Help/Input for my first IPA

I bought a brewers best Ipa kit but want to make some changes since I want a MUCH hoppier beer than they were offering. I have some left over hops from other brews and started fooling around with the brewing calculator on beercalculus.com... here's what I was thinking.

6.6 Muntons LME
1lb Crystal 60L
1lb Crystal 10L (my addition)
.8oz Crushed Victory

2oz Cascade 60min
1oz Hallertau 10min (my addition)
1oz Cascade 5min
1oz Gallena 5min (my addition)
(all my hops are pellets)


Switch from Windsor Dry Ale Yeast to WhiteLabs American Ale (WLP060)

OG - 1.059
FG - 1.014
Alcohol - 6% abv


I still have 1oz Galena, 1oz Czech Saaz that I could add.

I know the Galena has a crazy high AA. Whats the best way to use these Finishing, bittering, or dry??

I also have a HUGE brewpot and could boil the whole 5 gallons. Is this a good idea?

I'd also like to up the alcohol % for all the obvious reasons:rockin:

Any suggestions?? I'm going to my LHBS in a few hours. I would like this to be a special brew since its my Election Day IPA (it'll be a brew of celebration... hopefully).

Wouldnt a late Galena addition mostly add hop aroma? If you added it alot earlier then that it would make a much more bitter taste.

halvey said:

I bought a brewers best Ipa kit but want to make some changes since I want a MUCH hoppier beer than they were offering. I have some left over hops from other brews and started fooling around with the brewing calculator on beercalculus.com... here's what I was thinking.

6.6 Muntons LME
1oz Crystal 60L
1oz Crystal 10L (my addition)
.8oz Crushed Victory

2oz Cascade 60min
1oz Hallertau 10min (my addition)
1oz Cascade 5min
1oz Gallena 5min (my addition)
(all my hops are pellets)


Switch from Windsor Dry Ale Yeast to WhiteLabs American Ale (WLP060)

OG - 1.059
FG - 1.014
Alcohol - 6% abv


I still have 1oz Galena, 1oz Czech Saaz that I could add.

I know the Galena has a crazy high AA. Whats the best way to use these Finishing, bittering, or dry??

I also have a HUGE brewpot and could boil the whole 5 gallons. Is this a good idea?

I'd also like to up the alcohol % for all the obvious reasons:rockin:

Any suggestions?? I'm going to my LHBS in a few hours. I would like this to be a special brew since its my Election Day IPA (it'll be a brew of celebration... hopefully).

Click to expand...

I'd use the Galena for bittering. Do something like:

1 oz Galena 10-14% aa 60 min
1 oz Cascade 5-7% aa 30 min
1 oz Cascade 5-7% aa 15 min
1 oz Cascade 5-7% aa 0 min

this should get you around +50IBUs and plenty of hop flavor/aroma, maybe dry hop 1-2 oz Cascade...Both saaz and hallertauer would get lost in the cascades so I wouldn't use them in this style (American IPA)but that's personal preference.

The grain amounts seem weird, a half pound of each crystal and 1/4-1/2 pound victory would work well, and if you add 1-2 pounds 2 row and mini mash you'll get the gravity around 1.059 or so.

yeah, lose the hallertau- that's out of place there and will get "lost" in there.

I'd also bitter with the galena, and move the cascades up to flavor and aroma. What are the AA % of the hops?

I agree the hallertauer, save those for your wheat beers, also agreed the Galena will be more suitable for the style you are going for... Of course, if your pot is big enough boil all of your wort in the same pot. As for alchohol content, I have not used extract in a while but The Beer Recipator - Home is an awesome site that will help you design your beer based on what you want the final product to taste, look and smell.

TeleTwanger said:

The grain amounts seem weird, a half pound of each crystal and 1/4-1/2 pound victory would work well, and if you add 1-2 pounds 2 row and mini mash you'll get the gravity around 1.059 or so.

Click to expand...

I'd rather not mini-mash since this is only my third batch. I already have a lb of the 60. The 10 was an addition I made- in the calculator it made the alcohol% go up. Should I just stick with the 60?

YooperBrew said:

I'd also bitter with the galena, and move the cascades up to flavor and aroma. What are the AA % of the hops?

Click to expand...

The only AA's I have are for the cascades @ 6.3.
All the other packages don't say.

halvey said:

I'd rather not mini-mash since this is only my third batch. I already have a lb of the 60. The 10 was an addition I made- in the calculator it made the alcohol% go up. Should I just stick with the 60?



The only AA's I have are for the cascades @ 6.3.
All the other packages don't say.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't do more than 1 lbs crystal otherwise it may become too sweet. Without mashing any grains your og may go up from the crystal but the fg will be higher.... so maybe do a little less bittering hops(cut the 30 and 15min hops to .5oz each). With 6.6lbs lme +1.5 lbs steeped grains I'm getting around 1.053.

I love using Amarillo in my IPAs - Especially to dry hop... mmmmm!

Cascade and Amarillo always serve me well – but that might not be adventurous enough for an election day IPA.

hopsalot said:

As for alchohol content, I have not used extract in a while but The Beer Recipator - Home is an awesome site that will help you design your beer based on what you want the final product to taste, look and smell.

Click to expand...

Wow!! Awesome resource! Thanks...

But how do I judge what my FG will be? Or will I choose that when I decide when to bottle it?

halvey said:

I'd rather not mini-mash since this is only my third batch. I already have a lb of the 60. The 10 was an addition I made- in the calculator it made the alcohol% go up. Should I just stick with the 60?



