My IPA recipe: Opinions wanted.

I guys I'm going to post my IPA recipe I brewed last week. Look for critiques and suggestions. Any input is appreciated.

Extract, 5 gal. batch, 4 gal boil.

Steeping half lb. Pale Ale malt, and half lb. cara hell malt.

LME- 3.3 # Golden Light @60 min. Half a can of amber 3.3 # @ 60 min. ( Other half can of amber added at flameout)

DME- 1 lb. amber and 1/2 lb. of light ( Other 1/2 lb. of light added at flameout).

Hop schedule is in the photo. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

That's a lot of hop varieties going there. Some of the best IPA's I've had kept the varities on the simple side so you could really bring out the hop characteristics that you're looking for.

Yea I was thinking the same. Definitely a hop head, figured I'd use 6 oz. and spread them out a bit. Only 3rd batch so still getting a feel for things...

Gduck said:

That's a lot of hop varieties going there. Some of the best IPA's I've had kept the varities on the simple side so you could really bring out the hop characteristics that you're looking for.

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I agree. I use the Keep It Simple Stupid method for IPA's. Usually one or two hop varieties and I've never had a miss. Most of my favorite commercial IPA's follow the same philosophy.

The overall amount of hops used isn't bad at all. Heck, my neighbor down the road puts about 10 ounces of hops in his pale ales (or small IPA's as some have called them).

Generally with my hoppier beers I'll try to keep it to two, maybe 3 hop varieties depending one how the flavors compliment one another. You can't go wrong with a good cascade/centennial combo...

Thanks guys. Any thoughts my Malt/Hop ratio?

2 things come out at me here.

1 - your bittering additions should put you very near triple digit IBU's. This means you need some serious aroma additions to balance out the flavor profile. I would add your 30 minute addition to your 15 minute addition. I would also move the 5 minute to flame out. This will increase aroma and flavor - which this beer will need desparately.

2 - The willamette will probably be largely overshadowed. If you don't have any to spare, I would save them and the perle for dry hop. You will neeed at least 2oz of some good (aroma) dry hops here. Your nose and tongue will thank you.


~ thats my cheap 2 cents! cheers

MarkInBuffalo said:

Thanks guys. Any thoughts my Malt/Hop ratio?

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i don't brew extract, but i tried my best to plug your numbers in. Sounds like a ~ 1.060 beer

If you added all your extract at the beggining - you would have 116 IBU's just from bittering.

If you took out the Centennial from your bittering and cut the other 2 down to .5oz each, that would net you about 43 IBU's from your bittering. This would be a fantastic platform for doing late additions and increasing flavor. It will also save you some valuable centennial for aroma/flavor or better yet, dry hop.

jammin said:

i don't brew extract, but i tried my best to plug your numbers in. Sounds like a ~ 1.060 beer

If you added all your extract at the beggining - you would have 116 IBU's just from bittering.

If you took out the Centennial from your bittering and cut the other 2 down to .5oz each, that would net you about 43 IBU's from your bittering. This would be a fantastic platform for doing late additions and increasing flavor. It will also save you some valuable centennial for aroma/flavor or better yet, dry hop.

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Thank you. Correct on the calculation, my OG was 1.062. I'm gathering that a heavy dry hopping will help this beer nicely.

Any dry hopping?

sweed said:

Any dry hopping?

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Thinking 2-3 ounces. Any suggestions for countering the bitterness?

MarkInBuffalo said:

Thinking 2-3 ounces. Any suggestions for countering the bitterness?

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Dry hops are added for aroma and wont add additional bitterness, IIRC.

sweed said:

Dry hops are added for aroma and wont add additional bitterness, IIRC.

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Right. I'm wondering if I used too much bittering hops and curious if I can still balance it out even though it's already In primary. Dry hopping is probably my only shot at it, although it will only add aroma.

i wouldnt worry about the bitterness, it'll be high but not enamel stripping. the only thing you can really do anyway is add more sweetness to balance it or give it time to fade & being an IPA you don't want to do that.

as far as the recipe goes, i'd ditch the amber extract for light or extra light. also, no need for that 0.5lb of pale, won't add much flavor and crystal doesnt need to be mashed. may want to swap in 0.5-1lb sugar for some extract to dry it out a lil more since extract isn't quite as fermentable as you'd like in an IPA. i'd also move those 30min hop adds to your 5min add.

dcp27 said:

i wouldnt worry about the bitterness, it'll be high but not enamel stripping. the only thing you can really do anyway is add more sweetness to balance it or give it time to fade & being an IPA you don't want to do that.

as far as the recipe goes, i'd ditch the amber extract for light or extra light. also, no need for that 0.5lb of pale, won't add much flavor and crystal doesnt need to be mashed. may want to swap in 0.5-1lb sugar for some extract to dry it out a lil more since extract isn't quite as fermentable as you'd like in an IPA. i'd also move those 30min hop adds to your 5min add.

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Thanks that sounds like a good plan for future batches