IPA Recipe--- first time!

Hey all... I'm going to attempt an American Style IPA. I like them bitter with a very nice hoppy aroma. I plugged all of what i think will be a good IPA into Beersmith.

Couple questions... does this look like a good recipe?
Also... I'm not quite understanding the boil volume. On the kits I have done... ive always boiled 2 or 2.5 gallons. (dont really know the size of the pot, i think its a 12quart pot)
But when I tell BeerSmith to auto adjust, it autosets it to the full boil volume of my pot and changes the IBU caluclation.
What is the reason behind this? And, should I just manually set it to the boil volume of 2.5 I usually use?


Type: Extract
Date: 12/29/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Rich Eyring
Boil Size: 2.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 52.63 %
3.50 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 36.84 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 10.53 %

2.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (60 min) Hops 53.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.0 IBU

2.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] (Dry Hop 4 days) Hops -

1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.062 SG

Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.16 %
Bitterness: 62.0 IBU
Est Color: 13.2 SRM

Let me know what you all think!

The amber lme has crystal in it. I would drop the lb of crystal 30. Dont have a yeast calculator in front of me but one package of yeast sounds low without a starter. Maybe double check that witha yeast calc like mr malty or other. Good luck with your new recipe!

bball3414 said:

Also... I'm not quite understanding the boil volume. On the kits I have done... ive always boiled 2 or 2.5 gallons. (dont really know the size of the pot, i think its a 12quart pot)
But when I tell BeerSmith to auto adjust, it autosets it to the full boil volume of my pot and changes the IBU caluclation.
What is the reason behind this? And, should I just manually set it to the boil volume of 2.5 I usually use?

Click to expand...

What is the reason behind BeerSmith auto-setting to full volume (I don't know) or what is the reason this change the IBUs?

The more "crowded" boil decreases IBU utilization. If you were to do a full boil, you would need fewer hops.

i think i plugged this in right to mr malty... and it seems you are correct sir, that i would need 2 wyeast packets.

it seems that for a "simple starter" (which i guess the wyeast packs are??) i would need 200+ billion yeast cells and the 1056 packet only supplies 100 billion.

does this sound right?

Simple starter is making a basic starter, but not using a stirplate or oxygen or shaking the starter container. The Wyeast might not have 100 billion if it's not fresh of the press.

You could probably get by with buying two packets and not making a starter, but that's still probably under-pitching a tad.

another option is going with a pack of S-05 if you're not comfortable making a starter.

+1 on ditching the lb of crystal, IPAs should be dry. you can keep some if you want, but I'd keep it pretty low, like 0.25lbs since you already have the amber lme

thanks for all the advice!
So, on a whim when I ordered from NB, I ended up ditching the Amber and went with their pale LME (which they call "golden") and got 9.15 lbs. Then got a pound of the crystal 80 b/c I like a more amber than pale IPA. Will probably use at most .5 lbs of it.

I also added another oz of cascade hops to do at 15 min of the boil.

What do you thiink? Did i just screw up my first recipe, or does it sound like it will come out allrgiht if executed well?

bball3414 said:

thanks for all the advice!
So, on a whim when I ordered from NB, I ended up ditching the Amber and went with their pale LME (which they call "golden") and got 9.15 lbs. Then got a pound of the crystal 80 b/c I like a more amber than pale IPA. Will probably use at most .5 lbs of it.

I also added another oz of cascade hops to do at 15 min of the boil.

What do you thiink? Did i just screw up my first recipe, or does it sound like it will come out allrgiht if executed well?

Click to expand...

Sounds better than the original! I don't think amber DME or LME should ever be used- or at least ever in an IPA or APA. In an English brown, it's ok, I guess- but I don't like the carmelly flavor in IPAs.

I think this sounds ... ok ... an american style IPA it is not. Not nearly enough late addition hops. For 5 gallons of American style IPA, you should have 6 oz or more of late addition (10 minutes or less)/dry hops.

heywatchthis said:

For 5 gallons of American style IPA, you should have 6 oz or more of late addition (10 minutes or less)/dry hops.

