Need Input on my First IPA

Hey guys, I just finished working out the details for my 3rd brew. I've decided to do a IPA, so I wanted to get some input to see if there's anything I should tweak/change to make a better beer. I'm looking to get a clean, crisp, balanced IPA that has good hop characteristics without being overpowering. Here's what I came up with:


Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 2 gal
Estimated OG: 1.072 (75% Efficiency)
Estimated FG: 1.018 (75% Attenuation)
Estimated IBU: 69.4
Estimated SRM: 12.7

Extract/Grains
4 lbs. Light DME
3 lbs. Amber DME
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 40* L
.5 lbs. Toasted Malt 25*L
.5 lbs. Carapils Malt 20*L


Hop Schedule (All Plugs)
1 oz. Columbus 12% - 60 min.
1 oz. Columbus 12% - 40 min.
1 oz. East Kent Goldings 5% - 15 min.
1 oz. East Kent Goldings 5% - 10 min.
1.5 oz Imported Fuggles or Willamette 5% - 0 min
2 oz. Centennial 8% - Dry Hop

Extras
1 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 min.

Yeast
Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yest


I decided to use Columbus because I've heard a lot of good things about them...but that 12% Alpha is kind of intimidating, as I do not like super-bitter beers. However, I bag my hops when adding them to the boil, so I imagine that will probably cut down somewhat on the utilization, correct?

Also, am I way short on the specialty grains? My first two brews were also extract+grain, and I steeped a lot more grain into those brews, but they were also darker brews (a Nut Brown and a Red Ale). Do I need to do a mini-mash on the Crystal, Toasted, and Carapils, or are they non-fermentables that I can just steep into the wort? If these are non-fermentables, I might add another pound or so of DME - should I up the light or the amber DME, or neither?

Basically, does this look like it would make a good IPA? This is the first recipe I've really come up with on my own (my prior two were a kit and a clone recipe), so feel free to critique and criticize as much as you like. I'd definitely like everyone's input on my choice of Grains, Hops, and Yeast.

-Josh

i would up the crystal to at least a pound, get rid of the carapils, add a pound of munich, and use only extra light dme, amber is kind of dark for an ipa. If you want color just use like 1-1.5 lbs. of crystal 80L...if you can mini mash then do it, then you could do something like 2 lbs 2-row, 1 lbs. munich, 1 lbs crystal 80, 1/2 lbs. toasted....its not rocket science, at the very least add more crystal, this will balance out the bitterness from the hops

cheers

Bjorn Borg said:

i would up the crystal to at least a pound, get rid of the carapils, add a pound of munich, and use only extra light dme, amber is kind of dark for an ipa. If you want color just use like 1-1.5 lbs. of crystal 80L...if you can mini mash then do it, then you could do something like 2 lbs 2-row, 1 lbs. munich, 1 lbs crystal 80, 1/2 lbs. toasted....its not rocket science, at the very least add more crystal, this will balance out the bitterness from the hops

cheers

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why get rid of the carapils? I use 0.5 lbs of it in my IPA for head retention and I'm pretty happy with that. I get a head that is almost like the froth on a cappuchino, and there is nothing finer than slurping some of that off the top of the beer. There's so much hop flavor and aroma in the foam, it's a treat all by itself.

Walker-san said:

why get rid of the carapils? I use 0.5 lbs of it in my IPA for head retention and I'm pretty happy with that. I get a head that is almost like the froth on a cappuchino, and there is nothing finer than slurping some of that off the top of the beer. There's so much hop flavor and aroma in the foam, it's a treat all by itself.

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The carapils was a last minute addition, put in for precisely that reason. I definitely want a nice head on this beer so that it will really unleash the complexity derived from all the different hop varieties.

I'd leave it in, but that's just my opinion. One thing I will say is that I'm starting to believe that carapils results in an overall cloudy beer.

I generally throw carapils into almost every beer I make, but I have made a few with out it, and my brew notes indicate that those beers were clearer in the end.

The ESB I have fermenting now has no carapils in it, so I'm interested in seeing how the clarity is when that one is done.

-walker

PS: I agree that you should up the crystal a little bit (1 lb at least). Also, you won't get much sugar out of the othe grains, even with a proper mini-mash, so just assume that your sugar contribution from grain will be ZERO and make sure you have enough extract to hit the abv range you want.

So you DO get the necessary purpose (adding body) from cara-pils by just steeping it?

