citra ipa recipe critique

Hey guys I'm gonna do my second ag batch as a citra IPA. I could use some help with the recipe. Here's what I got:

Batch size: 5
12# two row
1.5# crystal 15

Hops
0.85 oz Magnum %12.1 60 mins
1.00 oz citra %14 10 mins
1.00 oz citra 5 mins
1.00 oz citra flame out
2.00 oz citra dry hop at 14 days? Not sure about this and how long to keep it in there.

What do you guys think? Shoul i add something to the grain bill or is that OK? As far as hops I have 1# citra, 1# magnum, 1# cascade, .5 # of Amarillo and simcoe. Should I change add hops or timings? I've never had a citra IPA which is why I was thinking of using all flavor / aroma hops so I could get a feel for it. Thanks!

That grain bill is almost identical to the next brew I have in the pipeline. Mine will be:

• 12# two-row
• 1.5# Crystal 20
• 0.5# Munich

Hops look good too. I am going to try and experiment with my dry-hops though. In the past I have tossed everything in at the beginning and let it sit for the full 14 days. This time around I am going to blend my dry hops (1 oz. Citra & 1 oz. Chinook) and toss in 0.5 oz of the mixture every 3 to 4 days then let it sit 2 days after the final addition and go to bottles. I am hoping this will make for a fresher aroma at bottling.

Either way, 14 days is about perfect for dry-hopping with 2 oz. If you were using like 4oz.+ I would cut back the time a little, maybe 10 days, to avoid the vegetative flavors people speak of.

Either way, the recipe looks good. Let us know how it goes!

Nice I am excited to make it haha! What's the Munich do for your recipe? And this will be my first time dry hopping so I'm a little nervous. I am thinking I may just throw it in the Primary since I normally don't secondary...any thoughts on that?

I prefer my IPAs a little less sweet so I'd reduce the crystal to a pound or less, probably less. I'd also increase the 2 row for a little higher ABV to balance it out with the increased bitterness.

rkbarnes82 said:

I prefer my IPAs a little less sweet so I'd reduce the crystal to a pound or less, probably less. I'd also increase the 2 row for a little higher ABV to balance it out with the increased bitterness.

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The grain bill I'm borrowing from more beers american IPA kit that I made and really liked. It used cascade instead of citra and 1.5 oz of magnum. I kinda liked the kit and it didn't taste too sweet to me but maybe I should bump the magnum up to balance it a bit more?

I used the Munich Malt to slide my IPA closer to the copper color and give it some malty sweetness. I love the wide spectrum of IPAs out there but I find myself drinking more of the IPAs that balance the hop slap with some maltiness. If they are too dry and bitter I tend to drink less... and that's a problem.

I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I have a bunch of Citra I want to try out for the first time.

wobdee said:

I'll be interested to see how this turns out. I have a bunch of Citra I want to try out for the first time.

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I'll will let ya know I just ordered the grains today so if it gets here in time I plan on brewing this Saturday...but we will see. More beer has been taking forever to ship out their products lately.

I think at 2 weeks of fermentation I will dry hop with 2 oz of citra and leave it in the bucket for another week. You all think that is a long enough time??

Plenty of people like Citra straight up but I did it once and found that it seemed like it was lacking something. If you have it I'd toss in some Simcoe at some point, maybe a 15 or 10 minute addition? But that's just me. This will definitely give you a good taste of what Citra offers if that is your goal.

Either way, looks like you're stocked up for some great IPAs in the future with that hop selection.

I agree with rk, I'd do 0.5 c10, 0.5 c20.

I'd drop the crystal to like .6 lb and add in a lb of Vienna...maybe 2

Just did a citra IPA. Used chinook for bittering, all citra at end and I dry hopped with 1 oz of both citra and amarillo for six days. It's plenty chewy, wish I would've cut it to 1.5 oz for 3-4 days.

What you are planning on doing almost mimics Zombie Dust IPA. Search and you should find, but basically it is:
85% Pale Ale
8% Munich
3.5% Crystal 60L
3.5% Carapils
Citra @60, 15, 10, 5, 1 and dry hop

kenlock said:

What you are planning on doing almost mimics Zombie Dust IPA. Search and you should find, but basically it is:
85% Pale Ale
8% Munich
3.5% Crystal 60L
3.5% Carapils
Citra @60, 15, 10, 5, 1 and dry hop

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I did see that but I remember reading that using citra at 60 min can cause unfavorable tastes. Also I was using more beer because I had a gift card there and they were out of a lot of their milled grains such as the carapils.