The only AA's I have are for the cascades @ 6.3.
All the other packages don't say.

Click to expand...

Well, two pounds of crystal is at least one pound too much. So, you should lose one of them. You won't get fermentables from them- I don't know why your ABV% went up in the calculator.

If you're using victory malt, you're mini mashing. Victory must be mashed. So, put the crystal you're using (one pound only) and the victory in the grain bag with 3 quarts of water at 153 degrees, and keep it there for 45 minutes "dunking" the grain bag. Then rinse that grain bag by lifting it up into a colander over the pot, and use .5 gallon of 170 degree water to rinse them. Then, bring the boil volume up to 5.5 gallons (or whatever your boil volume is) by adding water.

I'd recommend this, then:
6.6 pounds LME
1 pound crystal 60L
1/2 pound victory malt

1 ounce Galena 60 minutes
1 ounce cascade 15 minutes
1 ounce cascade 5 minutes
1 ounce cascade flameout.

I'd move the cascade to 15 minutes or less, because you'll have plenty of bittering from the galena, and you want the hoppy flavor so that's why I did all those late additions. If that seems too much, you can reduce those additions to .5 ounce, and use the remainder for dryhopping.

Do you have a wort chiller? It takes a really, really long time to chill 5 gallons of wort without one.

I agree with cutting the crystal to one lb total, but you might want to go a half pound of each instead of just all of one.

Also, with the recipe I posted and the yeast you're planning, you could expect a OG of about 1.059 and a FG of about 1.014, for an ABV of 5.9% and IBUs of 55.5 or so. That would be hoppy, but still balanced.

YooperBrew said:

If you're using victory malt, you're mini mashing. Victory must be mashed. So, put the crystal you're using (one pound only) and the victory in the grain bag with 3 quarts of water at 153 degrees, and keep it there for 45 minutes "dunking" the grain bag. Then rinse that grain bag by lifting it up into a colander over the pot, and use .5 gallon of 170 degree water to rinse them. Then, bring the boil volume up to 5.5 gallons (or whatever your boil volume is) by adding water.

Click to expand...

Doesn't sound too hard. My only question is what is a colander?

Edit: Smarter minds have spoken.

halvey said:

Doesn't sound too hard. My only question is what is a colander?

Click to expand...

A metal strainer in your kitchen. It has holes to drain water. Something you would use for say pasta or steamed vegetables.

halvey said:

Doesn't sound too hard. My only question is what is a colander?

Click to expand...

I used to use a stainless steel 15qt colander I got at KMart, 'Martha Stewart Living' collection that worked great, "It's a good thing" I don't think MS is sold at KMart anymore though so it's not such a good thing now, but Macy's has her.

Thanks Everyone!! Looks like I got a solid recipe now!
Off to the LHBS for me-
I'll update tonight when I get it going.

halvey said:

Thanks Everyone!! Looks like I got a solid recipe now!
Off to the LHBS for me-
I'll update tonight when I get it going.

Click to expand...

10 bucks says your LHBS will try to change the recipe.

Just for the record, I don't agree that two pounds of crystal malt is too much in that beer, although a full pound of 10L might be a little weird. In any case, you just need the IBUs to back it so that crystal does not become cloying. Two pounds probably would add a nice malty backbone, so long as it was balanced.


TL

EMERGENCY!!
I bought a new carboy today and I left the bag at the store with the cork and airlock in it.
I have an amber that is almost done in secondary, can I cap it with serran wrap and use that airlock? Any other suggestions?

Plastic wrap is probably your best bet. I know some folks here have done it a few times for similar emergencies.

A couple options:
- you could rig up a blow-off tube (but only if you have handy some extra tubing and another bung or stopper).
- cover with saran or aluminum foil (spray the bottom with sanitizer first), but get the proper blow-off or airlock installed asap. The main thing you want to do tonight is keep out wild yeasts and/or bacteria until you can get the airlock in place.

One last note: Don't worry - the beer will be fine.

Everything went well last night except for the airlock emergency. But all is well and I believe my Election Day IPA will be my best brew yet (#3).

The minimash went well. But instead of .5 gallons of rinse I used about 1.5. But I'm now thinking I shouldnt have because when I tasted it there was a very strong carmel/grain taste and I couldnt taste much/any hops. Did this change my recipe.

Dryhopping? Any suggestions?

The OG was 1.045. A little lower than I thought it would be. Its a really nice amber color and the yeast pitched well. (I spilled a little like an idiot when opening the vial but only lost a tiny bit.)

I know, i know- relax it'll be fine. And I'm pretty sure it will be but I want to update everyone who helped yesterday. Thanks Again!

dry hopping an American IPA is easy...Just pick any of the 'C' hops or a combo of 'C' plus Northern Brewer, Simcoe, Amarillo, whatever...Palmer's book has a good rundown of the hops and their general uses.

Wanted to let everyone know that I tasted a little of this brew yesterday and it's REALLY good. A few more days of secondary and then on to bottling!

BTW.. I ended up dry hopping .5 amarillo when I first racked and then I added 1.5 oz yesterday. I'm planning in bottling in the next couple days.

Sorry this is such a noobish question but...

I know an IPA is a really hoppy beer. But is it considered so hoppy because of all of the bittering hops used or because of all of the hops used near the end of the boil + any dry hoppying or is it just simply a combination of both?