Click to expand...

so Stone Ruination, DFH60, and Bell's 2H (among others) don't count?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/stone-ruination-clone-155771/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-60-minute-clone-ag-extract-25709/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/bells-two-hearted-ale-clone-close-they-come-91488/

With an OG of 1.062 you'll be fine with a single activator smack pack of Wyeast (even without a starter). I've done that in a brew that was about 1.060-1.063 and it fermented just fine. I had a pretty long fermentation time, so as long as you don't need this finished in a rush, it will come out really well.

Wyeast lists, right on their packages, that the smack pack is for brews up to 1.060. After that (1.062 is close enough) you'll want to make a starter. You can go real simple and just use a 1/2 gallon jar (or 1-1.5L) with about 1/4-1/2 cup DME in water (about 2-3 cups in the 1.5L jar, more in the 1/2 gallon, or larger jar). Just give it a good swirl when you go past it, or at least every couple of hours while you're near it.

I made a starter for this weekend's brew day out of 1/2 cup DME, about 2 quarts water, and some leftover mead must (OG of 1.156)... The Wyeast has been going ape-nuts in that for the past couple of days. I covered it in aluminum foil, so that I didn't need to worry about it busting the cover off. When I give it a few second swirl, it foams nicely, and pushes the foil up... I made the starter because I had originally planned on making a bigger brew... Now the OG is projected around 1.070, so it's not as important. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to become comfortable with making yeast starters. Just be sure to give yourself at least a couple of days for the starter to do it's job... Longer if the yeast is older (especially Wyeast)...

I don't care for IPA's, so I won't comment on the hops there.

just an update for anyone who checks... finally got around to brewing this last night!
I hit 1.065 as my OG which im pretty stoked about.
I ended up using the two wyeast packs just to be safe.

Woke up this morning to slight bubbling, nothing crazy. when i got home from work just 15 min ago... it was just starting to foam out the top... so i figured since swmbo and I are going out for dinner... i should fancy up a blow off valve... just in case!
and what do you know... while i am filling up my growler with water and starsan for the tube to go in... i hear a huge POP from the closet and then a bunch of rattlign around.
It blew while i was filling up the water!! and it must have been the cleanest blow off ever too... no wort anywhere! haha im a seriously lucky b/c its in our food pantry... would have been a mess to clean.

Ill let you all know how the finished product is!

next time try bumping up you mid hops. I'm a huge hop head so i like i higher IBU (I have a 110 IPA on tap now...yummy). Don't worry, it will turn out just fine. playing aroud with the hop additions is one of the best way to come up with creative recipes. use your same grain bill and same hops and change up the additions times, you will be amazed how much of an impact it has. anyhow....I would drink it.

yeah man... im def. a huge hop head too... i think i want to try a recipe with only warrior hops. I loved the smell of them!
im going to start configuring some AG recipes soon. i have a cooler to convert and then just need a new bk and ill be doing AG in my kitchen soon haha

I'm a big fan of galena, I love the taste. Just did an IPA with warrior.....awesome!!

nice! im already itching for a new kit haha

I made the switch to AG some years ago, but you can have loads of fun hopping the crap out of most of the pale or amber kits..intsa IPA

to anyone who still remembers this thread... finally getting around to updating. After sitting in the primary for i think was two weeks, i racked to a secondary and dry hopped for two more weeks. Then I let rest in bottle three weeks i think.

Anyway... it came out great! it has a great piney grapefruit hop aroma... very good body and just a great overall taste. (at least i think so!) my dad, the reason i got into homebrewing, absolutely loved it! he keeps saying i need to make it again and not change a thing. :rockin:

One question... if you look back at the original recipe... how would i convert this into all grain? In the process of upgrading and not sure how to do conversion ffrom extract to grain bill.

thanks!

Beer Smith can help you convert an extract recipe into an all grain, or partial mash even, recipe...

bball3414 said:

One question... if you look back at the original recipe... how would i convert this into all grain? In the process of upgrading and not sure how to do conversion ffrom extract to grain bill.

thanks!

Click to expand...

Push the "convert" button in BeerSmith.

I <3 BeerSmith!