IPA malt advice

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.

DanOmite

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
68
Reaction score
0
Location
San Diego, CA
Hey, I am going to be brewing another IPA soon with some buddies and I was wondering if there was any way to cut the cost of brewing; namely, the cost of DME and LME. Could I use less DME and or LME and then add something else to increase my final alcohol content?

I have read about dextrin and corn sugar, but I am not sure how and when to use them.

The thing that is killing all of us is the LME / DME, that stuff is expensive. So, is there a way to reduce the amount we need by adding in something else that is a bit cheaper? I want to aim for about 8%ABV for the next one...

Here is the recipe we are working on...

Ingredients

Malt
• 6 lb Extra Light DME
------> something else here?<-------------
Specialty Grains
• 1 lb Crystal 15 L
Extra Stuff
• 1 tablespoon Irish Moss
Hops
• 1.0 oz Columbus (60 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (60 minutes
• 0.5 oz Centennial (15 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (15 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Centennial (5 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (5 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (0 minutes)
Yeast
• Safale US-05
• Nutrients

Also, what do you think of those hops? It's kind of a take on the jaded dog recipe. It's definitely dominated by the columbus and centennial's though. Do you think the Amarillo's will still come through?
 
Yep. I've been doing partial grains and gradually using more grain and less LME. As the needle swings that way, my costs go down dramatically, and it really isn't much harder than doing straight extract brewing. Just adds a couple steps and most of that time involves sitting and watching World Poker Tour on my DVR while the grains sit in my kitchen mashing. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
 
There is nothing wrong with adding about 8oz to 1lb of sugar (corn or cane) to an IPA. It will make it drier, but I like my IPAs dry.

With or without the sugar, I like to aim for an OG:IBU ration of 1:1, keep that in mind when adding the sugar in there.

When using sugar, I usually add it at the beginning of the boil, but since you are looking to save, add it with about 5 minutes left in the boil. This will give you more bang for your buck with the hops. Adding it 5 minutes left will have no effect on the IBU calculations.
 
Consider saving money simply by purchasing some grain, and reducing the amount of DME.

It's not hard at all! If you can steep crystal, you can do a partial mash. For an IPA, you can use some corn sugar, but I wouldn't in an APA.

I'll give you an example. This is your recipe, in two PM versions:

• 6 lb Extra Light DME
• 1 lb Crystal 15 L
() 2 pounds pale malt

Hops
• 1.0 oz Columbus (60 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (60 minutes
• 0.5 oz Centennial (15 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (15 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Centennial (5 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (5 minutes)
• 0.5 oz Amarillo (0 minutes)

This just increased your OG from 1.053 to 1.067. That's an ABV boost of approximately 1% ABV. From 5.16 to 6.54 % ABV. Just by adding $2 worth of malt. Not only that, but a better tasting beer.

Next example:
3 lb Extra Light DME
1 lb Crystal 15 L
5 pounds pale malt

This gives an OG of approximately 1.056, so about 5.25 % abv, using 3 pounds less of DME. If you buy DME at $13 for 3 pounds, you saved about $8 right there.

If you toss in a pound of corn sugar, that will give you even more fermentables in this beer- an OG of 1.066 for an ABV of about 6.3%

To make it even more interesting, you could use some other malts like victory malt, Vienna malt, Munich malt, aromatic malt, etc. And it's easy! Just put the grains (crushed) in a grain bag, and mash (steep) in 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain at 154 degrees for 45 minutes. Lift out the grains, and either pour a gallon of 170 degree water over it, or dunk the grain bag in the fresh 170 degree water, and combine the liquids. That's it! No harder than steeping, but it can save you money. And give better tasting beer, with more possibilities for using other malts as well.
 
You can even do it without the grain bag if you have a big spaghetti pot. Just put your gains and water in the pot without the bag and mash it. After 45 minutes, pour it out through a strainer and dump the grain back into the spaghetti pot and add your 170 degree water. Give it a good stir and then pour that into your brew pot through the strainer. Easy as pie!

And to keep it at 154 for the 45 minutes, just stick it in a warm oven.

Like I said, the more grain I used, the less LME I had to use, so the cheaper it got and the better tasting my beer got from using real grain instead of LME for all my fermentables.
 
Also, what do you think of those hops? It's kind of a take on the jaded dog recipe. It's definitely dominated by the columbus and centennial's though. Do you think the Amarillo's will still come through?

Depends what you mean by "come through", but it will certainly make an impact, and one that would be different than if you were to use something else. I love amarillo, so I would replace them, or omit them, or anything like that.

My general hop philosphy is that I don't want to be able to pick out individual hops in my brew. Rather, I want to create a 'profile' that is unique to the beer. That said, Simcoe is very distinctive to me, so I can often guess that it is in a beer from the taste. Likewise, a brewer with a good palate might be able to pick out that used amarillo in this.

So, yay, it will come through.
 
Back
Top