IPA Recipe Input

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Fordzilla

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
437
Reaction score
26
Location
Rochester
I just got 1 lb of Glacier hops from a friend in my brew club, so I slapped together a recipe to try them out. This is the first recipe I have put together. So if it's garbage, don't be shy!

They are 2011 crop, so I think my IBUs will end up a bit lower than they're calculated to be. Maybe I should increase my amounts to account for that?

Here's my recipe:

http://hopville.com/recipe/1682574
 
cheezydemon3 said:
Step up the crystal to a pound. That looks fantastic! Love glacier.

I disagree... in fact, I might even drop the crystal and up the Vienna by 8 oz. cheers!
 
I agree, reduce the specialties or they will over power your beer and the hops won't shine through. Try to keep your specialty malts to around 5% +/-
 
I based the grain bill on edwort's haus pale and what I have on hand. (No crystal 10). I will consider adjusting it somewhat though.

Any input on the hopping? Is glacier/centennial a good blend? How about accounting for the age of the glacier hops?
 
I've never used Glacier, but my thoughts are that it is not a particularly great American IPA hop. I think it would be more suitable for a American or English Pale Ale. Low alpha, low cohumulone, the flavor description is, "Fruity with hints of pear and apricot".

Though if I were ever to use Glacier in an IPA, it would be similar to how you are attempting to do it... in tandem with another citrusy-piney high alpha hop. However, I would bitter with the Centennial; especially since Glacier is only 5-6% alpha acids when fresh, and your selection is a year old. I would advise that simplify your hop schedule. Maybe something more like 60/15/0/Dryhop.

Crystal malt at 8 oz. is fine. That's right around 5%. You should cut 1 lb. of 2-row for the sake of 1 more lb. of Vienna. The Vienna will then offer more like one-third of the malt character in your recipe. I've noticed that decent usage of Vienna malt provides a fuller body than plain 2-row. For this reason, and considering the rest of your recipe, I would mash around 150-151 F.
 
Fordzilla said:
I based the grain bill on edwort's haus pale and what I have on hand. (No crystal 10). I will consider adjusting it somewhat though.

Any input on the hopping? Is glacier/centennial a good blend? How about accounting for the age of the glacier hops?

Since Pale Ale is lower gravity, it doesn't pull as much malt sugar from the base grain, whereas your higher OG IPA will get a decent amount of sweetness just from the base malt. To balance this with the increased hop amount, I reduce the crystal malt and mash a tad low, around 150F.

I've never used glacier, but centennial... greeeeeat hop!

Cheers!
 
I'd worry about that high of IBU in a low abv beer. If you're really planning on finishing at 1.014 you're only at 5.8%. A bit low for an IPA...and low for 70 IBU IMO.

I would actually up the base malt until you had an og of 1.06+, and mash at 149, and look to finish at 1.011. That will give you a drier end product, which let's the hops shine. And for 70ibu I want a beer at about 6.5% abv.
 
I switched up the recipe a bit. Added 1 lb of 2-row, changed the Crystal 40L to Crystal 20L. I may just drop the Crystal altogether.

I also swapped out the Centennial for Palisades. I also came into 1 lb of Palisades, (and 1 lb of German Northern Brewer) so I decided to use them. I read they have some really nice fruity characteristics that should blend well with the Glacier...I hope.

I may do this as a 1 gallon experiment first, then if it's good I'll do a 5 gallon batch.
 
Your on the right track now. A good IPA has a very simple grain bill. Mash at temps for a dryer beer so that the hops really shine. I like what Chri5 sad and mash lower at around 149 or 148 but go long, say 90 - 120 minutes to get a dryer, more attenuating beer. That way your hop additions will really come through. Try to balance it with about 50% of your IBU's coming from late kettle additions. and dry hop the hell out of it. I am getting ready to dry hop one of my IPA's and I am set to add about 2.5 oz (1.25 oz simcoe & 1.25 oz amarillo) for 3 days to my 5 gal batch. Cant wait to keg this one!!!!
 
I made some final adjustments to the recipe and I'm going to brew it next weekend. Updates are in the link. I ended up dropping out the Crystal. I'm going to give the 149 degree, 90 minute mash a try.
 
149 degrees is fine, but American 2-row has a diastatic power of 140 and vienna has a diastatic power of 130. So a 90 minute mash is unnecessary. It will all convert in about 40 minutes, but 60 minutes is a safe bet. If your grist included a lot of Munich at 40 diastatic power, and/or a bunch of other fairly low range d-power grains, then a longer mash would be beneficial.
 
Back
Top