Noobie, Extract IPA Recipe Advice / Critique

Hello, (hope this is in the right forum)

First Post, glad to be here!!! I'm fairly new to brewing... Like a lot of people I started out doing the Mr. Beer thing... I've brewed that stuff for a little over a year. So, I would like to say I know the basics and have done a little research. I have now moved to doing my first non-MB extracts. I still brew 2.5 gallon batches because I live in an apartment and my MB fermenters fit so nicely in my closet.

I am trying to create my first IPA on my own based off a few recipe's I've found here and elsewhere. I really would just like another to eye the recipe and see if I made any flaws or anything just looks wacky. Thanks in advance.

Note: I created this brew in beersmith and it seems to agree it will turn out to be an IPA

2.5 gallon batch...

Recipe - INTERN ... IPA


.5 lbs Crystal Mal 60L - Crushed ... Steep 30 mins in 1.5 gallons of water.
3 lbs Extra Light DME - 1 lb @ 30 / 2lb @ 10 mins
.5 oz Warrior Hops - Added @ 30
.5 oz Amarillo Hops - Added @ 15
1/10 tsp Irish Moss - Added @ 15
.5 lbs Honey @ flameoff.
Safale US-05

.5oz Amarillo hops Dry Hopped for 4 days.


Any advice would be great!

Cheers!

For a 5 gallon batch I would say your .5 lb Crystal is spot on, but since you're doing 2.5 gallon batches I'd say to back off a bit on the Crystal to .25 lb. I don't know what the AA% of your hops are, but that seems a little weak for an IPA hop bill. I'd add some more addition between 15 min and flame out as well as increase the dry hop amount to 1.5 - 2 oz or so. That way you get big hop aroma and flavor with the clean bitterness from the Warrior. The way you have it now it seems like a APA hop bill with an IPA grain bill which will lead to the perception of excessive sweetness.

Thanks for the reply!

I tend to agree with you on the mixing of styles, as I am a fairly new I just kind of threw this together. The hops I am using are Warrior 15% and ended up using Cascade 5.5% as midwest was out of Amarillo. I also agree with you about the crystal malt I think I will use .25 like you suggested Could you maybe tell me how you would modify the recipe to make a true IPA?

Cheers!

I threw your recipe into BeerSmith then modified it how I would do it and here's what I came up with:

3.5 # Extra Light DME
.25 # Crystal 60L

.5 oz Warrior (15%) 60 minutes
.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) 15 minutes
.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) 10 minutes
.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) 5 minutes
.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) 0 minutes

Ferment with US-05

2 oz Cascade (5.5%) Dry Hop for 7 days

Awesome! Nuke, Thank you! I might have to try this next time! Im going to plug this into beersmith and save it!

Anyone else have any other advice?