AHS! AHS! AHS!

They may take 8 days to ship to you but they have a solid inventory and flat rate shipping. I was going to go with morebeer but AHS had better stock and I don't believe they charge for milling.

VTrookie said:

AHS! AHS! AHS!

They may take 8 days to ship to you but they have a solid inventory and flat rate shipping. I was going to go with morebeer but AHS had better stock and I don't believe they charge for milling.

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I have ordered from them before and was happy with them...but I wanted to use this gift card for more beer that was burning a hole in my picket

What do you all think of adding some cascade with citra? Not sure how they would go together or how to change my timings x.x

I would say your hop addition times look good. Cascade would compliment the Citra as they both are citrusy in aroma and flavor. I tend to try and use 1-2 hops when I am first getting into a hop so I know how it behaves and what it adds to the beer. If you start throwing in a bunch of varieties it gets a bit muddled and confusing in terms of sorting out flavors and aromas

Here's what I'm thinking BC I have already done an IPA with same grain bill and cascades...I'll add some citra to this one and be able to get a feel for the hop without over doing it (hopefully).

What do you think of changing the hops to this:

1.00 oz Magnum 60 min
1.00 oz cascade 10 min
0.75 oz citra 10 min
0.75 oz citra 5 min
1.00 oz cascade flame out
1.00 oz citra flame out
1.5 - 2.00? Oz citra dry hop after 14 days for a week.

Would that work together?

kepling5001 said:

Here's what I'm thinking BC I have already done an IPA with same grain bill and cascades...I'll add some citra to this one and be able to get a feel for the hop without over doing it (hopefully).

What do you think of changing the hops to this:

1.00 oz Magnum 60 min
1.00 oz cascade 10 min
0.75 oz citra 10 min
0.75 oz citra 5 min
1.00 oz cascade flame out
1.00 oz citra flame out
1.5 - 2.00? Oz citra dry hop after 14 days for a week.

Would that work together?

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I do an all-citra IPA, and I do the first 1/2oz as a first wort hop and do not dry hop. I let Munich replace a lot of the Crystal 20l. I am a big fan of Biscuit Malt, so there's a half pound as well.

9 8 American Two-row Pale
2 ~ Munich Malt - 10L
1 ~ Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
~ 8 Belgian Biscuit Malt

Do you know the IBU's on your recipe? That's a lot of citra... save some for the rest of us! I get 93.9 IBUs on my recipe using 3oz (0.5oz first wort, 1oz 60 min, 1oz 20 min, 0.5oz 5 min).

high5apparatus said:

I do an all-citra IPA, and I do the first 1/2oz as a first wort hop and do not dry hop. I let Munich replace a lot of the Crystal 20l. I am a big fan of Biscuit Malt, so there's a half pound as well.

9 8 American Two-row Pale
2 ~ Munich Malt - 10L
1 ~ Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
~ 8 Belgian Biscuit Malt

Do you know the IBU's on your recipe? That's a lot of citra... save some for the rest of us! I get 93.9 IBUs on my recipe using 3oz (0.5oz first wort, 1oz 60 min, 1oz 20 min, 0.5oz 5 min).

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I'm out at work so I don't have brewsmith to punch it in I'm using an app called brewr that is not bad for putting recipes together and it only shows the recipe as 66.7 IBU. Prob bc the majority is late additions should I decrease the amount hops? I like a good hop bite but I don't want hop juice.

I think you are right where you want to be. That ounce of magnum will give you enough bitterness and the late citra will give you the flavor and aroma you want I think.

The IPA I am doing this weekend has no hops before 20min then I just dump them in. It definitely increase the amount you need to hit the IBUs you may want but I think it gives a better flavor than boiling the hell out of early additions.

VTrookie said:

I think you are right where you want to be. That ounce of magnum will give you enough bitterness and the late citra will give you the flavor and aroma you want I think.

The IPA I am doing this weekend has no hops before 20min then I just dump them in. It definitely increase the amount you need to hit the IBUs you may want but I think it gives a better flavor than boiling the hell out of early additions.

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Thanks I think so too. Hopefully I'll get to brew this up this weekend....cmon more beer let's ship this out! Gl with your upcoming brew day too vtrookie

Cheers!