Trying new recipe & techniques, advice?

My next brew will be my fourth and I'd like to try a few new things. So far I have just been following the instructions from the tins of extracts, ingredients-wise, but have been following the procedures I've been learning from here, eg 1-2-3 fermenting/conditioning times, cooler fermenting temperatures etc. I also haven't added hops so far but would like to for my next batch.

As such my procedure has pretty much been:
*Put tins (eg Coopers IPA + LME) into sink of hot water to make them easier to empty
*Pour 2L (half gallon) boiling water into fermenter
*Add extracts to water in fermenter
*Stir violently until I get an even liquid texture
*Add top-up water to 23L (6.1G) whilst stirring more
*Pitch dry yeast, keep mixing

That's pretty much it.


Anyway I've put together something I'd like to try:

Malt & Fermentables

% LB OZ °L PPG
64% 7 7.93 Coopers IPA
Boil 5° 34
28% 3 4.91 Coopers Light LME
Boil 3° 34
8% ~ 14.1 Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
Boil 0° 46
11 11
Specific Gravity
1.067 OG
(1.060 to 1.070)
16.4° Plato
1.018 FG
(1.016 to 1.019)
4.6° Plato
Measured Values
Edit Gravities / Edit Color
Color
6° SRM
12° EBC
Yellow to Gold
Hops

Usage Time OZ AA » IBU
boil 60 min 1.764 Citra ~ pellet 11.0 » 55.0
dry hop 7 days 0.882 Cascade ~ pellet 5.5 » 0.0
Bitterness
55.0 IBU
ƒ: Tinseth
19 HBU
BU:GU
0.82
Yeast

Cooper's Ale Dry Yeast
yeast in dry form with medium flocculation and 73% attenuation
Alcohol
6.5% ABV
5.0% ABW

(Sorry for the bad spacing and odd quantities - converted it from metric)


Does this look like a decent IPA?
A recipe like this is totally new to me so all advice is welcome. Beer calculus says I can change 1 tin of IPA for another tin of LME and get almost the same beer if it matters either way?
Do the hop type/addition style seem appropriate?

More importantly, to do this would the procedure change to something more like:

*Boil large pot of water
*Add LME and hop pellets (just throw them in or use a cloth bag or something?)
*Boil for recommended time (about an hour?)
*Turn off heat/stove
*Add IPA tin
*mix
*Pour into fermenter
*Add top-up water
*Pitch yeast (about 17 grams for this?) after cooling to pitching temp

Am I on the right track with my brewing adventure?


Sorry for such a long post and so many newbie questions, just excited and scared to try something new.

I think your recipe is fine, though I'd rather see you add a little dry malt extract instead of corn sugar. (Perhaps I read it wrong, and the sugar is for bottling?)

If you want to have some fun with your hops, instead of boiling 1.75 oz Citra for the full hour, put in 1 oz at the start of your boil, .75 oz about 15 minutes later, then .5 oz Cascade after 30 minutes, .5 oz Cascade at 45 minutes, then dryhop with 1 oz Cascade.

Ok, thanks.
So the procedure I wrote down is the correct way to boil hops and LME together?
The corn sugar was in the recipe not for bottling, I was thinking it might be a very thick beer if I use all that malt and extract as it is?

Yes your procedure is correct. You can put the hop pellets in a bag if you wish, though it isn't necessary. You will want, however, to strain the hops out when you transfer to the fermenter. Don't stress if some of them get into the fermenter.

In general, I am not a fan of putting sugar in my beer. It adds no flavor, and tends to thin it out. You want a nice malt flavor to support all your hops in an IPA. That is, however, just my personal opinion. Many might disagree.

Ok, maybe I will swap the sugar for some DME instead. Thanks again for the help

Also be careful the Citra Ive been buying around here is at 13.9 AA, which is considerable higher than the 11 that hopville automatically chooses. And you are certainly going to want to do a hop addition at later in the boil for flavor. I have been told that Citra at 20-15 is wonderful, and it is great when mixed with cascade for flavor

Oh do what Union above me said.

Anyway what your doing is exactly how I started, I sort of made a coopers IPA with things I had ordered and lying around just so I could get a feel for using hops. After about 4 coopers kits I moved on to boils with speciality grains.

Once you step from coopers to adding ingredients in the boil you REALLY feel like your making beer, and get hooked quick!

JRapp said:

Also be careful the Citra Ive been buying around here is at 13.9 AA, which is considerable higher than the 11 that hopville automatically chooses. And you are certainly going to want to do a hop addition at later in the boil for flavor. I have been told that Citra at 20-15 is wonderful, and it is great when mixed with cascade for flavor

Oh do what Union above me said.

Anyway what your doing is exactly how I started, I sort of made a coopers IPA with things I had ordered and lying around just so I could get a feel for using hops. After about 4 coopers kits I moved on to boils with speciality grains.

Once you step from coopers to adding ingredients in the boil you REALLY feel like your making beer, and get hooked quick!

Click to expand...

Me too basically. Used half a 3lb bag of plain DME in the partial boil for hop additions,then add remaining DME & the Cooper's can at the end. I've since moved to partial mash. But had an idea to use a Cooper's can as the extract in a PM beer. A member here gave me his recipe for his dark lager. So I added a couple things to make it a partial mash,allbeit a small one. Added some german hops to the Czech saaz already used. And German ale/kolsh yeast rather than saflager he used,as I can't keep temps that low yet. The WL029 yeast's best temp is 65-69F,but gives a clean,lager-like flavor. This should prove interesting with a half pound of German rauchmalt as well.