Kinda scary IPA recipe...

Brewed today - before the Packer game of course... ;o)

I wanted to brew an IPA (my first)...after much research and pondering, I came up with the following recipe. I started out with BYO's all grain recipe for DFH 90 minute IPA - made an attempt at converting it to a partial mash recipe, and used what hops I had available. I think in retrospect, I used too much LME - definitely too much amber...this turned out much darker than desired. Tasted the wort before pitching the yeast - it was pretty dang bitter...kind of scary...



2 lbs American 2-row - steeped to just before boil
12 lbs Amber LME
1 oz Nugget - added gradually between 60 and 35 minutes
1 oz Simcoe - added gradually between 35 and 20 minutes
1 oz Amarillo - added gradually between 20 and 0 minutes

Wyeast German ale yeast
current plan is to dry-hop 1/2 oz each of Simcoe and Amarillo



Anyone have any thoughts on this puppy?

..........Darin

is that a 5 gallon batch? that is going to be one strong IPA!

5 gallons in the carboy ('cause that's what I have... ;o) ), but was planning to mix in a gallon of water before bottling. My thought is even at that, it'll still be a pretty strong IPA... I'm just hop(p)ing it's not too overpowering - I'm a hop-head, but this seems pretty strong...

Dry hop for 2 weeks as the malt profile warrants it. It's for flavor, not bitterness.

At the risk of showing my lack of reading and rampant ignorance, will the flavor/aroma imparted by dry hopping help balance out any bitterness?

Thanks for the advice WBC!!!

DarinB said:

At the risk of showing my lack of reading and rampant ignorance, will the flavor/aroma imparted by dry hopping help balance out any bitterness?

Thanks for the advice WBC!!!

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Sounds like you're really concerned about the over powering bitterness.

Don't be. My APA's and IPA's all have a very strong back-of-the-throat bitterness, even 2-3 weeks after they're in the serving keg.

Remember, the bigger the beer (grain bill or hops) the longer the beer will need to mellow. Bittering mellows with time. If you're going to bottle, I'd suggest you plan on a good 10 days in the primary and three-four weeks in the secondary. Sounds like a beer that will need at least 3 months (including bottle conditionin) to really come together.

Dry hopping won't counter the bitterness, and if you're going to leave a big beer like that in the secondary longer, I'd dry hop the last 7-10 days before you bottle it.

Zoikes! That's going to be one strong brew.

What temp did you ferment at?

Here's a lil primer on dry hopping:
http://byo.com/departments/1105.html

Pitched yeast at about 72 deg., and it's happily perking away this morning (actually, it's blowing off rather heavily...) My basement stays between 62 and 72 degrees most of the year, so that is my default fermenting temp. Some day I am planning to buy a fridge, drill it out, and turn it into a kegerator - I'm a few dollars short of buying corny kegs and going that route (I am dropping some major Christmas hints though, so we'll see...). Anywho, once I have the fridge facilities, I can screw around with fermenting temps (I am super-eager to brew a lager...!!!)




edit - typo...

That sounds like a damn good IPA to me. My last one was 76IBU and rocked. If the hop flavor is too much for you, it will mellow out over time in the bottles.

Wowsers!

What was the OG on that puppy? That's going to be a big IPA. It'll take some conditioning time, but I bet it turns out great.

+1 on the dry hopping motion. :rockin:

McKBrew said:

That sounds like a damn good IPA to me. My last one was 76IBU and rocked. If the hop flavor is too much for you, it will mellow out over time in the bottles.

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Agreed. Sounds like it will turn out great. It'll be darker than the 90 minute clone, but should be nice and bitter. Dry hop generously!

OG was 1.08

according to beer tools, the IBU should be in the neighborhood of 74...


thank you all for the kind words - I'm feeling much better about it than I was yesterday...lmao!

SWMBO and I both love hoppy beers, so worst case scenario is we don't have to share...

progress update:

9 days in primary, gravity reading is 1.042 - aside from the sample being rather sweet tasting at this point, I can taste a hint of what the finished product should be, and my worries be gone...

I wound up leaving this one in the primary for 18 days, then racked to secondary. Starting gravity was 1.080, at the time of racking it was 1.032, and now after 11 days in secondary, the gravity is at 1.024.

The sample I took last night tasted great...maintaining patience with this beer is going to be living h*ll for me... ;o)

Since this is my first bigger beer, I'm trying to pay more attention to the gravity readings (usually I don't pay much attention at all - just loosely follow the 1-2-3 method...) which is inevitably leading me to more worry than normal (so far, I've been able to stave off the worry with a few homebrews...).

