First IPA Recipe Feedback

I'm going for a very citrusy IPA with a malty backbone to stand up to the hops. Any thoughts on my hopping schedule to maximize fruity citrus flavors? I went with toasted 2-row for my "malty backbone," would munich work better? Crystal 60L instead of 20L? Torrified wheat instead of barley for head retention? Thanks for your help!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale-05
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
IBU: ~80
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 65 degrees


5 gallon batch

8# Two Row Pale
2# Toasted Two Row
.75# Crystal 20 L
.5# Flaked Barley
0.25# Rice Hulls

.5 oz. Summit at 60 min
.5 oz. Cascade at 45 min
.5 oz. of Cascade and Summit at 30 min
.5 oz. Cascade at 15 min
.5 oz. Cascade and Citra at 5 min.

Dryhop in the keg, 1.5 oz. Citra.

Whirlfloc at 5 min.

No love? Anybody?

DZzero15 said:

I'm going for a very citrusy IPA with a malty backbone to stand up to the hops. Any thoughts on my hopping schedule to maximize fruity citrus flavors? I went with toasted 2-row for my "malty backbone," would munich work better? Crystal 60L instead of 20L? Torrified wheat instead of barley for head retention? Thanks for your help!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale-05
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
IBU: ~80
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 65 degrees


5 gallon batch

8# Two Row Pale
2# Toasted Two Row
.75# Crystal 20 L
.5# Flaked Barley
0.25# Rice Hulls

.5 oz. Summit at 60 min
.5 oz. Cascade at 45 min
.5 oz. of Cascade and Summit at 30 min
.5 oz. Cascade at 15 min
.5 oz. Cascade and Citra at 5 min.

Dryhop in the keg, 1.5 oz. Citra.

Whirlfloc at 5 min.

Click to expand...

Seems light on base malt.
12 lb pale
2 lb munich
1/2 lb crystal 60L
1 oz Summit 60 mins 1 oz Cascade 60 mins
1/2 oz summit cascade and citra 15 mins
1/2 oz each cascade and citra at knockout
1/2 oz each cascade and citra dry hop in keg
ferment at 65 or a couple degrees less works fine too for US-05.

bethebrew said:

Seems light on base malt.
12 lb pale
2 lb munich
1/2 lb crystal 60L
1 oz Summit 60 mins 1 oz Cascade 60 mins
1/2 oz summit cascade and citra 15 mins
1/2 oz each cascade and citra at knockout
1/2 oz each cascade and citra dry hop in keg
ferment at 65 or a couple degrees less works fine too for US-05.

Click to expand...

Good call on upping the base malt a bit. Why did you go with Munich and 60L? I was also thinking of going with more late hop additions to boost aroma and flavor... I heard this works well.

I recently brewed with a summit-heavy hop profile. It does provide the good citrusy flavors, but I also got some garlic/onion earthiness along with it. It was tasty, but if you're looking for the pure citrus flavor, those flavors might be less than desirable. You're probably OK considering the last summit addition is at 30min, but it's something to watch out for.

Also, I agree with bethebrew about including the 1/2 oz of cascade and citra at knockout. That should give you some very bright flavor/aroma.

DZzero15 said:

I'm going for a very citrusy IPA with a malty backbone to stand up to the hops. Any thoughts on my hopping schedule to maximize fruity citrus flavors? I went with toasted 2-row for my "malty backbone," would munich work better? Crystal 60L instead of 20L? Torrified wheat instead of barley for head retention? Thanks for your help!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale-05
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
IBU: ~80
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 65 degrees


5 gallon batch

8# Two Row Pale
2# Toasted Two Row
.75# Crystal 20 L
.5# Flaked Barley
0.25# Rice Hulls



Whirlfloc at 5 min.

Click to expand...

There are too many early hops, between 60 and 20 minutes, and not enough late hops.
I'd hop more like this:

.5 oz. Summit at 60 min (or to about 45 IBUs just with this addition)
1 oz. Cascade at 20 min
.5 oz. of Cascade and Summit at 15 min
1 oz. Cascade at 10 min
.5 oz. Cascade and Citra at 5 min.

Dryhop in the keg, 1.5 oz. Citra.

Shoot for an OG of 1.060-1.070, with IBUs of about 70. You'll need a bit more malt, and adding Vienna or Munich would be fine.

DZzero15 said:

Good call on upping the base malt a bit. Why did you go with Munich and 60L? I was also thinking of going with more late hop additions to boost aroma and flavor... I heard this works well.

Click to expand...

I used the 60L cause that's what I have laying around. 20L is fine.

I really like the Munich malts more than crystal for this beer. Check out BestMalz if you like good German Munich and it's Pils is really great too.

Yes later additions with more hops is flavor key. If you really like the unflavored bitter then add more early but I like the flavor and aroma so that's my focus.

cepster said:

I recently brewed with a summit-heavy hop profile. It does provide the good citrusy flavors, but I also got some garlic/onion earthiness along with it. It was tasty, but if you're looking for the pure citrus flavor, those flavors might be less than desirable. You're probably OK considering the last summit addition is at 30min, but it's something to watch out for.

Also, I agree with bethebrew about including the 1/2 oz of cascade and citra at knockout. That should give you some very bright flavor/aroma.

Click to expand...

I've never used the Summit so appreciate the comments. I did a Nugget IPA it had a different herbally earthy thing going that I didn't like so much in that style. I used only Nugget though so not a citrusy IPA just a test...

Thanks for all the comments. I think I have a winner here. I went nuts with the late hop additions for good citrus flavor and aroma and still stayed w/in style (~60 IBU). I also upped the grain bill one pound for and ABV also in style (~6.4%). A few final questions--any thoughts on amarillo instead of summit? I went with summit for a different citrusy hop that was not all that similar to cascade. I've heard amarillo and cascade are close in character. Also, what is the difference between toasted two row and munich? Thanks for the responses. Cheers!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Safale-05
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
IBU: ~60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 65 degrees


5 gallon batch

9# Two Row Pale
2# Munich
.75# Crystal 20 L
.5# Flaked Barley
0.25# Rice Hulls

.5 oz. Summit at 60 min
.5 oz. of Cascade and Summit at 20 min
1.0 oz. Cascade at 15 min
.5 oz. of Cascade and Citra at 10 min
.5 oz. Cascade and Citra at 5 min.
1.0 oz. of Cascade and .5 oz of Citra and Summit at flameout

Dryhop 1.0 oz. of Cascade and .5 oz of Citra and Summit

Dryhop in the keg, 1.5 oz. Citra.

Whirlfloc at 5 min.

Toasted malt is, well, toasted malt. Munich malt is a base malt that gives a malty richness and amber/orange color and a solid malty perception.

Amarillo is not really all that similar to cascade, except that they are both considered citrusy. Amarillo is more like grapefuit than anything else.

Doesn't flaked barley give you haze in pale beers. Isnt an ipa supposed to be clear.

I included the barley for head retention per some of Ed wort's recipes. I didn't really notice to much haze in his ipa photos. Open to other thoughts on that though or any other opinions.

Ordering today! Would love any last minute ideas. Thanks to all who responded.