MAC Daddy IIPA feedback?

thoughts or adjustments on recipe? I'm looking for a lot of citrus but a sweet finish.

MAC Daddy IIPA

soaked grains:
3 lbs 2-row
2 lbs Pale Ale Malt


6.6 lbs. LME Extra Light
8 oz. Raw organic Sugar

3 oz. Magnum - 60 min
1 oz. Amarillo 30 min.
1 oz. Cascade 30 min.
1 oz. Cascade 5 min
1 oz. Amarillo 5min
1 oz. Amarillo (flame out)

Dry Hop:
1 oz. Magnum (12-14 days total)
.5 oz Cascade (12-14 days total)
.75 oz. Cascade (5 days to go in dry hop)

White Labs Cali Ale yeast

What does 'Soaked grains' mean. If you don't mash them, they will not do you any good.

Probably want to stick a pound of Crystal in there. It will help it end sweeter, and give it more body/malt flavor.

3 ozs of Magnum at 60 is a ton. Might want to cut it down to about an ounce. Not really sure what your target is.

I think you lose a lot when adding hops at 30 minutes. You would get more bittering by using earlier, but you don't get much flavor by using them too early. I'd move the 30 minute additions to 15 minutes.

I've never used Magnum for flavoring/aroma. It's supposed to be a 'Clean' bittering hop. Not sure how it will do as a dry-hop.

The crystal as Calder suggested might help for a sweeter finish. And you can steep it with your grains. Instead of going with all of your base grains (2-Row and Pale Ale Malt...are you using 2 kinds of base malt?) You might try a partial mash like:

2 lbs. 2-Row (Pale Ale Malt, Maris Otter, etc.)
1 lb. Vienna
1 lb. Munich
1 lb. Crystal 60 (or .5 20, .5 80)

And I would only dry hop for about 7 days...probably no more than 10, unless you're dry hopping at refrigerator temperatures. And I would again agree with Calder and not dry hop with Magnum. Try Amarillo instead! You won't regret it.

storunner13 said:

And I would only dry hop for about 7 days...probably no more than 10, unless you're dry hopping at refrigerator temperatures. And I would again agree with Calder and not dry hop with Magnum. Try Amarillo instead! You won't regret it.

Click to expand...

+1. Some other good hops for dry hopping are Simcoe, Cascade, or Centennial.

Thanks to all very much! Will cut the Magnum dry hop and add more Amarillo and Cascade... Was going from a recipe my friend gave me, but was really no reason behind the relatively large add of Magnum... assuming to lift the IBUs, but I was thinking cut an oz. off Magnums and run 90-30-15-5 schedule...

2 oz. Magnum - 90 min
.5 oz. Amarillo 30 min.
.5 oz. Cascade 30 min.
1 oz. Cascade 15 min
1 oz. Amarillo 15min
1 oz. Amarillo 5 min

I'll also revise the dry hopping to less than 10 days... not using refrig. temps

@ Calder - I am assuming "soaked grains" = Mashed

ChineseBrew:

Check out Hopville.com ..it's a nice, easy online calculator for figuring out your brews (Just be sure to adjust batch, and boil size, and the actual AAs of your hops). Assuming a 4 gallon average boil (or are you doing a full boil?) I get about 104 IBUs for your beer...which is probably ok. However, If you only do a 60 min boil with the Magnum, you will get less caramelization of the wort, and a higher total volume after the boil. Also, the idea that a 30 minute addition of hops is ideal for "flavor" is no longer believed to be true. That's why it was suggested to move your 30 minute addition to 20 or 15 minutes to maximize hop flavor (which I assume you're going for if you want a lot of citrus).

The more hops you add between 10 and 20 minutes, the more hop flavor in the finished beer. The more hops you add between 0 and 10 minutes, the more hop aroma...with a dry hop probably giving the freshest aroma (but little flavor and no bitterness).

I personally think 2oz of magnum at 90 min will be overly bitter.

I have since started adding all late hop additions in my IPA, and it has much smoother bitterness and hop flavor. Very floral kinda.

In my last 4 beers i have gone with the 10-20 min theory of flavor and 0-10 min for aroma and those last 4 beers have been by far my best. My flavor used to be so-so and my aroma was lacking. Now i have a great balance of both!

guys. Thanks for the the great direction. I have once again changed the schedule and used the calculator. I will post recipe and give feedback ASAP!!

lb oz
54% 6 6 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup
25% 3 0 Briess 2 Row Brewers Malt
17% 2 0 American Two-row Pale
4% 0 8 Sugar, Table (Sucrose)

Batch size: 5.0 gallons


Original Gravity
1.078 / 18.9° Plato
(1.069 to 1.081)
Final Gravity
1.018 / 4.6° Plato
(1.016 to 1.020)


hops

boil 60 mins 2.0 Magnum leaf 14.0
boil 20 mins 0.5 Amarillo leaf 7.0
boil 20 mins 1.0 Cascade leaf 5.5
boil 15 mins 1.0 Amarillo leaf 7.0
boil 15 mins 1.0 Cascade leaf 5.5
boil 5 mins 1.0 Amarillo leaf 7.0
dry hop 7 days 1.5 Amarillo leaf 7.0
dry hop 7 days 1.0 Cascade leaf 5.5