Near as I can tell, the FG for this IPA should be in the neighborhood of 1.016 - 1.018. The gravity is still dropping, albeit slowly, so that don't bother me too much. What I'm really wondering is what's going to happen once I bottle? Is it possible that the yeast will be all petered out at that point, causing me carbonation fits?

Yeast have been known to not like to carb bigger beers, but as far as how you determine that, I think it might just be a guess and check kind of ordeal. You could always add 1/4 packet or so dry yeast at bottling time just to make sure.

On another note, I would never again rack the beer to secondary when fermentation isn't yet complete. Secondary should be for clearing/conditioning rather than more fermentation. Primary fermentation for extended periods of time won't hurt the beer, contrary to popular belief.

PseudoChef said:

Yeast have been known to not like to carb bigger beers, but as far as how you determine that, I think it might just be a guess and check kind of ordeal. You could always add 1/4 packet or so dry yeast at bottling time just to make sure.

On another note, I would never again rack the beer to secondary when fermentation isn't yet complete. Secondary should be for clearing/conditioning rather than more fermentation. Primary fermentation for extended periods of time won't hurt the beer, contrary to popular belief.

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What Mr. Chef said about the Primary/Secondary thing. And a HUGE Atta Boy for going Big. Not many people are willing to try something new when they brew in fear that they will not like what turns out at the end. You did though, and it sure as heck sounds like what's going to turn out at the end for you is a Hell of a Damned Fine Brew.

The primary/secondary thing I wasn't terribly sure about...I thought that it was ok once fermentation had slowed - guess that's what I get for thinking, and not reading/inquiring. ;o(

RLinNH...thanks ;o) I'm still not too sure about what I've gotten myself in to, but so far so good - like I said, the current sample already tasted really good...I have high hopes!

DarinB said:

The primary/secondary thing I wasn't terribly sure about...I thought that it was ok once fermentation had slowed - guess that's what I get for thinking, and not reading/inquiring. ;o(

RLinNH...thanks ;o) I'm still not too sure about what I've gotten myself in to, but so far so good - like I said, the current sample already tasted really good...I have high hopes!

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Everything's gonna be ok, I'm just trying to forwarn you in for the future.

I thought my Stout was done/stalled in primary, tasted great though, so I racked it to secondary. Once it got into secondary, the rouse from racking stirred up some yeast and it dropped a couple more points in secondary. So it's really fine.

I've always considered myself a pretty mellow guy, but this thing I have in my basement is making me re-ponder all kinds of stuff. For all the brews I've brewed over the years, I've never really talked to anybody about the whole subject...amazing all the neat shi(r)t I'm starting to learn...lol

I'm afraid I'm going to run myself out of bottled stock in the process of getting this one done...

how do you add water to your beer at bottling time without oxidizing your beer?

My initial thought was to add a gallon of water to the bottling bucket, then siphon from the carboy as normal.

I say 'was' because I've since changed my mind...I'm going to not fiddle with what seems like it's going to be a good thing. The biggest problem I'm going to have is patience... ;o)

BeerAg said:

how do you add water to your beer at bottling time without oxidizing your beer?

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Boil it first (with your priming sugar/extract) to drive off the oxygen, cool, pour gently into bottling bucket, and siphon beer into it without splashing.

did you dry hop?

I did - 3/4 oz each of amarillo and simcoe...

at the moment, the gravity seems to be stuck at about 1.020 - which is about 75% attenuation... me thinks it must be pretty close to done, but I think I'll leave it another week and check the gravity again...if it don't move, I'm gonna punt and bottle.

MMMMmmmmmm.......... That's my favorite hop combo......

This beer sounds great. Hope you've got enough other beers to distract you while this one ages.

Danek said:

This beer sounds great. Hope you've got enough other beers to distract you while this one ages.

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I think it's pretty well done - airlock activity is very slight, and the gravity seems to be stable at 1.020. I had thought it may come down a bit more, but I think that'll do. It's getting to the point that I'm tempted to steal another sample just to get another sip... is that wrong?

So far, so good as far as other beers... we're drinking a porter and a SNPA clone right now, and I bottled my first Belgian Wit over the weekend. Should be bottling a California Common in the next couple weeks or so (another first for me). The only issue is I don't have enough bottles for what I've got in carboys now (and as much as I want to start kegging, I'm just not ready yet - I do have a little chest freezer and a tear in my eye, so we'll see what happens after Christmas time...).

The biggest problem is we have to drink enough homebrew to free up bottles for the next batch - it's an awful situation really, but we're dealing with it as best as can be expected...

Going to share a bunch for SWMBO's Christmas party in a month, so that should help (dangit) ;o)

I'm thinking an awful lot about trying Edwort's Apfelwein next - I read through most of the recipe manifesto today at lunchtime, and now have that funny feeling I get when it's about time to ferment sumptin'... ;o)