first original ipa recipe

hey guys, my brew partner and i are trying to make a recipe. this will be our first AG recipe build it is an americian ipa. we are using the help of beersmith. please give us some insight as to how bad this will suck. thanks in advance

10 lb 2-row
1lb. cara pils
1lb. munich

1 oz chinook 60 min
1 oz cascade 45 min
1 tsp irish moss 10 min
1 oz cascade 0 min
1 oz dry hop northern brewer

wyyeast 1056 americian ale yeast


again please be nice as this is our first try at a new rcipe not supplied to us by out LHBS

I would double and move the 45 minute addition up to 20, 15 or 10 depending on how many IBUs you are shooting for. 45 minutes is kind of no mans land in terms of hop additions, you are losing a lot of flavor and aroma yet also not extracting as much bitterness as a 60 minute.

Alternatively, you could first wort hop with that oz of cascade and add the chinook at 60 and NB at flameout and not lose much in the terms of perceived bitterness.

Suck nothing. Go for it.

Looks decent, a bit light on both hops and grain for true IPA though. Maybe up the 2-row by 2 or 3 pounds. I agree with the above comment on hops, 45 minutes is kind of useless. You reduce the utilization for bitterness but it's still long enough to boil off flavor/aroma. Decide on a bitterness level and figure that for your 60 minute addition. Then spread another 3 or 4 ounces over 20, 10, knock out and dry hop. This is what makes IPAs pop. Pick hops with the flavors you like for the late additions. Just read their descriptions on line....

Agree with the above posts with the 45 minute Cascade addition. Toss that in as a FWH addition and add another ounce of Cascade around the 10 minute mark. Personally, I'd go with Cascade and/or more Chinook as your dry hop addition, but that's more to do with my personal taste.

Also, a lb of carapils may be overkill unless you're looking for a bunch of body and head. You may find your FG finishing in the mid to upper teens rather than the low teens.

what do you mean by "FWH"?

so taking this advise would put my hop schedule at

1 oz chinook 60 min
1 oz cascade 20 min
1 tsp irish moss 10 min
1 oz cascade 10 min
1 oz dry hop chinook

also would the cara-pils make this that much "thicker" i do want an easily drinkable IPA. would knocking it down to a half pound make much difference.


thanks for all the replies guys i really appreciate it.

FWH is first wort hops... added to your runnings in your kettle and steeped there before you boil.

In terms of your grain bill I would do away with the CaraPils. Instead use a light crystal between 10-40 for some flavor and color. CaraPils won't add any thickness to your beer. It will only add to your head formation and retention, but so would a darker caramel or crystal malt. CaraPils is effectively something like Crystal/Caramel 0. You can get the same benefits to head by using a darker crystal and add some flavor and color to your beer. I would also up your 2-row by 1 to 2 pounds. IPAs land in the 5-7% abv range. This might wind up as an APA depending on your efficiency.

As for the hop schedule, it really depends what you want in terms of character. If you like a forceful, upfront bitterness, chinook at 60 is a good idea. If you prefer a more subdued bitterness with a bigger flavor, get to about 40 IBUs with an addition between 60-45 minutes then through about 4 ounces of whatever in to the kettle in the last 15 minutes. You will need to use more to acheive a higher IBU but you will maintain more of the flavor and get a well rounded hop profile instead of a bitter hop resin. Also, up the dry hop to 2 oz. minimum for about a week. 1 oz will get you the aroma, but it won't last long. 2 oz. at a week has worked well for me. You could even get creative and do 1 oz for 5 days then pull those hops out and throw another ounce in for another 5 days so that it wont be sitting on old hops for 2 weeks.

Lastly, what are you mashing at. If you want a solid malt body to back up some heavy hopping, the 152-154 range is nice. If you like them dry and bitter 149-151 will do you well. Upwards of 155 you will probably have to much lingering sweetness.

+1 to the above. If you already have the carapilas tho, no harm in throwing it in. There are plenty of IPA recipes out there with it in there, and good head retention is never a bad a bad thing. It'generally used in lighter styles where darker/more malt character is not desired, but really can be used in any beer to ensure the head makes it to the final sip...

I have a sort of personal guideline that I won’t use less than 6 oz of hops in an IPA (usually its closer to around 10 oz honestly, but Im constantly trying to use up hops from my freezer). With that said I would keep what you have and add an oz Cascade at 10 and an oz Northern Brewer at 5 minutes. Also consider adding another oz or two of Cascade to the dry hop. If the IBUs are a little high (we can’t determine that exactly depending on AA%), then move that 45 minute addition to 30 or 20 minutes.

I agree with swapping the carapils for crystal, and dropping it to ½ lb. I would even say you could drop it altogether and up the Munich/2 Row %. Maybe 3 lbs Munich 9 lb 2 Row.

But quite honestly, for your first recipe that beer exactly as you've listed would end up a good, lighter IPA. And if you and your buddy came up with it all on your own I recommend brewing it exactly as is. No better way to learn than to do it yourself. Then on your next batch when you are begging for more hoppiness youll come back and thank us!

1) I don't think you're adding enough hops.
2) I don't think you're adding enough malt.

Which is not to say you won't end up with a tasty beer. However, entering your recipe (revised) into Beer Alchemy and assuming 70% mash efficiency and 6 gallons post boil, I get a nice, hoppy pale ale (OG 1.052, 50 IBU), not an IPA.

I would bump up the two row to 12-13 lbs, ditch the Carapils and either double the Munich or add two pounds English Carastan instead of the Munich and Carapils (but that's only because I had really exceptional results with an IPA that was ~13 lbs two row and ~2 lbs Carastan).

Hop additions, keep the 60 minute bittering addition the same and double your quantities of everything else.

Thanks everyone! this is amazing the willingness to share knowledge. going to talk to my partner and decide what we want to try... ill keep you posted!

thanks again

I think you will be hard-pressed to find a home-brewer who will not talk your ear off. There are an infinite number of ways to get there but only one destination.... BEER!

I'd have to agree on the hop changes Demus mentioned. 45 minutes isn't doing much. I would move that to 20, and then do another 1 oz split between 10 minutes and 5 minutes.

Of course that just happens to be how I like my IPAs. The way you have it will have a noticeable bitterness, and some aroma, but not a lot of the flavor. That just makes it a different style of IPA, and not necessarily wrong.

I would probably brew it the way you have it, identify what changes I wanted in it, and then do a second version.