My first Double IPA recipe

Hi,

I think I've settled on trying for a batch of Double IPA for my next beer. Can you give me some input on my recipe? I have been doing a bunch of reading, looked at tons of posts by bobbrews and others.

My goal is to make a dry, fairly bitter beer around 7.5% ABV or a bit less (I'd go lower, but I'm worried it won't have enough malt to stand up to the massive hopping I want.) with very little character other than hop character. I want a more dank, piney style rather than fruity.

6.5 gallon batch
100% American 2-row
OG ~1.065
FG ~1.009-1.010 assuming around 85% AA (shouldn't be a problem)
Rehydrated US-05

Mash in at 140F, raise to 145F for 30 min. rest, then boost to 160F for 30 min. rest

Target ~ 250 ppm sulfate in the mash, beer should be close to that I think
mash pH measured at room temp adjusted down to 5.50 with phosphoric acid

75 minute boil
60 minute CTZ for 63 IBU
60 minute hop stand with PID at 165F with 1 oz Centennial, 1 oz Summit, 2 oz CTZ, 2 oz Simcoe with lid on kettle and whirlpool running

Dry hop in primary with 0.5 oz Centennial, 0.5 oz Summit, 1 oz CTZ, 2 oz Simcoe at day five of fermentation

Dry hop in primary with 0.5 oz Centennial, 0.5 oz Summit, 1 oz CTZ, 2 oz Simcoe at day eight of fermentation

On day 11-14 of fermentation rack to keg

I chose not to add character malts so that I can really have a clean taste of the hop character

I chose not to add sugar, because it is a simple malt bill already and should be very well attenuated.

I chose an ABV on the low end of the Double IPA spectrum so that I can drink more of it at a time. I was hoping I could have the intense hoppiness of a IIPA without so much alcohol.

thats a very very good first attempt at a DIPA you definitely mustve been crawling around the recipe section. It definitely wont be too bitter with the hopstand. I routinely use over 10oz at flameout and ive recently found myself actually adding more at 10-15min just to get more bitterness (and prevent people from drinking all my IPA)

some other piney hops ive found have been apollo, chinook, rakau, and surprisingly - galaxy (the last years harvest was the most resinous and dank hop ive smelled)

I try to focus on pine/dank for my black IPAs and ive found simcoe and chinook at 50/50 to be the sweet spot for me. Still experimenting with a 3rd to round it out. Rakau was the most recent and it was very piney, bit too much for my tastes

m00ps said:

thats a very very good first attempt at a DIPA you definitely mustve been crawling around the recipe section. It definitely wont be too bitter with the hopstand. I routinely use over 10oz at flameout and ive recently found myself actually adding more at 10-15min just to get more bitterness (and prevent people from drinking all my IPA)

some other piney hops ive found have been apollo, chinook, rakau, and surprisingly - galaxy (the last years harvest was the most resinous and dank hop ive smelled)

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I've been reading tons of stuff about double IPA. I have a huge debt to bobbrews from this forum (and others too but he stands out)

I plan to order some apollo and comet very soon and experiment more with double IPA recipes until I find one I really like.

Just an update in case anyone cares. I adjusted my malt bill so that it is 97% 2-row and 3% Carapils. I did this, because I mashed in without my false bottom in my MLT for the first time ever. What a d-----s!

Anyway, I was worried the temp drop when I transferred it all out and back in might thin the beer, so I added a little Carapils to make up for that and any losses incurred in the transfer.

So far, it is a very, very hoppy beer. It fermented down from 1.065 to 1.010 as of my last checking of the gravity. I am quite excited for it. It's only 7.25% ABV, so I guess it is a normal IPA, not a IIPA, but it has the hoppiness. Fantastic!

Very solid. I use a very similar technique, but I've been FWH w a preferred flavor hop, and I transfer to a corny for the 1st round dry hop & put the second in the serving keg. I do use a bit of crystal & organic cane sugar.

logdrum said:

Very solid. I use a very similar technique, but I've been FWH w a preferred flavor hop, and I transfer to a corny for the 1st round dry hop & put the second in the serving keg. I do use a bit of crystal & organic cane sugar.

