question about candi syrups (gluten free)

Okay, so this is a tribute to my Columbus, Oh and alma mater roots of OSU.

Friday my wife and newborn will be out of town so I'm planning on brewing up 3 batches. Its hard to brew when you have a baby! This beer will be on the brew deck:
Silver Bullets (all columbus) IPA
3lbs Sorghum Extract
1lb 6oz. brown rice syrup
1lb candi syrup
1lb of corn sugar
1lb of lactose

.5 oz @ 60
.5 oz @ 15
.5 oz @ 5
.5 oz @ 0 minutes

1 oz Dry Hop for 7 days in primary


My question is this: which candi syrup would go better with Columbus hops? D-45 or the simplicity (clear)? I wanted to use the D-45 to make this more scarlet in color and fit with the theme. But I'm not sure if the D-45 would compliment the hops well. Any thoughts?

I used D-45 in the Grapefruit IPA, worked splendidly. Have no fear!

Shortly after this post I was talking to someone who had just brewed Bell's Hopslam. He said he used 4lbs of honey in that to soften the blow of the hops and recommended I do the same.
So when I brewed this I had 2 changes.
1oz of Columbus hops at 60 (don't ask me why)
2 1/2lbs of local honey at flameout instead of candi syrup and corn sugar.

Hey Chasidic, how is your color on this? It sounds very light, maybe around 5 SRM? Just curious because I used almost 3 pounds of soybean honey in my last and my "grain" bill was pretty similar. I was hoping it would be a little darker. It looks more like a Belgian pale than an amber.

It is a milky yellow. It is very light in color.
My hop bag (paint strainer bag) seemed to fail and I didn't strain it before I put it in the primary. So there are A LOT of hops floating around. That will only increase as I dry hop. I'm going to rack it this weekend for the dry hopping and then rack it again before bottling to try to clear it out. I'm not big on aesthetics, but I'd rather not have copious amounts of hops floating in my glass.

I think that by the time you rack, a lot of your sediment will have fallen out. I'm very curious to see how this turns out because its so similar to what I'm brewing and similar time. What yeast are you using?

I'm a former buckeye myself, want to hear how this turns out. Are you getting much of a Sorghum sourness in your beer? I hate the sorghum beers on the market so I brew with millet.

This is a great IPA! It took a long time for the Columbus hops to mellow and for everything to come into its own but I am very pleased with this beer.
2 changes I would make:
8oz of maltodextrine
8oz of lactose
instead of 1lb of lactose like I used. The lactose isn't bad, it adds residual sweetness which pairs well with the columbus hops but it is a bit light in mouthfeel. Other than that, I recommend this IPA.

Did you notice a slight saltiness? Maybe its just me but, I think lactose adds a weird type of salty or mineral taste in my brews. It fades away and I only really notice it when I use lactose in my lighter beers.

No--but I use well water. Not sure what impact that might have but perhaps that can influence the taste.

I use well as well (ha!). Its very hard water though. I only really noticed it when it is young. After a search, it seems that a salty taste in young beer is not that uncommon. The lactose most likely increases the disparity of taste in lighter beers.