A few recipe questions.

Sadly I am at work and need answers ASAP, a brewing day tomorrow.

Here is my first recipe I have concocted all by myself:

Extract, IPA w/honey

.75 Munich
.25 Belgian Biscuit

6 Lbs. Light LME
1 lb. Light LME

1.5 oz Chinook at 50,40,30
.5 Fuggles at 10
About 48 IBU

?Honey?

California Ale Yeast.

Question: How much Honey should I use and when? I was thinking about 1 during boil, and another 1 lb in secondary. Is that too much? I am looking for a good after tastes that balances with the bitterness of the Chinook.

Thank you in advance!

Is that 7 lbs. of LME?
With 1 lb. of honey at the end of the boil you will have a gravity of around 1.065 in 5 gals. What do you want your gravity to be? Also, what is the Alpha Acid % of the Chinook? Are you adding 1.5 oz for each of the 50, 40, 30 min. stages?
mark
Beer Diary...

Sorry,
6 lbs. LME
1 lb. DME

Alpha Acid is 11%

Looking at about 1.055-1.065 for SG

.5 oz hops at each 50 40 and 30 intervals

sorry i rushed through it

Couple of things jump out at me:

That's a lot of Chinook hops! They're a really assertive flavor. That's fine as long as you're expecting something pretty extreme, but it strikes me as a little imbalanced to have so many aggressive bittering hop additions and so little in the way of later flavor/aroma hops. Not to say it won't work, it's just a little unusual.

What are you planning to do with the Munich and Biscuit grains? Are you set up for a mini mash, or do you just steep? Be aware that Munich and Biscuit are not fully converted, so you won't get much out of these just by steeping. They really need a mash (ideally along with some base malt since Munich only has enough diastatic power to self convert, and Biscuit has none) to be useful.

Good luck getting any honey flavor in an IPA. A pound or two will boost your alcohol, while lightening and drying out your beer, but you won't get any real honey flavor. Honey is very subtle and even huge amounts of it will be totally lost under that amount of hops.

What if I replaced some of the Chinook with Cascade, probably late additions, would that help make the recipe more balanced?

As for the honey, I just want a good finish, not really looking for the honey flavor.

Similar to adding sugar to a beer, honey will ferment completely leaving a fairly dry beer. There is some subtle honey flavors but no sweetness. It can be added after flame out or as the primary ferment slows, or as you suggest both.

A couple pounds of honey will be subtle but probably detectable if you know what you are looking for. I don't feel that fermented honey tastes much like honey but it is very good. I have made quite a few meads that I really enjoy.

Be aware that adding honey will have the same effect on OG as adding LME however the FG should remain unchanged from what it would be without the honey.

I love Chinook hops in an IPA. Arrogant Bastard is a good commercial example of an all Chinook beer (though not an IPA). However I do agree that there should be more late hops additions. I would use more hops at 60min then skip the 40 and 30 min addition, instead increase the additions between 15 and 0. I like Chinook even as late additions. Cascades, Centennial, or similar hops also work well with Chinook. I don't think Fuggles compliments the Chinook as well, however if thats the flavors you want to try then go for it.

Craig

If you add 1.25oz. of the Chinook for 60 of the boil that should give you around 55 IBU's which is a good start to an IPA with an o.g. of 1.065. Then consider adding enough at 10 or 15mins and another addition for 1 or 2 mins to reach at least 65 IBU's or a 1:1 ratio of bitterness to original gravity, or more or less depending on how bitter you like it.
mark
Beer Diary...

Thanks for the help....

here is what I am going to do...pending approval

1oz. Chinook at 60 min
.5 oz Chinook at 15 min
1 oz Cascade at 10 min

For the honey...1 lb at flame out than another after the krausen has fallen. Would you suggest adding honey in secondary or just using primary?

Maybe take a sample after primary and see what it tastes like prior to adding more honey. If you still want to add, then do it in primary.
mark
Beer Diary...

just brew it, see what happens; or maybe I am wrong and a giant spider will jump out and eat your face because you didnt worry enough

hopsalot said:

just brew it, see what happens; or maybe I am wrong and a giant spider will jump out and eat your face because you didnt worry enough

Click to expand...

Worry...about Beer? Not Me.

I'll keep the can of raid handy