Check my recipe (American IPA)

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HH60gunner

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5.5 gallon batch

12 lbs pale (2-row) US
1 lb crystal 40
1 lb cara-pills
1 lb munich malt
12 oz vienna malt


2 oz williamette @ 60 min
1 oz cascade @ 30 min
1 oz goldling @ 15 min
2 0z kent goldling @ 2 min

Safale S-05



Thoughts:

Am I using too much sweet malts?
I've never done an IPA so how does my hop breakdown look?
Would you recommend dry hopping as well?
My secondary is tied up right now, can I dry hop in the primary?
 
I'm just curious on your hop choices.

Like I said I've never really created my own IPA. Usually I've just done low IBU beers like hefe's and porters where I just normally use halltertau or fuggles. I just looked at a hop flavor chart and picked based off of flavors and aromas. If it's a bad choice please let me know ..... lol
 
Too much crystal- I'd ditch the carapils as it's not needed and that would give you 1# of crystal in the batch.

With the Goldings, you're not really going to have an "American" IPA. American IPAs have US hops in them. Traditionally, they are the citrusy "C" hops but if you don't like them, you can go with other hops. English hops are sort of a weird choice, though.
 
With the current setup the estimates are:

OG: 1.072
FG: 1.018
ABV: 7.0
IBU: 48.1
SRM: 8.9


Will all the different hop types clash too much?
Did I choose poor hops for this style?
 
Too much crystal- I'd ditch the carapils as it's not needed and that would give you 1# of crystal in the batch.

With the Goldings, you're not really going to have an "American" IPA. American IPAs have US hops in them. Traditionally, they are the citrusy "C" hops but if you don't like them, you can go with other hops. English hops are sort of a weird choice, though.

Ok,

I was looking at a lousy hop chart than... because it had them listed as US/UK so I thought they were fine in this style. What would you replace them with?
 
With american IPA's i always recommend dry hopping but that's just personal preference. Dry hopping in the primary is perfectly fine! You should consider using all american hops varieties. I don't know what your brewhaus efficiencies are, but if they're much over 73% extraction efficiency, you're running the risk of making this too strong for an american ipa.

This is more an Imperial IPA than an American IPA as it stands now.
 
Ok,

Ditching the cara-pils, adding an additional pound of the 2-row. Any thoughts on what to replace the goldlings with?
 
With american IPA's i always recommend dry hopping but that's just personal preference. Dry hopping in the primary is perfectly fine! You should consider using all american hops varieties. I don't know what your brewhaus efficiencies are, but if they're much over 73% extraction efficiency, you're running the risk of making this too strong for an american ipa.

This is more an Imperial IPA than an American IPA as it stands now.


According to brewtarget it meets the guidlines. My OG is 1.072 and brewtarget shows the max being 1.075.
 
Just personal preference on what hop characteristics you like. I'm a big fan of Cascade and Amarillo Gold in just about everything American I make.
 
any idea on what Nectar IPA from Nectar ales uses? I really enjoy their IPA. I haven't had a chance to try dog fish head yet.
 
According to brewtarget it meets the guidlines. My OG is 1.072 and brewtarget shows the max being 1.075.

Well it's only a couple points at 75% efficiency. Mostly I was referring to your hop selections. When I run your recipe through the program I built, I come up with an OG of 1.076 at 75% extraction efficiency. If you're trying to brew within a certain style, your targets shouldn't be the absolute max or mins of the style because it leaves you with zero wiggle room.
 
I prefer a little extra malt character to my beer, so I like your grain bill. I too am a little curious about the hops you chose. For cost to bitterness sake I would have used 1 oz of a stronger bittering hops than Williamette like Centennial. But that is a personal choice. I punched this recipe into Beersmith for you. Using a 6.5g boil with a 5.5g yield and a 75% brewhouse efficiency I came up with these numbers (style guidelines in parenthesis):

OG estimate 1.077 (1.056-1.075)
FG estimate 1.020 (1.010-1.018)
SRM estimate 9.2 (6.0-15.0)
IBU estimate 50.6 (40.0-70.0)
ABV estimate 7.53% (5.50-7.50 %)

So it looks like it should turn out pretty good. Also, I am a fan of dry hopping, but that's a personal opinion thing. ;-)

Good luck!
 
I agree with the others, Ditch the cara pils, the pound of C40 is more than enough sweetness.

And ditch the Goldings. Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascades, there are any number of citrusy hops that would do well rather than the goldings.
 
Ah, I see my problem I had brewtargets efficiency set to 70%... I think last time I did hit the 75% mark so I'll adjust.
 
Ok,

Here goes my new recipe.

12 lb us 2-row
1 lb crystal 40
1 lb munich malt
12 oz vienna malt

1oz williamette @ 60 min
.5 oz warrior @ 60 min
1 oz cascade @ 30 min
1 oz amarillo @ 15 min
1 oz amarillo @ 2 min
1 oz amarillo - Dry hop
 
I agree with graduate. Williamette are typically used later, and with all the hops you have, it seems they'll get lost in the shuffle as bittering hops.

I personally would dump the Vienna and stick with (or even increase) the Munich. But would could spend forever nitpicking, and often it's just a matter of taste.
 
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