Recipe Critique - Leftovers IPA

**davcar74** · 12-05-2011, 07:32 PM

I have a bunch of hops in my freezer and some random leftover grains that need to get used...unfortunately not what I would typically use for an IPA, but here's what I am thinking to clean everything out...I think it will be different, but that doesn't mean good....

7.5 lbs light DME
8 oz dark wheat
8 oz 2 row
8 oz crystal 60

0.5 oz chinook 90 min
0.5 oz columbus 90 min
0.5 oz amarillo 75 min
1.5 oz hersbrucker 60 min
1.5 oz hersbrucker 30 min
1.5 oz tettnang 20 min
1.5 oz tettnang 10 min
1.0 oz tettnang (dryhop)

S-05

**jester5120** · 12-05-2011, 09:37 PM

it looks like a light black ipa or a really hoppy amber. it'll give you something interesting for sure. brew that craziness up and let us know how it is.

solo103 · 12-05-2011, 09:56 PM

That's a **** load of hops. 5 gallon?

**Yooper** · 12-05-2011, 10:29 PM

If I was making an IPA, I'd totally change the hopping. Tettnang and hersbrucker and good German hops, but they are "noble" hops, very clean and relatively flavorless.

I'd use them to bitter (or just leave them out), and use the "good" American hops for flavor and aroma. All you have right now is bittering hops (anything from 30 minutes or longer) with a couple of tettnang additions for flavor and aroma. It'll be BITTER with no hops flavor or aroma at all.

Something like this would be much better:

0.5 oz columbus 60 min
0.5 oz chinook 15 min
0.5 oz amarillo 5 min

Dryhop with any of the above.

Adding more chinook or amarillo (up to an ounce total at each addition) would be preferable. Save the German hops for a German beer, or something like a cream ale.

OR, totally use the German hops for bittering and use the columbus, chinook, and amarillo flavor/aroma additions.

**davcar74** · 12-05-2011, 10:31 PM

Yes, 5 Gallon. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing EDIT [solo103]. Beersmith is giving me 57.5 IBUs on this, but it is taking a lot of hops to get there as I have only small amounts of bitterring hops and lots of aroma/flavor hops. The 60 min Hersbrucker addition is seemingly contributing a fair amount of the bitterness. I am trying to decide if I should leave the two hersbricker and tettnang additions in the order they are in already, or switching them around so they alternate, but at the same intervals. My gut is telling me with this many varieties, I am better off playing it out one at a time and letting the flavor/aroma develop that way I have no real rationale for this line of thinking...

It is a lot of hersbrucker and tettnang, more than I have used at once in any one brew before. But that's what's in the house and with a batch already lagering and some other ales that won't use these varieties on the horizon, they gotta go. I think their flavoring contribution is going to be overpowering, but maybe interesting in these quantities with smaller amounts of higher alpha hops at the front of the boil.

Anyone have thoughts on how whether to alternate the additions of these two varieties or to leave them in the order presented?

**davcar74** · 12-05-2011, 10:35 PM

So, Yooper says flip it on its head. I might have an extra ounce of columbus floating around too...

**davcar74** · 12-05-2011, 11:50 PM

1.5 oz tettnang 90 min
1.5 oz tettnang 75 min
1.5 oz hersbrucker 60 min
1.5 oz hersbrucker 30 min
0.5 oz columbus 20 min
0.5 oz chinook 10 min
0.5 oz amarillo 5 min

dryhop(?)
1.0 oz tettnang (not sure about this)
0.5 oz Columbus

**Billybrewer09** · 12-06-2011, 12:46 AM

Is there a reason you area boiling for 90 min?
I would only boil for 60.
Columbus (60)
chinkook and Amarillo slit in half and added at (10) and FO.
not sure where that would put the IBU's.
Save the good noble hops for a hefe or kolsh or maybe find someone to trade with.
I just can't see a way to work that many noble hops into this recipe.
But if you really needed to I would use them to bitter with.
Just my opinion.

MacGuffin · 12-06-2011, 01:39 AM

Thats why I love the IPA. Random grains and high IBUs = success.

**davcar74** · 12-06-2011, 02:13 AM

Boiling for 90 drove the IBUs up, plus I hadn't done it before, so, since I was throwing some proverbial crap at the wall anyway, I figured what the hell.

Thanks everyone for your input...going to kick this around a little while longer....will close post with decision and results someday soon...