Ipa iv

This will be my 4th IPA. All in all I've been quite satisfied with my IPAs, but I have always missed the amazing head that some american IPAs have. I want that creamy, thick slightly beige head! I'll be brewing this beer with a couple of friends who have never brewed before. I'm supposed to teach them some basic brewing techniques, though I'm still a novice myself. A nice IPA should bring them to the hobby.

Well here is a draft:

OG 1.062
IBU 69
Color 11.2
ABV 6.9%
Mash 150 F

Grains:
11 lbs pale malt 3 SRM
1 lbs vienna 4 SRM
0.77 lbs crystal 60 SRM
0.44 lbs cara-pils 3 SRM
0.1 special b 160 SRM

Hops:
0.88 oz magnum 60 min
0.7 oz magnum 30 min
0.7 oz cascade 15 min
0.7 oz cascade 5 min
0.7 oz cascade 1 min
0.7 oz cascade (dry hop 1 week)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 / 1272

I have no experience with the yeasts mentioned above, so any comments on those will be appreciated. If anyone knows how to get a perfect head for an IPA I would be glad to know

I'd probably increase the carapils a bit if you want great head retention, or replace the carapils and special B with flaked wheat.

I like the Vienna malt, but would probably cut the crystal 60L to .5 pound or less.

Either of those yeast are great in an IPA.

Add a pound of wheat.

Personally, I'd cut the crystal in half or just drop it completely, but that's just personal preference.

More dry hop!! Haha.

I like 1272...attenuates well and clears quickly.

I'll drop the crystal and special B, up the cara-pils to .5 lbs and add .5 wheat malt. That should be enough for head retention? By dropping the crystal malts the color will change a lot.Maybe I should substitute the crystals for more vienna?

Nyrkki said:

I'll drop the crystal and special B, up the cara-pils to .5 lbs and add .5 wheat malt. That should be enough for head retention? By dropping the crystal malts the color will change a lot.Maybe I should substitute the crystals for more vienna?

Click to expand...

That sounds great! I think your color will be fine for an IPA, in fact probably a very nice color.

Thanks for the input! I already have high expectations for this one. I added some rye, because one of the guys I'm brewing with really liked a rye ipa that I did earlier. At 8 % the rye and wheat shouldn't cause any sparging problems? The modified recepie looks like this:

OG 1.067
IBU 74
Color 6.2
ABV 7 %
Mash 150 F

Grains:

9.9 lbs pale malt SRM 3
2.2 lbs vienna SRM 4
.55 lbs wheat malt SRM 3
.55 lbs cara-pils SRM 3
.55 lbs rye malt SRM 3 (one of my friends wanted us to use some rye)

Hops:

Hops:
0.88 oz magnum 60 min
0.7 oz magnum 30 min
0.7 oz cascade 15 min
0.7 oz cascade 5 min
0.7 oz cascade 1 min
0.7 oz cascade (dry hop 1 week) (I might double this or add something other as well)

Yeast:

Wyeast 1056 / 1272

You shouldn't have a very sticky mash with that small amount of wheat and rye so I think the mash/sparge would go fine unless you have a tendency to have stuck sparges.

I like the recipe! I LOVE rye in beers, so I'd consider boosting that rye way up, but then of course you'd have a totally different beer so maybe make a real rye IPA "next time"!

I don't think that little bit of rye will bring much to the party flavorwise. The Vienna is going to stand out here, not the rye.

Regarding your hop amounts, reduce the 60/30 minute additions, double up on the late additions, and triple up on the dryhop. You'll have more of a pleasing bitterness and more hop flavor/aroma - 4.38 oz. total hops is not enough for an American IPA.

Don't boil that 1 min addition - add it 10-15 minutes after the boil has finished and the wort has slightly cooled. Let it steep in the warm wort until you chill it to the 60's when you're ready to pitch your yeast.

Prefer 1056 w/starter for this beer.

I have used rye up to 8 % + flaked rye in two beers. If I boosted the rye to 2.2 lbs (14%) I would probably have to add some flaked rye as well and cut some of the pale malt.

I'm wondering if 14% is to much. I read somewhere that over 20% means that sparging will be difficult. I've never had a stuck sparge, but I just changed my mashtun, so I have no experience with my current set.

I guess I'm going with 14 % rye. It should really give some flavour and the 4 % will probably have no effect. I'll add half a pound of flaked rye (or maybe a bit more) to avoid stuck sparge.

1056 is sierra nevada if I remember correctly? I've always liked their beers.

Here is the final draft:

OG 1.073
IBU 77.6
Color 7.2
ABV 7.1 %
Mash 150 F

Grains:

8.8 lbs pale malt SRM 3
2.2 lbs vienna SRM 4
.55 lbs wheat malt SRM 3
.55 lbs cara-pils SRM 3
2.2 lbs rye malt SRM 3 (one of my friends wanted us to use some rye)
1.1 lbs flaked rye

Hops:

Hops:
0.88 oz magnum 60 min
0.7 oz magnum 30 min
1.4 oz cascade 15 min
1.4 oz cascade 5 min
1.4 oz cascade 1 min
1.4 oz cascade (dry hop 1 week)

Yeast:

Wyeast 1056

I added a lot of rye and doubled the cascade hop additions. Do you think that the vienna will still block the rye? Or maybe the cascade will :cross:

I'm going to LHBS tomorrow. I just got to keep my fingers crossed that I can find all that I need. Here in Finland it is quite hard to get your hands on american hops.

I like this version best. the rye will aid head retention just as well as the wheat tho, so you don't need both (unless you feel like it)

add another ounce to your dry hop

We are brewing this on Saturday. I'm considering dropping the cara-pils and the wheat, and just up the pale malt to 11 lbs. Do you think that the beer would benefit from .5 lbs caramel malts? Will the caramel malts just block the rye or could they add some sweetness to balance the hops and the spicyness of the rye? Or would it just make it too complicated?

We brewed the beer today with some minor changes.

The final recipe was as follows:

OG 1.062
IBU 68
Color 6.5
ABV 6.9 %
Mash 150 F

Grains:

11.3 lbs pale malt SRM 3
2.2 lbs vienna SRM 4
10 oz cara-pils SRM 3
2.2 lbs rye malt SRM 3 (one of my friends wanted us to use some rye)
1.1 lbs flaked rye

Hops:

Hops:
0.88 oz magnum 60 min
0.88 oz magnum 30 min
1.4 oz cascade 15 min
1.4 oz cascade 5 min
1.05 oz cascade 1 min
1.76 oz cascade (dry hop 1 week)

Yeast:

Wyeast 1056

We gathered 28 liters wort and boiled it down to 22,5 l. Our efficency was 68, which is okay considering the amount of rye. If there is not enough hop aroma when I add the dry hops i will add east kent goldings, tettnager or williamette.

This beer turned out really great. The IBUs are spot on and the texture of this beer is really really good. It's very creamy, thanks to the rye and the flaked rye, but has some nice spicy notes and plenty of IBUs to balance it out. Cascade is really prominent in the aroma and the vienna adds some nice complexity and some residual sweetness. The head thick and creamy as it should be.

If we were to change anything in this beer we would probably up the dry hops, but even with 1,76 oz. it has a very good aroma.