I thought dextrine powder was used for extract beers and carapils was for AG, cause it needed to be mashed?

Dude said:

So you DO get the necessary purpose (adding body) from cara-pils by just steeping it?

I thought dextrine powder was used for extract beers and carapils was for AG, cause it needed to be mashed?

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I think it does need to be mashed. From How To Brew:

"Dextrin Malt 3 L Also known as American Carapils, this malt is used sparingly and contributes little color but enhances the mouthfeel and perceived body of the beer. A common amount for a five gallon batch is 1/2 lb. Dextrin malt has no diastatic power. It must be mashed; if steeped it will contribute a lot of unconverted starch and cause starch haze."

The question I have is this...can I add the carapils to my water, heat at 158F for 30 minutes, put my bag in a strainer, and pour some 170F water over it while increasing the flame to bring the entire volume of wort above 170F? I know this probably wont be the most efficient method, but will it at least acheive some conversion so that I get the desired effect from the carapils?

I've seen refs both to having to mash it, and not, but I lean towards mashing it. I bet that's what the cloudiness is from.

Our LHBS says it does not need to be mashed. But for every source I've seen that says that, I have seen a source that says to mash it.

BYO's The Wizard even goes so far as to say that Carapils is a very light crystal malt ("cara" = caramel = crystal) which we all agree can just be steeped:

http://byo.com/mrwizard/776.html
here's the relevant section for those that want to skip over the info anbout generic crystal mats:

All the malts you name in your questions are different types of crystal malt. Carapils is produced by Briess in Chilton, Wisconsin and is a very pale crystal malt. Other maltsters make similar products and sometimes use names like
dextrin, dextrin or cara-pils to describe their products.
A dextrin is an unfermentable carbohydrate chain that is not large enough to be considered starch because it does not turn iodine black in the iodine reaction. This can be confusing because dextrins don't have much to do with why these malts react the way they do! Cara-Vienne and Cara-Munich are darker in color than these lightly colored caramel malts.
As far as your friendly debate is concerned, you and your pal are both correct! You are correct in saying that starch is unwanted in beer and that caramel malts do not leave starch in the finished beer. And your friend is correct when he says that caramel malts do improve mouthfeel, body and foam stability! I hope this settles your homebrewing disagreement.

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I don't add enough (in my opinion) to make a dramatic increase in body/mouthfeel, but the touch that I do add DEFINATELY helps with head retention.

-walker

OK, so here's the revised recipe, assuming no conversion from the grains. However, I am going to try to mini-mash them a bit...158F for 30 min in 1.5g, then sparge my grain bag with .5g of 170F water while increasing the flame to bring the wort above 170F...so the OG might be a bit higher, but I'm OK with that Shouldn't be very significant anyway...even if I get 50% efficiency, which I doubt I will, it would only bring my OG up to about 1.073

Changes in Red:
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 2 gal
Target OG: 1.065
Target FG: 1.017 (75% Attenuation)
Estimated IBU: 67.7
Estimated SRM: 12.0
Estimated ABV: 6.4% [(OG - FG)x131 method]

Extract/Grains
7.0 lbs. Extra Light DME
1.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 40* L
0.5 lbs. Toasted Malt 25*L
0.5 lbs. Carapils Malt 20*L


Hop Schedule (Plugs)
1.5 oz. Columbus 12% - 60 min.
0.5 oz. Columbus 12% - 30 min.
1.0 oz. East Kent Goldings 5% - 15 min.
1.0 oz. East Kent Goldings 5% - 5 min.
1.5 oz Imported Fuggles or Willamette 5% - 0 min
1.0 oz. Centennial 8% - Dry Hop
1.0 oz. Chinook 12% - Dry Hop

Extras
1 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 min.

Yeast
Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yeast

The actual recipe will most likely be tweaked a bit, since i doubt my LHBS will have the exact alpha %'s as listed above, so i'll need to adjust the weights to approximate the AAU's I'm going for.

So...any additional comments/suggestions?

JRGSPE73 said:

So...any additional comments/suggestions?

Click to expand...

just one comment: yum

Walker-san said:

just one comment: yum

Click to expand...

Now that's the response I was looking for :rockin:

Thanks for the support guys...I'll post the finalized recipe once I get my ingredients (hopefully this weekend)...and of course I'll let you know how it all turns out.

This forum rocks! :rockin: