IPA recipe help

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trapae

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I'm trying my hand at writing my 1st IPA recipe--- well not really. I took a Hop Stoopid (which i love) recipe I found, and decreased the ABV and IBU trying to make it a little easier for general consumption (wife, etc). Anyone have an opinion about this morphed recipe? Especially wondering if the amt of dry hops seems a little high now that OG is decently lower?

Batch Size: 6.00 gal Style: American IPA
Color: 5.3 SRM Equipment: BTD's All Grain
Bitterness: 68.2 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.065 (15.7° P) Mash: 60 min 152, batch sparge,
Est FG: 1.014 SG (3.6° P) Fermentation: Conical
ABV: 6.6%


Ingredients
Amount Name
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)
1.3 oz Nugget [13.0%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min)
0.9 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 12 min
0.9 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 12 min
1.3 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min, wait 10min before chilling
2 pkgs London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)
0.8 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
1.5 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
3.0 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
 
You might want to make your life a little easier and build your recipes around ounce or half ounce increments - unless you are buying all your hops bulk.

Other than that, sounds good to me. The dry hop is probably overkill, but it is an IPA after all. I usually stay at 3oz for an IPA.
 
I'd cut the nugget addition, to probably .75-1 ounce, and not use 3 ounces of columbus in the dryhop. I'd make the late additions an even ounce each, at 15/10/5/0 minutes for good hops flavor and aroma.
 
Thanks Yooper, I was also worried that such a large amount of the IBUs came from the bitter charge but that's how the original recipe went so I was going to try it. I think I will do as you said and decrease the nugget 60 min and increase the late hop additions to get the same IBU. I was also knocking around the idea of taking all of the nugget bittering amount and using it as FWH. I have never done FWH but thought it might make a smoother beer?
 
billl said:
You might want to make your life a little easier and build your recipes around ounce or half ounce increments - unless you are buying all your hops bulk. Other than that, sounds good to me. The dry hop is probably overkill, but it is an IPA after all. I usually stay at 3oz for an IPA.

I'm assuming he uses grams, as he should.
 
trapae said:
Thanks Yooper, I was also worried that such a large amount of the IBUs came from the bitter charge but that's how the original recipe went so I was going to try it. I think I will do as you said and decrease the nugget 60 min and increase the late hop additions to get the same IBU. I was also knocking around the idea of taking all of the nugget bittering amount and using it as FWH. I have never done FWH but thought it might make a smoother beer?

Don't do the FWH like that. FWH is supposed to provide a "lingering" hop flavor and aroma, as well as bitterness. For my IPAs, I'll FWH with about 7-10 grams of one of my late addition hops, then reduce the bittering addition to balance **** out. Cheers!
 
Thanks Yooper, I was also worried that such a large amount of the IBUs came from the bitter charge but that's how the original recipe went so I was going to try it. I think I will do as you said and decrease the nugget 60 min and increase the late hop additions to get the same IBU. I was also knocking around the idea of taking all of the nugget bittering amount and using it as FWH. I have never done FWH but thought it might make a smoother beer?

IMO ditch the Nugget altogether. Not one of my faves.

Now Simcoe, now you are talking!
 
bethebrew said:
IMO ditch the Nugget altogether. Not one of my faves. Now Simcoe, now you are talking!

Bittering with Simcoe is a waste, I'd stick with the Nugget.
 
Bittering with Simcoe is a waste, I'd stick with the Nugget.

Now why would you say that? Nugget is completely out of style for this beer. You can stick with what you want, but is a bittering hop really any old hop you want to just toss in there?
 
I just realized that if I follow directions and wait 10 min after flameout before chilling, then my 12 min additions are really like 22min flavor additions. Does it work that way ? Then is my Simcoe flameout addition more like a 10 min, and going to add flavor as well as aroma?
 
bethebrew said:
Now why would you say that? Nugget is completely out of style for this beer. You can stick with what you want, but is a bittering hop really any old hop you want to just toss in there?

If it's high alpha, I'll use it. Sub-20 is what matters most.
 
I just realized that if I follow directions and wait 10 min after flameout before chilling, then my 12 min additions are really like 22min flavor additions. Does it work that way ? Then is my Simcoe flameout addition more like a 10 min, and going to add flavor as well as aroma?

Why would you want to wait ten minutes after flameout to begin chilling? Ignore those directions and chill that wort man!
 
bethebrew said:

Under 20 minute hop additions.

And I use Nugget for bittering all the time on my hoppy beers. It gives a nice firm bitterness that I personally like.
 
The waiting 10 min was in the original recipe before I started messing with it. I didn't know what it does for the taste/aroma, maybe a mini whirlpool?
 
trapae said:
The waiting 10 min was in the original recipe before I started messing with it. I didn't know what it does for the taste/aroma, maybe a mini whirlpool?

Yes! WAIT!!! It's a type of hopstand, you will benefit from waiting. I sometimes go 30-45 minutes, though I'll usually chill to 180F first. Either way, give those flameout hops some time to release their goods.
 
As stated above; add them for 10 minutes but if you don't chill it is like you added 10 to all to all your hop schedule. I would chill it first to 170-180. You can read up on hop stand to understand it. I have an immersion chiller and can easily chill to 180 and stop. I have done it on another system by guesstimating how much say 60 degree tap it would take to pull the volume temp down to 180. My guesstimate worked perfectly just by multiplying the volume times temp and cross multiplying to get new volume and temp. This was done because they just chilled in a bath and that method would be difficult to hop stand. In the end either way will be good beer. If this is an a first couple of brews then I say don't add all the headache.
 
So I think I have settled on the almost finished recipe below for Sunday brew day. Only thing is that I want the total IBUs around 60-65 so I need to add some bitterness somewhere. I don't want the final taste too piney. I have extra columbus, nugget, cascade. Was thinking of FWH with columbus to add IBU, but don't want to add to many confusing flavors. Could just up the nugget.
Any opinions?
Thanks!

Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Color: 5.3 SRM
Bitterness: 50.9 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.065
Est FG: 1.014
ABV: 6.6%

Ingredients
Amount Name
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
8.0 oz Victory Malt
1.0 oz Nugget [13.0%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min)
0.8 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 12 min
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min -- HOPSTAND 10 min before chilling.
2 pkgs London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)-- starter
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
1.0 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
 
Now why would you say that? Nugget is completely out of style for this beer. You can stick with what you want, but is a bittering hop really any old hop you want to just toss in there?
generally yeah. as long as it's low in cohumulone.
 
I just realized that if I follow directions and wait 10 min after flameout before chilling, then my 12 min additions are really like 22min flavor additions. Does it work that way ? Then is my Simcoe flameout addition more like a 10 min, and going to add flavor as well as aroma?
nah does'nt work like that.

The waiting 10 min was in the original recipe before I started messing with it. I didn't know what it does for the taste/aroma, maybe a mini whirlpool?
sounds like a hop stand for the zero minute additions. leaving the wort hot longer will certainly effect your bitterness and aroma. if you want to preserve hop aromatics (it's an IPA so you do..) then just chill it asap.

my question is how many IBU's are you getting from the initial bittering charge? i find this number fun to play with as focusing more of your total IBU's late in the boil will drastically change perceived bitterness versus adding more early on. '

for an IPA i usually try to get 30-40% of my total IBU's from bitterness. that's with a BU:GU of .7-.8. you're over 1.0 on your BU:GU so i'd shift that percentage to around 20-30%. of you IBU's in the bittering charge.

this is where you'll want to think about your bittering hop more. sometimes monsters like nugget and summit are good because you can get a nice amount of bitterness with a simple addition but sometimes you want something like cascade so you can more easily fine tune how much bitterness you're adding that isn't contributing any flavor.
 
So I think I have settled on the almost finished recipe below for Sunday brew day. Only thing is that I want the total IBUs around 60-65 so I need to add some bitterness somewhere. I don't want the final taste too piney. I have extra columbus, nugget, cascade. Was thinking of FWH with columbus to add IBU, but don't want to add to many confusing flavors. Could just up the nugget.
Any opinions?
Thanks!

Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Color: 5.3 SRM
Bitterness: 50.9 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.065
Est FG: 1.014
ABV: 6.6%

Ingredients
Amount Name
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
8.0 oz Victory Malt
1.0 oz Nugget [13.0%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min)
0.8 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 12 min
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min -- HOPSTAND 10 min before chilling.
2 pkgs London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)-- starter
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
1.0 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
for me 51 IBU's is a good number for a 1.065 beer. you mentioned pine flavor so you could shuffle your hop bill some.

chinook tends to be quite piney. in my own recipe developments i use 1 part chinook to 3 parts anything else. if this beer is supposed to be somewhat piney you could make it 2:1. maybe that helps you shuffle the bitterness around. maybe ditch the 12min addition and consolidate everything into 15 and 10. that could net you a couple points.
 
0.8 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 12 min
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min -- HOPSTAND 10 min before chilling.
2 pkgs London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)-- starter
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
1.0 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days

You still don't have enough late hops, in my opinion, for an IPA. For a 6 gallon IPA, especially with higher IBUs, the recipe needs more late hops. The dryhopping will help, but I'd still increase the cascade and chinook additions.
 
Do you think adding some Columbus late would be too many different types of Hops?
 
Maybe this:?

IBU 66

0.25oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - First Wort Hop
0.75 oz Nugget [13.0%] - Boil 60 min
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min)
0.5 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Boil 12 min
0.5 oz Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 5 min
0.25 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 5 min
0.5 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Boil 5 min
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min
2 pkgs London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)
1.0 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
1.0 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Dry Hop 5 days
 
i put your recipe into brewtoad for a quick look.

i have your FWH addition set to 80 minutes assuming it takes 20 mins to reach a boil. i also changed your 12 minute additions to 15. after all this i'm at 66 IBU's total, 26 from your nugget addition and another 10 from your FWH means over half of your IBU's are just bitterness. this is why yooper is busting your chops about not enough late hops.

i'm not sure of your flavor goals so i made adjustments to hit your numbers and tried to take advice from this thread in mind.

60min 1.0 oz Cascade
15min 0.5 oz Cascade
15min 1.0 oz Chinook
15min 1.0 oz Columbus
05min 0.5 oz Chinook
05min 0.5 oz Columbus
05min 0.5 oz Cascade
00min 1.0 oz Simcoe
etc

this is 67 IBU's but only 15 from the 60 minute addition. the rest of your bitterness is providing flavor and aroma. if you'd still like to use a FWH you could split the 60 min addition or, since you'll have .5 oz of cascade left over, you could add it to your bittering additions. if you do this will put you a little over 70 IBU's but it might be needed to adjust perceived bitterness. any other left over hops i would add 3 days into fermentation.

btw, this thing sounds like a pine bomb. chinook, columbus, simcoe with moderate amounts of cascade is probably going to be pine dominant. if that's not what you're looking for swap out a 15min columbus addition for 1 oz cascade.
 
Wow, you did a lot of good work on that, thanks. I will take your alls advice. I appreciate it. I will report back as to how it tastes.

T
 
trapae said:
Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min -- HOPSTAND 10 min before chilling.
You will definitely get some IBU out of these, probably put you close to where you want to be.
 
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