Thoughts on my first IPA

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hoplobster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
220
Reaction score
0
Location
Roseville, MI
This will be my second AG, my first IPA and actually, the first time naming a beer. I'm throwing out all of the stops on this one and will be calling it "Relax/Don't Worry IPA" as a tribute to getting over a novice brewers fear of not "doing everything just right".

As I have learned, as long as things are kept clean, there is no such thing as a right way when home brewing, so one of the things I'll try differently is I'll be dumping all of the break material and hops into the primary as a test... Of course I'll be doing a secondary!

A simple IPA recipe for a yield of 3 gallons:

4.50 lb. British pale
1.50 lb. American crystal 40L

0.50 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.)
0.50 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 45 min.)
0.70 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 30 min.)
0.70 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 15 min.)
1.00 oz. Cascade (aroma)

Yeast: WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Should be about 60 IBUs... What do you think? I'm wondering if there's too much crystal in there but other than that, it looks good to me, but I may substitute a hop addition or two with Amarillo.
 
I would bitter with something a little higher but I like a little bite to my IPA's. Do you plan on dryhopping it? I love dryhopping with cascade, that might add some good aroma to it.


Dan
 
That is a LOT of crystal for a 3-gallon batch. For an IPA, that's a LOT of crystal for a 5-gallon batch. You don't have enough grain overall; at 75% efficiency, that's only a 1.052 OG (leaving in the crystal); an IPA wants to be at least 1.056. IPAs want to be pretty big but dry; you've got medium-sized but very sweet.

My opinion - drop the crystal to a half-pound, bump the pale malt to about 6.5 pounds. That gets you to about 1.061. You could sub in a pound of Munich or Vienna for a pound of the pale malt if you want more malt character without adding as much sweetness as crystal.

I'd also use something like Chinook or Magnum for bittering; something pretty high in AA%. You aren't going to get much, if any, flavor from this addition, so I wouldn't worry too much about which variety (although some consider Chinook to be harsher). The 45 minute addition doesn't do you much good, there's no flavor to be had from that addition yet you're not getting as many IBUs as you would if you boiled those for 60 minutes. Dryhopping is almost a much for an IPA for the "nose," and I would think about a very late (1 minute or at flameout) addition for a little more aroma. Cascade's a real nice choice for a domestic IPA.

Cali Ale's a good yeast choice; if you want even simpler, go with the dry US-56 (or I think they're calling it -05 now).
 
Ok, again, sorry for obsessing... Here's my final revision as I have already bought my ingredients

For 3 gallons:

5.50 lb. British pale
.25 lb. American crystal 40L
1 lb. American Vienna

.50 oz. Centennial (9.5% AA, 60 min.)
.25 oz. Centennial (9.5% AA, 30 min.)
.50 oz. Amarillo (8.9% AA, 30 min.)
.50 oz. Amarillo (8.9% AA, 15 min.)
1.00 oz. Cascade (5.8% AA aroma)
1.00 oz. (or so) Cascade (5.8% AA dryhop)

Calculations put it @ 79 IBUs and (hopefully) 75% effeciency it should be about 1.063.

I have an ounce of Amarillo, an ounce of Centennial and two ounces of Cascades to work with... how's it look now?
 
Definitely looks tasty:rockin: . I like the hop additions, should be nice! I love centennial and cascade, never used Amarillo.



Dan
 
I'll chime in here as well. Thanks to Bird, you have a better grain bill for sure for 3 gallons. Plus, I love Vienna! :D

Anyway, for my thoughts, the hops schedule I would use would be:

.50 oz. Columbus 60 min
.50 oz. Amarillo 15 min
.50 oz. Cenntenial 5 min

.25 oz. Cascade dryhop
.25 oz. Amarillo dryhop

You will come out with a nice citrusy IPA for sure, and in my opinion, if you use Amarillo at all, use Columbus to bitter.
 
Just brewed an APA a few weeks ago and my recipe is very similar so I figured I'd post it for comparison purposes. It was a 5 gallon batch that was mashed at 152 degrees for 60 minutes. It has been sitting in the secondary for 7 days and counting. I plan for another 7 days until I'm ready to bottle. Transfer from the primary to secondary smelled fantastic, but I resisted the urge to take a sip prematurely.

5 lb Extra Light DME
2 lb Munich
2 lb American 2-row
1 lb Crystal 40L
0.5 lb Carapils


.5 oz Centennial 60 min

.5 oz Centennial 40 min

.5 oz Cascade 30 min

.5 oz Cascade 20 min

1 oz Cascade 10 min

1 oz Cascade 2 min


[FONT=&quot]1 oz: [FONT=&quot]Amarillo[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot] dry hop

WLP001 - California Ale Yeast

I know the 40 and 30 minute additions probably won't do too much, but I thought it may give the brew a little more balance. Dogfish Head's best selling beer is continuously hopped throughout the entire boil. It must contribute something. I'll let you know how it turns out.

For my next attempt, I'll probably up the 2-row and cut back on the DME and maybe the Crystal.
[/FONT]
 
knipknup said:
All IPAs are good, even the bad ones. I like your final version and you will like it. How did the brew go?


Thanks for the encouragement! I'm sure it'll be fine too.

Oh, brewday is in the morning... I'll let you know around 1pm :)
 
Brew day went very well, with the exception of a few minor problems:

I received two minor steam burns to my wrist and index finger :drunk: and the tubing on my MLT came off once and sprayed me with 170 degree wort briefly which was fun... and I'm sure I didn't think to add more water to the MLT to make up the lost difference, but that's ok.

I hit most of my marks dead on. Mash temp came out to 152/153, my water volume calculations were dead on and I ended up with just shy of my planned three gallons, so I'm good! 69% efficiency, 1.058 OG (just shy of my estimated 1.063) 82 IBUS :))), so yeah... time to shower.

Thanks again everyone, this is sure to be my best brew yet. I'm getting really good at this, with your help of course!
 
Back
Top