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I am planning to do some stuff with testing dropping some yeast first before dry hopping and such in the future as well. I might also try a character malt out to see how it does with the base 2-row slowly. there is so much hop variety that i could just to this recipe and have a ton of different beers too!

In the Pacific NW 7.5% ABV and 63IBU is simply called an IPA

aprichman said:

In the Pacific NW 7.5% ABV and 63IBU is simply called an IPA

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I bet it is! Your IPAs are probably hoppier than a lot of IIPAs around here too!

stickyfinger said:

I am planning to do some stuff with testing dropping some yeast first before dry hopping and such in the future as well. I might also try a character malt out to see how it does with the base 2-row slowly. there is so much hop variety that i could just to this recipe and have a ton of different beers too!

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Just to be clear, I do not FWH in place of the bittering charge, but to supplement the flavor component. I've also done several using hop extract as the bittering agent, targeting 50-100 IBUs.

logdrum said:

Just to be clear, I do not FWH in place of the bittering charge, but to supplement the flavor component. I've also done several using hop extract as the bittering agent, targeting 50-100 IBUs.

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I thought about buying a can of hop bittering extract, but I wasn't sure how well it would store, and I'd have to place it into a bunch of syringes or an air-tight container somehow. Also, it seemed like even buying in bulk it is more expensive that some cheap high-alpha bittering hops like CTZ. I guess the main advantage is keeping some of the hop matter out of the boil?

stickyfinger said:

I thought about buying a can of hop bittering extract, but I wasn't sure how well it would store, and I'd have to place it into a bunch of syringes or an air-tight container somehow. Also, it seemed like even buying in bulk it is more expensive that some cheap high-alpha bittering hops like CTZ. I guess the main advantage is keeping some of the hop matter out of the boil?

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I've talked to some of the brewers at commercial breweries that use hop extract about it and most of them contribute it to exactly that. Less hop matter in the kettle equates to losing less wort. Most of the breweries only use it in their hop forward beers and a few I've talked to actually have custom extract made. One of the breweries in Oregon uses extract made from Apollo that looks and behaves totally different than the "hop jizz" products. I was able to get a hold of some of the Apollo extract and it's consistency was almost like butter.

I just brewed an IPA with 7 oz in the kettle and I ended up losing 20% more wort than the pales I've been brewing with 3oz in the kettle.

aprichman said:

I've talked to some of the brewers at commercial breweries that use hop extract about it and most of them contribute it to exactly that. Less hop matter in the kettle equates to losing less wort. Most of the breweries only use it in their hop forward beers and a few I've talked to actually have custom extract made. One of the breweries in Oregon uses extract made from Apollo that looks and behaves totally different than the "hop jizz" products. I was able to get a hold of some of the Apollo extract and it's consistency was almost like butter.

I just brewed an IPA with 7 oz in the kettle and I ended up losing 20% more wort than the pales I've been brewing with 3oz in the kettle.

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I guess I haven't paid enough attention to how much wort I lose with a lot of hops. I still think for me it's not worth the fuss to use the extract. Maybe I'm just being lazy though. I usually brew up extra wort for a hop bomb beer anyway to acct for ALL of the losses along the way.

It would be awesome as a commercial brewer to be able to just add a pound of lard to the kettle and be done with it though! The extract worked out to be decently cheap, but it just didn't compare with the cost of a pound of high alpha hops for like $8! I suppose some people may prefer the bittering character of the hop extract as well.

stickyfinger said:

I guess I haven't paid enough attention to how much wort I lose with a lot of hops. I still think for me it's not worth the fuss to use the extract. Maybe I'm just being lazy though. I usually brew up extra wort for a hop bomb beer anyway to acct for ALL of the losses along the way.

It would be awesome as a commercial brewer to be able to just add a pound of lard to the kettle and be done with it though! The extract worked out to be decently cheap, but it just didn't compare with the cost of a pound of high alpha hops for like $8! I suppose some people may prefer the bittering character of the hop extract as well.

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Same here, I've only used hop extract twice. The first time was with the Apollo extract which turned out pretty well. The second time was with the Hop Shot CO2 extract that comes in a syringe - it didn't seem to break down very well and didn't seem to really impart a good hop flavor on the finished product.

