Please review my IPA recipe

ey guys, i am doing an IPA on friday. I want to brew something that will be medium bodied and very very hoppy (but not overly bitter) with lots of citrus flavor.
Please let me know what you think and offer any suggestions. I have only been getting about 55% efficiency, so please consider that when looking at the recipe, as I know it seems like a lot of grians for just an IPA.......


Solstice +1 IPA
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 6/22/2007
Style: India Pale Ale
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Volume: 6.41 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 53.0 % Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt)


Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.05 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 90.9 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 9.1 %
1.00 oz Centennial [9.00%] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 33.0 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.00%] (30 min) Hops 21.5 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.00%] (10 min) Hops 10.2 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00%] (5 min) Hops 8.1 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.00%] (5 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
1.00 oz Ahtanum [6.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.30%] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
4.00 oz Centennial [9.00%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs US 56 Safe-Ale (DCL Yeast) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.063 SG (1.050-1.075 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018 SG (1.012-1.016 SG)
Estimated Color: 13.2 SRM (8.0-14.0 SRM)
Bitterness: 85.4 IBU (40.0-65.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 3.6 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.9 %
Calories: 298 cal/pint


Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Mash Tun Weight: 9.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 16.55 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.47 gal Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 20.69 qt of water at 169.4 F 154.0 F 60 min


Mash Notes
Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Looks pretty interesting! As for what you are going for, my oppinion is to lower the mash temp by a degree or so, and replace some of the base malt with a biscuit, vienna, or munich malt for a more interesting malt profile. But, if you make this it will certainly turn out to be beer. Good Brewing!

TA

kenb said:

very very hoppy (but not overly bitter) with lots of citrus flavor.
.

Click to expand...

What about substituting some cascade near the end. A very citrusy hop

55%? What's up with dat?
A 3 day dry hop is awful short to be effective.
I like a little more complexity/variety on the grain bill with my IPAs but there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple if that's what you are shooting for.
Lot of different stuff going in at 5 mins...might want to consider a revised 30min and under schedule.

I'd add a pound of Dextrine Malt for a nice head and good mouth feel. Otherwise, the grain bill is exactly what I use for my standard pale ale or an IPA.

Thanks for the tips everyone. As for Dextrine malt...i thought the Caramel malt in recipe was for that purpose..do i need both?

With that much grain, a single infusion closer to 150 for 75 min. will increase your fermentables, and a nice slow sparge of 45 min to 1 hr, and I like to boil for 90 min. I also have added corn sugar (1lb)near the end of the boil to bring OG up and this helps dry the beer out too, as I like a good dry hoppy IPA. As far as grain bill, simple is better, 2 row pale ans a little crystal is just fine. Hops look good too, I love FWH, then adding flavoring hops at 60 and 30 min. and a hop steep at 0 min. Keep in mind too, that if you use enough yeast, you should be able to ferm. that beer down to 1.012 which will help it be more balanced.

Just my .02 cents.

Eastside...........

IPAs - one of my favorite subjects. Agreed it is a pretty good recipe as is. It would make a beer that I would like, but I am not 100% sure it will be exactly what you are looking for.

Medium body: Ingredients are OK, maybe add the recommended dextrine malt or maybe some aromatic malt. Also take the recommendation to lower the mash temp a degree or two. 152F makes a good middle of the road beer, 154F is still fine, but starts to border on the sweet side. Also, I tend to use Crystal 40 instead of 60. I do longer boils that can darken a bit and the 60 comes out too dark. 60, 40, not too much difference, but some will say that Crystal 10 to 40 can increase mouthfeel.

Very very hoppy (but not overly bitter): You have a lot of hops and that can make a very, very hoppy beer, but in your case, your IBUs came out to 85 and it will probably be very bitter for that OG. General rule: beer at the bottom of the OG range with hops at the bottom of the IBU range tend to give you a balanced beer for the particular style and the same goes for beer at the top of the OG range matched to hops at the top of the IBU range tending to do the same. Your OG is right in the middle, but your IBUs are way past the top of the range for IPAs. I would love the bitterness in this beer and going over the top of the range on IBUs can work to your advantage if your beer if being judged, you are late in the flight, and the judges are getting palate fatigue. I would recommend a few options: cut back by one third on all of your hop additions, taking you to about 58 IBUs or do like the article in the May/June 2006 Zymergy article by Jamil recommends and make an IPA with only late hop additions (cut out your FWH). You could use your current hops with these modifications (can the Williamette also):

Centennial 1.25oz 20min
Centennial 1.25oz 15min
Centennial 1.25oz 10min
Centennial 1.25oz 5min
Simcoe 1oz 5min
Ahtanum 1oz 5min

You get 60 IBUs from this and moving more of the hops to 20 and 15 minute range will give you awesome hop flavor without super high bitterness (I have tried this method and now I make all of my IPAs this way). Centennial is a good choice for this since it is citrusy like the other C hops but is the lowest in cohumulone, so the biterness should be smooth and not harsh. IMO, using low cohumulone hops gives smooth bitterness better than FWH (some experiments done on FWH showed less harsh bitterness, but they were done with low cohumulone hops, so it is hard to say whether it is the FWH or the low cohumulone that is more responsible). So if you don't have your hops yet, you can substitute in Amarillo or more Simcoe for some of the Centennial additions as they are very low in cohumulone.

Citrus flavor: You are good with the Centennial. If you late hop to get all of your bitterness, Cascade as a complete substitute for Centennial would give a tad bit harsher bitterness (very high cohumulone). Substituting for one of the hop additions or splitting some evenly between Centennial and Cascade may add some excellent flavor complexity.

Dry hopping: Agree with brewt00l on the dry hop. I dry hop in secondary for 2 weeks or put hops in tea balls right in the keg. 3oz is plenty for dry hopping, even 2oz if you do it for 2 weeks is enough, especially with your 5 minute additions.

Also on board with brewt00l - what is up with the 53% mash efficiency? Bad crush on the grain? Clumps of grain? Sparging too fast? Square cooler (reaching here)? 5.4 pH is ok. Maybe more sparge water and boil it down longer (90 minutes or more). Since your kettle is only 7.5 gal, hold some wort to the side and add it as you boil down your volume or use a second smaller kettle and combine during the boil when there is room. I boil down from 8.00 to 5.75 gallons on IPAs (if you normally get 5 gallons at the end of your boil, shoot for over 5 gallons at the end of the boil with IPAs - don't forget that all of those hops will absorb a lot of wort).