A balanced IPA

Hey gang,

I am not a traditional hop head... learning to enjoy them however. Looking to brew an IPA that is well balanced, meaning hoppy but not bitter. A buddy of mine brewed a Pale Ale with Columbus that turned out in the 60 IBU range and quite frankly it's pretty bitter IMO.

So I guess my question is, where do I get started with a recipe. I have BeerSmith so I can adjust as necessary.

Toy4Rick

An IPA by definition is not balanced. It focuses on the hop character.

May I suggest Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde, simply double the hops additions for more hop character, it still won't be an IPA, but may be exactly what you're after.

I find Bell's two hearted ale to actually be a quite balanced IPA. Eshat'z recipe is amazing, and truly a near perfect copy.

A balanced IPA is one where the underlying base beer is not lost or drowned out by the hops. There's a lot of crappy IPAs out there, and they're crappy because there's only a single note in it, just the hops. But in a truly balanced IPA like Bell's, there's still a strong malt character, but being done so in a way not to make a heavy beer. Still very quaffable.

That's a problem I've found with a lot of folks, they think you can take any base beer and just dump a bunch of hops in it, and call it an IPA. That's why there's a lot of thin and waterry, yet in your face hop bombs out there.

I second the Bells 2 Hearted notion. I also love hop flavor/aroma, but I don't like crazy bitter beers. I have brewed Northern Brewer's "Dead Ringer" (a Bells clone) all grain kit before and it is fantastic! I actually just ordered another kit today.

jhoyda said:

An IPA by definition is not balanced. It focuses on the hop character.

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While many of the modern American versions of IPA have morphed into hop delivery systems if you look to historical IPA styles made with richly flavored malt and low-alpha hops it doesn't have to be that way. An IPA can be both very bitter and hoppy but still balanced it just depends on what you want to do.

I'd make it about 6.5-7% ABV to give it a strong malt backbone. Bitter it to 55-60 IBUs and only get 20 of those from the 60 minute addition. Hop-burst for the other 35-40 IBUs with 20 minute and under additions. Or...just hop-burst for all the IBUs.

IPAs are my favorite style, but I'm not into heavily "bitter" either. I like hops aroma and flavor and a strong malt backbone but still a beer that finishes crisp and dry.

Do you have any commercial IPAs that you like, so we can give you recipe suggestions?

Glad I found this thread - not trying to hijack , but this goes along with exactly what I was about to post about. I too am still working into the higher IBU beers. Recently I sampled a buddy's IPA that was delicious. It had a very wort-like sweetness to it that finished with the hops wonderfully. Crawling the forums, it appears this is because the IPA was still "young", and hadn't fully matured in its flavor yet. I have tried it twice more (many weeks apart) and the taste has indeed evolved to a truer IPA taste. I would like to try to do a recipe that could maintain this sort of sweetness throughout. So it appears from previous advise that an IPA recipe is not the way to go, but rather a different type of recipe with additional hops?

On a another note, I recently tried some deschute's Chainbreaker IPA. Anyone have some similar recipes for this?

jscottAT4 said:

Glad I found this thread - not trying to hijack , but this goes along with exactly what I was about to post about. I too am still working into the higher IBU beers. Recently I sampled a buddy's IPA that was delicious. It had a very wort-like sweetness to it that finished with the hops wonderfully. Crawling the forums, it appears this is because the IPA was still "young", and hadn't fully matured in its flavor yet. I have tried it twice more (many weeks apart) and the taste has indeed evolved to a truer IPA taste. I would like to try to do a recipe that could maintain this sort of sweetness throughout. So it appears from previous advise that an IPA recipe is not the way to go, but rather a different type of recipe with additional hops?

On a another note, I recently tried some deschute's Chainbreaker IPA. Anyone have some similar recipes for this?

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We don't have Deshute's beer around here, so I have never had it.

I drink almost all of my IPAs really young, although they aren't bad later. The hops aroma and flavor fades fast, so a young IPA is the best IPA.

A balanced IPA = An oxymoron

The problem is the recipe as a whole does not work; it's not about "balance" of flavor for this style. It's about the beauty of unbalance. Unfortunately, many homebrewers fail at perfecting unbalance. You can't brew an excellent 1.052 OG IPA with 15% crystal and 60 IBUs, 45 of which were attained at the boil start. I suggest shifting 90% the hop focus to later in the boil and the dryhop. And know your hops! Columbus can be quite abrasive for a single hop IPA. Something like Amarillo or Cascade are more pleasant. I like some abrasiveness sometimes though, which is why blending many of these American Pacific Northwest hop varieties can usually produce something great.

bobbrews said:

A balanced IPA = An oxymoron

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You clearly then don't understand the concept of "balanced," in terms of an Ipa if you think that....

Revvy said:

You clearly then don't understand the concept of "balanced," in terms of an Ipa if you think that....

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I do think that. And I clearly understand this style more than most. This is an inherently bitter style of beer that focuses on the hops. As a chef, I am also very familiar with the terms balance and unbalance. I wasn't talking about taking consideration of balancing OG, malt, hops, etc. in terms of recipe building... That is another usage of the word and a given when designing ANY beer recipe. ~ I was talking about "balance vs. unbalance" in terms of the final flavor of the beer. American IPAs are usually not balanced beers in that sense. If you want balance, brew an ESB.

Bitterness and IPAs obviously go together, but I don't think an answer has been provided to your liking nor do I think a bitter mouthfeel is necessary in an IPA. In American IPA is often an abuse of hops, but it can obviously have some fantastic results. It is hop overload, but if it is so bitter that the character of the hops blurs, you failed. Also, it depends on what hops you use. You can make a great IPA with a malty backbone that can swallow up IBUs and leave a product that does not seem bitter at all, but still meet the style guidelines for an American IPA. You need enough bitterness to overcome the sugars obviously, but you can still bomb an IPA with hops and not get bitterness. That is essentially the point of late addition hop bursts and dryhopping, which preserve the volatile oils and flavors without imparting much bitterness. an IPA can be insanely hoppy, yet sweet if you want it to be. I'm currently devising my first recipe for an IPA and my first hop addition is going to be at 10 minutes left in the boil. I will be adding 11 ounces between 10 and 5 minutes left, which should give it enough IBUs to balance as well as a huge hop flavor that does not include overwhelming bitterness. I also plan to dryhop. Obviously, this recipe with 14 ouces for a 10 gallon batch may not be economical for everyone. However, there is a method of hopping called first wort hopping that can help add a perferable hop complexity to you beer. This is when you add hops to the kettle at first runnings and let them soak in the warm wort during sparging. This allows the hop oils time to oxidize to more soluble compounds, which helps preserve them throughout the boil. This is a great way to get a bit of flavor from your bittering hops. If you want a real balance that has a clean malt and hop presence, I would recommend a Czech pilsner. Pilsner Urquell is very pleasant.

Perhaps you'd be better served by a British IPA.

If you order a NB Dead Ringer All Grain kit, as suggested at least twice... it will do what you want. If you prefer not to buy a kit, then follow the recipe for the same beer and put it together yourself... but either way, the Centennial IPA/Bell's clone is awesome, hoppy but not bitter at all.