In over my hophead

2nd batch - AG IPA.

I think I may have butchered this. The LHBS hooked me up with hops that had AA levels higher than what I was expecting, so I adjusted the recipe the same day to accommodate. I think I may have completely bungled the hop schedule though.

10# Maris Otter
1# Carafoam
1# Crystal 20L

60 min - 1oz Brewer's Gold (8.1%AA)
- 1.25oz Northern Brewer (~8% AA)

20 min - 1 oz. East Kent Goldings (4.5% AA)
- .25 oz. NB

10 min - 1 oz. EKG
- .25 oz. NB

5 min - 1 oz. EKG
- .25 oz. NB

The Brewer's Gold and Northern Brewer are much higher in AA (~8%ish), so the vast majority of hop bitterness is coming from the 60 min hop infusion. It was only after I was already boiling I thought I should have maybe not had so much in at the 60 minute mark. Are the later hop additions going to add enough flavor to balance out/equal all the bitterness? I still have 1 oz each of EKG and NB, though I plan to only dry hop the EKG. It's about 85 IBU's :/ Coming off the boil, it was bitter but didn't seem to have as much hop flavour as I would have expected.

Honestly you have not added a lot of hops. The NB will be fine, I add an ounce for bittering regularly to a number of brews that are not IPA's. I would say that you have added very little flavoring and aroma hop. You can correct to some degree with a dry hop addition. That will give you nice aroma and a little flavor, or at least a sense of flavor. Look at a bunch of IPA recipes in the the recipe section here and you will get a better idea of what other folks are doing for IPA's. I think that your brew will be fine, it may end up pretty much like a British IPA or even possibly an Alt.

You'll have a really hoppy beer, which is fine, because you're brewing a really hoppy beer.
It will be fine.
I don't see where you listed the AA of your hops, but I wouldn't worry about it. And it wouldn't hurt to dry hop with both the NB and EKG, dry hopping isn't really going to increase the bitterness of your beer.
If you get the stuff bottled and it's just too bitter for your tastes, then store if for a while...the bitterness will subside with time.

Whoa, two guys from Wyoming posting back to back...how unlikely is that?

Ok thanks guys. I added in the grains and AA units for clarification.

Well, if it ends up like a British IPA, then that's great, because that was the goal
My concern was really that the 3oz. of EKG would impart enough flavour to counterbalance the bittering hops but my first taste suggested otherwise. Of course I'm not giving up on it, though! Hopefully fermentation, a dry hop and a few weeks of conditioning balance the flavours. I guess I freaked out a little is all. >_>

badhabit said:

Honestly you have not added a lot of hops. The NB will be fine, I add an ounce for bittering regularly to a number of brews that are not IPA's. I would say that you have added very little flavoring and aroma hop. You can correct to some degree with a dry hop addition. That will give you nice aroma and a little flavor, or at least a sense of flavor. Look at a bunch of IPA recipes in the the recipe section here and you will get a better idea of what other folks are doing for IPA's. I think that your brew will be fine, it may end up pretty much like a British IPA or even possibly an Alt.

Click to expand...

OOOPS sorry I missed the EKG in my first read. If you are going for a British IPA or ESB your bittering hops are fine. You may be a little high on both of your conditioning hops. It actually looks like a pretty good brew to me....kind of the flavor and aroma style of an APA just using non American hops.

Honestly, that doesn't look like hardly any hop flavor and aroma --- especially if you're a hop head. The flavor and aroma even look a bit low for me if you are targeting an English style IPA. Depending on your starting gravity, it might not even end up tasting that bitter.... I personally shoot for a 1:1 IBU:GU ratio on my ipas.

Well I have 1oz. of NB and 1oz. of EKG. I was planning on using the EKG to dry hop - would adding the NB to that bump the aroma up? I know it's described as dual purpose but mainly bittering, though I'd like to make sure there's a decent aroma to match the 85 IBU's. Oh, OG was 1.063. How do you calculate IBU:GU ratio? I forget what it's supposed to finish at - don't have beersmith on my work PC

Just did a search, so that gives me an IBU:GU ratio of 1.3, correct?

Hoppy, I would love it!!!!! Enjoy your brew!!!

This is more like 1.5 IBU:GU, isn't it? I just put the numbers into ProMash and it looks like it'll be pretty bitter.

I think you just made a great beer, don't judge it until after it's carbonated. You just kicked the style guidelines in the pants, though. :rockin:

Below is what I put into promash...didn't have CaraFoam in my database, so I subbed CaraPils. That won't really change the calculations a lot. I assumed you're making a 5 gallon batch. If you made more, then the gravity predicted would go down. What was your OG?

At this point, you have to go with the flow. The hops are already in the beer and they can sense fear. Dry hop that bad boy with everything you've got or they'll savage you like a rodeo clown on the wrong side of the barrel. Dry hopping will up the flavor and aroma without adding much in the way of IBUs.
__________________________________________________________
Hovercar's Hop Bomb

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

14-A India Pale Ale, English IPA

Min OG: 1.050 Max OG: 1.075
Min IBU: 40 Max IBU: 60
Min Clr: 8 Max Clr: 14 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 12.00
Anticipated OG: 1.067 Plato: 16.41
Anticipated SRM: 6.9
Anticipated IBU: 102.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
83.3 10.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
8.3 1.00 lbs. Crystal 15L America 1.035 15
8.3 1.00 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.25 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 8.00 45.3 60 min.
1.00 oz. Brewer's Gold Pellet 8.10 36.7 60 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.55 6.9 20 min.
0.25 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 8.00 3.1 20 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.50 4.1 10 min.
0.25 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 8.00 1.8 10 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.50 3.4 5 min.
0.25 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 8.00 1.5 5 min.


Yeast
-----

el_kirk said:

At this point, you have to go with the flow. The hops are already in the beer and they can sense fear. Dry hop that bad boy with everything you've got or they'll savage you like a rodeo clown on the wrong side of the barrel. Dry hopping will up the flavor and aroma without adding much in the way of IBUs.

Click to expand...

LMAO Brilliant!

I got 85 IBU's in Beersmith though, probably you have different AA values? I know I had to adjust mine.

Regardless, I'll take that advice. Now I have the mental image of a rapist rodeo clown to burn from my memory

Dude! I meant the clown got trapped on the wrong side of the barrel and got gored by the bull.
YOU put that image in MY head!

And yeah, I could have screwed up when I adjusted the AA of the hops. Or I could have ProMash set up to use a different formula than you're using.

Oh, well I don't know much about rodeos... Not that I know much about sexually agressive rodeo clowns either!

But yeah, I'll toss both the EKG and the NB in to dry hop. This beer is actually for my father. I asked him if he wanted me to make him a batch. He said 'sure', and I asked what kind of beer he wanted. He bertstared me for a moment and said:


"Hoppy. As. Hell."

So, uh, mission accomplished, I guess