Cheap version of an IPA? Any ideas?

Hi all,

im looking at buying ingredients from http://www.leisure-time.com/muntmalt.htm

Im looking at going for PLAIN LIGHT BULK MALT 33lb 46.79 .

This is just a brew for friends to have when partying. Ill be making/saving the good stuff for us REAL BEER lovers. :cross:

And some hops and grains from the site too.

Are there any specific types of hops and how many to use?

I think 6lbs of malt for each batch should be enough and maybe two OZ of hops and some specialty grain.

For a basic IPA recipe I usually go with:
6 - 7 lbs DME
1 lb Crystal (40-60L or so)

and then use whatever hops you like:
10-15 HBU at 60 min
1/2 oz at 15 min
1/2 oz at 10 min
1/2 oz at 5 min
1/2 oz at flameout
+/- Dry hop in secondary

American Ale yeast of your choice

As far as determining which hops to use, you ought to glance over this story. It's a good description of a single hops experiment using a basic IPA recipe. I'd also check out BYO's Hops guide.

(EDIT: just realized you referred to LME not DME...so the equivalent of 7 lbs DME = 8.4 lbs LME, which would give you an OG around 1.066. 6 lbs LME would give you an OG of around 1.046 and is kinda low for my taste.)

Cheers,
Marc.

britishbloke said:

Im looking at going for PLAIN LIGHT BULK MALT 33lb 46.79 .

This is just a brew for friends to have when partying. Ill be making/saving the good stuff for us REAL BEER lovers. :cross:

And some hops and grains from the site too.

Are there any specific types of hops and how many to use?

I think 6lbs of malt for each batch should be enough and maybe two OZ of hops and some specialty grain.

Click to expand...

That's a good price, IMO. And I think you would have a good beer with 6 lbs of malt and 2 oz of hops, even for your partying friends.

However, it comes in a big pail, so it seems it would be difficult to measure out your 6 lbs for a batch. If you know of a good way to do that, go for it!

Good ole' Papazian lists the following hops (boiling and finishing) for IPAs: Centennial, Chinook, Horizon, Magnum, Amarillo, Cascade, and Golding. (I think your 2 oz is good for your amount of malt. Even okay using another oz if you know your friends like bitter, hoppy beer.)

Specialty grains: for a batch using 7.5 lbs. of light malt, Papazian lists Crystal and toasted grains at 1 lb. and 1/2 lb, respectively.

Your mates should feel lucky!

this one has gone over really well with my friends/brew club. Really smooth drinking with nice piney/citrus hops. Also goes down way too fast for a 7% brew.... but its not what you'd call cheap to make.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5 lbs. DME
.5 lbs. Biscuit Malt
.5 lbs. Crystal 60
.5 lbs. CaraPils

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.60 16.6 60 min.
0.25 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.60 16.6 50 min.
0.25 oz. Columbus Pellet 15.60 12.7 40 min.
0.15 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.20 4.9 35 min.
0.15 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.20 4.0 30 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.50 3.7 25 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.50 2.4 15 min.
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.50 1.5 5 min.
0.70 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.50 0.0 0 min.
0.59 oz. Cascade Pellet 5.60 0.0 Dry Hop
0.59 oz. Centennial Pellet 8.50 0.0 Dry Hop
0.59 oz. Nugget Pellet 12.20 0.0 Dry Hop

A cheap version of an Imperial Pale Ale is a Pale Ale. Lower ABV, lower hopping = cheaper. 6 lbs of liquid malt extract would put the ale around 5%. The are some very good Pales out there. Of course, if you are serving it to people who don't know much about craft beer, dry hop with an oz. of Cascades before bottling.

Bulk purchases are the first step down a slippery slope!