Recipe Critique - Fibonacci Downward Spiral IIPA

So I know there are dozens of IIPA recipes/threads, but I had an idea this morning that might be a little gimmicky...but dammit I want to do it.

I was daydreaming about possible brewery names while getting ready for work this morning, and suddenly had what I thought was a cool idea:

Fibonacci Brewery - "Beer by the Numbers", with possible brews like:

'Golden Ratio' Light Lager
'Sequence' Porter
'Downward Spiral' IIPA

And to make it unique, here is my recipe for the 'Downward Spiral' IIPA:

-20.0 lbs Briess Pale Malt
-2.0 lbs Weyermann Vienna
-1.0 lbs Briess 2 Row Cara 10
-1.0 lbs Weyermann Carafoam
-4.0 oz Honey Malt
-1.0 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (at 20 minute mark in boil)

-1.0 oz Columbus Hops (89 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Nugget Hops (55 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Centennial Hops (34 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Cascade Hops (21 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Centennial Hops (13 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Cascade Hops (8 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Centennial Hops (5 Minutes)
-0.5 oz Cascade Hops (3 Minutes)
-0.5 oz Centennial Hops (2 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Simcoe Hops (1 Minutes)
-1.0 oz Amarillo Hops (1 Minutes)

-2.0 oz Centennial Hops (Dry Hop 7 days)
-2.0 oz Cascade Hops (Dry Hop 7 days)

-0.5 Whirlfloc Tabs (10 Minutes)

Mash at 152* for 60 mins, 90 minute boil, is supposed to make 5g from recipe. Pitching S-05.

I didn't use any sort of beer calculator, just kind of winged it based on similar IIPA grain bills/hop schedules, of course with the twist of the Fibonacci series for the timing of hop additions. So I don't have any idea what the OG/FG/ABV/IBU/SRM would be.

This is a rough draft, and obviously will require a good bit of tweaking. The only thing that really CAN'T change (without losing the gimmick) is the timing of the hop additions.

Any thoughts?

Just so you know, I brewed a Fibonacci IPA a few months ago, so I'll take the credit I just posted the recipe I made, then saw your post as a recommended thread. The Fibonacci Sequence is about as perfect as it gets for hop additions - a couple bittering, a few flavor, and lots of aroma. Definitely a good schedule for IPA / IIPA.


It was a very good beer, IMO. I wish I had more time for brewing so I could play with the recipe. I would strongly suggest brewing it. It may be gimmicky, but who cares - the results are the only thing that matter.

And, the Fibonacci Brewpup just sounds cool.

I was trying to think of other mathematical sequences that would lend themselves as perfectly as the Fibonacci Sequence, but I'm not a mathematician.

Pi-PA

merlin306 said:

Just so you know, I brewed a Fibonacci IPA a few months ago, so I'll take the credit I just posted the recipe I made, then saw your post as a recommended thread. The Fibonacci Sequence is about as perfect as it gets for hop additions - a couple bittering, a few flavor, and lots of aroma. Definitely a good schedule for IPA / IIPA.


It was a very good beer, IMO. I wish I had more time for brewing so I could play with the recipe. I would strongly suggest brewing it. It may be gimmicky, but who cares - the results are the only thing that matter.

And, the Fibonacci Brewpup just sounds cool.

I was trying to think of other mathematical sequences that would lend themselves as perfectly as the Fibonacci Sequence, but I'm not a mathematician.

Click to expand...

I actually just saw your thread on the Fibonacci IPA and thought it was this one I started...needless to say I was very confused where my original post when when it sunk in that someone else had the same idea!

Glad it turned out well for you, I am thinking of brewing a half-batch this coming weekend to test it out. Only change is that my local homebrew shop didn't have any Amarillo hops for my 1 min addition, so I started talking with the 2 guys behind the counter about good candidates for replacement hops. After throwing around a few ideas one of the recommended Galaxy hops, which he said can give nice passionfruit flavors/aromas. Well, I guess I'll get to find out.

Honestly when I thought about adding something called Galaxy to a Spiral-themed beer...I just couldn't say no!:cross:

Also, in your thread someone mentioned not doing a 89 min addition, but I recently brewed a clone of Stone Ruination that called for a 90 min addition in a 90 min boil, so I don't think there is anything wrong with it... granted, my clone is still bottle conditioning, so I can't 100% attest to it being good, but so far when I tasted it green, it seems like it should finish off to be really really good.

I think you guys are onto a cool idea. Maybe a bit of a gimmick, but it's interesting how well that series fits the hop additions.

Techniically, I think you could have a 0 minute addition (flameout) as well.

I used a 0 minute addition.

I have a feeling all of my IPA's (and other PA's) will follow this schedule. It sounds like a good theme for my brewery!

I've never been a real stickler for what kind of hops to use for specific flavors / aromas. My recipe is definitely open for interpretation.

If you brew one, let me know how it turns out.

I was thinking about a Fibonacci RyePA for the next batch.

It's interesting to think that hop cones grow by the fibonacci sequence. Hmmmm....

It would be out of order and kind of not keeping with the theme but what about FWH, could they also be counted as 0 minutes since they technically go in before the boil starts??

brewswellwithothers said:

It would be out of order and kind of not keeping with the theme but what about FWH, could they also be counted as 0 minutes since they technically go in before the boil starts??

Click to expand...

What you could do is hops in the mash. Some recipess call for this.

If the mash rest was 55 minutes, then the Mash Hop addition would technically be 144 (89m boil plus 55m mash), the next number in the series.

Maybe that's a stretch.

merlin306 said:

I was trying to think of other mathematical sequences that would lend themselves as perfectly as the Fibonacci Sequence, but I'm not a mathematician.

Click to expand...

Well, you could go with the triangular number sequence:
x=n(n+1)/2
Which ends up to look like: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45 ... etc.

OR.

Another sequence that would be good for hop additions would probably be Square numbers.
x^2
Which looks like: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64.... and so on.

Either one could work well with hop additions. The triangular would be good for another IIPA, and the cube could be good as well.

The fibonacci series is the most fascinating one though because of how it grows. I dunno, I saw this thread and was quite intrigued. Im a math teacher by the way so thats why it caught my eye.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised you didn't think about the grains as well!

LowNotes said:

-20.0 lbs Briess Pale Malt
-2.0 lbs Weyermann Vienna
-1.0 lbs Briess 2 Row Cara 10
-1.0 lbs Weyermann Carafoam
-4.0 oz Honey Malt
-1.0 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (at 20 minute mark in boil)

Click to expand...

Why not try changing up the grain bill to reflect the first 7 numbers? You could try
-13 lbs. Briess 2-row
-8 lbs. Briess 6-row
-5 lbs. Vienna
-3 lbs. Biscuit/Victory
-2 lbs. Dextrin/Carapils
-1 lb. Honey malt
-1 lb. Dextrose

You could even swap out something for munich or some other delicious paler grain. Just a thought!

Now we're talking!

All right.... who's got a recipe for PrimeIPA and SquaredIPA?????? Both seem logical enough.

It's unfortunate that the obvious name for the prime IPA is already taken I'll try and work on some mathematical recipes this weekend. Nerds + Beer = World Domination.