to use the chamomile because I didn't want it to dominate the hops and those are very fragrant flowers. Will change that to a 20min boil.
 

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