As far as cost, it probably makes more sense for commercial breweries. The beer we make is for us, but the beer at commercial breweries gets sold for a profit. Block 15, one of the breweries around here that uses a lot of hop extract sells the majority of their hop forward beers via bottle releases and draft beer in house. They sell these beers for around $30/gallon and are already producing at maximum capacity - so gaining even 4-5% more wort per batch would entirely offset any additional costs and then some.

aprichman said:

In the Pacific NW 7.5% ABV and 63IBU is simply called an IPA

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We call those Session IPAs here.

I've had some issues w my kettle pump clogging due to excess vegetative matter, so that's what drew me to the extract. Havent sprung for a can yet, just the individual syringes. I guess the jury's still out for me: I'm one who believes "bittering hops" contribute some flavor component as well. The IPA/IIPAs I've made w extract have been mostly black IPA.

Do you use all 1/2" fittings?

I use a 1/2" autosiphon to transfer from the kettle to a carboy.

stickyfinger said:

Do you use all 1/2" fittings?

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If you meant me, yes, center inlet chugger on the BK. I prefer to just toss the hops in, but lately I've been putting some of the whirlpool hops in a paint bag hanging right in the path of the WP return. I'll usually free ball the FWH & possibly the bittering.

Dupe

logdrum said:

If you meant me, yes, center inlet chugger on the BK. I prefer to just toss the hops in, but lately I've been putting some of the whirlpool hops in a paint bag hanging right in the path of the WP return. I'll usually free ball the FWH & possibly the bittering.

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i'm surprised you've clogged up. i haven't had that problem yet. how many ounces per gallon have you maxed out at in the kettle?

stickyfinger said:

i'm surprised you've clogged up. i haven't had that problem yet. how many ounces per gallon have you maxed out at in the kettle?

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Maybe 2oz/gal. 10-11oz for a 5.5gal yield. The clog happens after chilling, post whirlpool rest, draining into the fermenter.

logdrum said:

Maybe 2oz/gal. 10-11oz for a 5.5gal yield. The clog happens after chilling, post whirlpool rest, draining into the fermenter.

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Oh OK. I forgot that I use a CFC. I can see how it would clog with all of the cold break, hops and hot break in there. That's a lot of crap in the kettle!

I bought a Warrior 150 GmAA can for $15. My salesperson @ Hop Union said this stuff will last forever at freezing temperatures. I plan on filling 30 or more syringes, cap them, and store them in a ziplock freezer bag.

I thought about buying a can of hop bittering extract, but I wasn't sure how well it would store, and I'd have to place it into a bunch of syringes or an air-tight container somehow.

ultravista said:

I bought a Warrior 150 GmAA can for $15. My salesperson @ Hop Union said this stuff will last forever at freezing temperatures. I plan on filling 30 or more syringes, cap them, and store them in a ziplock freezer bag.

I thought about buying a can of hop bittering extract, but I wasn't sure how well it would store, and I'd have to place it into a bunch of syringes or an air-tight container somehow.

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That's a lot better price than what I saw. I saw a 150 g can at Farmhouse Brewing Supply for $30. Your $15 can I believe works out to $1.07/100 IBUs before factoring in the syringe costs. A pound of 15%AA hop pellets at $10 works out to $0.94/100 IBUs, so they are pretty comparable when you consider the fluctuating cost of high alpha hop pellets. Did you buy straight from Hop Union? Can homebrewers just buy a small amount from them?

stickyfinger said:

Did you buy straight from Hop Union? Can homebrewers just buy a small amount from them?

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Yes, YAKIMA CHIEF – HOPUNION and I bought direct. I had to fill-out an account form and paid via credit card. My sales person understood that I am a "small batch brewer" as I only ordered one can.

It's interesting to me that this IPA actually has kind of a sweetness in the finish. It is quite firmly bittered, but it isn't bone dry. The hopping is really very nice. I'm also surprised that the color is actually starting to go into orangey color. I thought with only 2-row and Carapils it would be golden. I guess the hop stand results in significant darkening of the wort? Makes sense I guess.

I'm wondering if doing a hop stand can result in a perception of sweetness in the beer somehow? It's hard to explain.