Citra ipa recipe, need suggestions/help

hey guys I plan on brewing an all citra IPA this weekend and wanted to post my grain bill and see what yall think.

Citra IPA - American IPA
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Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Fermentables
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8LB Golden Light DME
1lb American Crystal 40L
0.4 oz Biscuit malt


Hops
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Citra 1.00 oz Boil 60.000 min WHOLE
Citra 1.00 oz Boil 30.000 min WHOLE
Citra 0.500 oz Boil 15.000 min WHOLE
Citra 0.500 oz Boil 5.000 min WHOLE
Citra 1 oz Dry hop whole leaf 0.0

Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage

Safale S-05 Ale
OR
Pacman

Anyone?

I'd probably cut down (or leave out) some of the biscuit malt. I assume you meant .4 pound, and that's quite a bit. If you want to leave it the biscuit malt, maybe consider reducing it to .25 pound and reducing the crystal malt to .5 pound.

I'd change the hopping a bit. .5 ounce of hops in the late additions isn't much at all for an IPA. I'd make all additions 1 ounce, except for the 30 minute hops. I'd either increase the 60 minute hops for more bittering, or move the 30 minute hops to later.

Like this:

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8LB Golden Light DME
.75 lb American Crystal 40L
.25 lb Biscuit malt


Citra 1.00 oz Boil 60.000 min WHOLE 10.8 (or to get to 40 IBUs with this addition
1 oz citra 15 minutes
1 oz citra 5 minutes
1 oz citra 0 minutes
1 0z citra dryhopping

How about 1 oz. @ 60, 30, 20, 15, then another ounce for dry hop? I prefer a higher IBU

Sorry messed up Citra is 14AA

PassTheBeer said:

How about 1 oz. @ 60, 30, 20, 15, then another ounce for dry hop? I prefer a higher IBU

Click to expand...

Well, an IPA is all about the hops. I would definitely use hops in later additions, at 5 minutes and 0 minutes. Only having bittering and flavor additions will make a bitter beer with some hops flavor but not nearly as full as using hops later in the boil. I typically do 60/15/10/5/0 and dryhop for IPAs.

I don't see any reason to do 30 minute additions here. You get some bittering, but not as much as if you added the hops at 60 minutes. But you get very little flavor and no aroma- so in that sense 30 minute hops are a waste. Either move them to 60 minutes for more bittering, or to the end for some flavor and aroma. To increase the IBUs, add more hops at 60 minutes.

Thanks so much I will get rid of the 30 min, and add it later in the boil.

here's what I created.. I'm 3 ibu's from BJCP imperial guideline but still calling it a iipa so it's %abv is a little high for a ipa.. I've done lots of versions of my citra apa with and without the flameout addition and found I liked skipping it and doubling up the dryhop



citra iipa (Imperial IPA)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.079 (°P): 19.1
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol (ABV): 8.37 %
Colour (SRM): 12.7 (EBC): 25.0
Bitterness (IBU): 57.6 (Tinseth)

13lb American 2-Row
2lb Caramunich I
1lb Cane Sugar

0.7 oz Magnum (13.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort)
1.0 oz Citra (11.4% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
1.0 oz Citra (11.4% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
1.0 oz Citra (11.4% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
2.0 oz Citra (11.4% Alpha) @ 5 Days (Dry Hop)


Single step Infusion at 152°F for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 65°F with Safale US-05

For an extract 5 gallon batch of IIPA focused on Citra, I would do this:

1.070-1.074 OG
< 1.014 FG (the lower the better)
Full volume 60 minute boil w/no top off water

84% Extra Light DME (Half added later in the boil)
12% Corn sugar (Pitched at high krausen)
4% Honey malt or Crystal 10, or 20

Bitter to 20-35 IBUs with the 60 min addition of any high alpha pellet hop other than Citra
Another 20-35 IBU charge at 30 min to up the IBUs and maintain a smooth bitterness
3 oz. mixed Citra and Amarillo pellets from 15-5 min
2 oz. mixed Citra and Amarillo pellets for a 30 min warm aroma steep
3 oz. mixed Citra and Amarillo pellets for a 10 day dryhop

65-68°F with WLP001 yeast starter for 30 days in the primary including dryhop to make things easier.

Citra & Amarillo go together like peas & carrots. Though the beer will still be quite Citra dominant even with equal additions of Amarillo.

I recently made a batch featuring citra. I used:
.5 lbs caramel 10
.25 lbs Belgian biscuit
As steeping

6lbs gold lme
1lb gold dme

1oz 7 c's @ 60
1oz cascade @ 45
.33 oz citra, .33 oz 7c's, .33 oz cascade @ 30

.33 oz citra, .33 oz 7cs, .33oz calypso @ 15

.66 oz citra, .33oz cascade @ 5

2oz citra, .5oz cascade dry hop. Turned out unbelievable!

Going back to your original question I would consider backing down on the Crystal 40L addition unless you like the caramel sweetness in your IPAs....a 1/2 pound should be plenty for a slight color and flavor addition. For the Hops maybe an ounce at 60, 2oz at 10-15, 2 oz at flameout, and 2 at dry hopping. One thing I've noticed with Citra is that it can be a little overpowering as a single hop beer, but you don't know until you try it out...heck you might love it! That is one of the great things about homebrew and craft beer...everyone has a different palate, different tastes, and different likes...variety is the spice of life!

It would be shame to waste all that citra aroma and flavor on those early addition(s). I'd use warrior, nugget, horizon, chinook, or some lower cost generic high AA hop for bitter.

Ending up doing this....

9lbs light gold dme
0.25 crystal 40
0.125 biscuit

Magnum @ 60
Citra @ 10, 7, 5, 0

Its in the primary and it smells phenomenal!