Need Recipe Review

So I am new to homebrewing, and am looking to do my first put-it-together-yourself batch. I am a big hop head (as you will see in the recipe) and want to do a big IPA. Being new, I am not messing with all grain and am just doing extract.

Here is what I have put together and sounds good to me but I want some feedback from you more experienced brewers. Is this just too much? I have used a crude method to calculate IBU's and says it should be about 75. Is there enough malt in the recipe to keep the bitterness in check a little?

Any advice would be awesome! Thanks!

Here is my noob recipe:

Yeast:
1 Package Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast

Malts:
7 lbs. Light DME

Specialty Grains:
.5lb. Carapils (dextrine malt)
.5lb. Crystal Malt 40L

Adjuncts:
1/2lb. local honey
Hops: (not using ALL in recipe)
1oz. Columbus (13.9%)
1oz. Citra (12.3%)
1oz. Chinook (11.8%)
1oz. Simcoe (12.2%)
2oz. Nelson Sauvin (12.4%)
Hop Schedule:
60 min - .5oz (Columbus)
30 min - .25oz (Citra)
15 min - .5oz (Chinook)
10 min - .25oz (Simcoe) & .25oz (Nelson Sauvin)
5 min - .25oz (Citra) & .25oz (Simcoe) & .25oz (Nelson Sauvin)
Flameout - .25oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Dry Hop:
1oz. Nelson Sauvin
.5oz. Simcoe
.5oz. Citra

I've never tried Nelson Sauvin hops, but other than that, the recipe looks good to me. Let us know how it turns out.

So I am planning on brewing this weekend and have redone the recipe. Too much hops? I know some people might respond "that's not possible", but really, is this going to be too much?

Thanks for any help!

Yeast:
1 Package Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast

Malts:
8 lbs. Light DME

Specialty Grains:
.5lb. Carapils (dextrine malt)
.5lb. Crystal Malt 20L

Adjuncts:
1 lb. local honey
Hops:
1oz. Columbus (13.9%)
1oz. Citra (12.3%) (Whole Leaf)
1oz. Centennial (8.2%)
1oz. Chinook (11.8%)
1oz. Simcoe (12.2%)
3oz. Nelson Sauvin (12.4%)
Hop Schedule:
60 min
1oz (Columbus)
.25oz (Chinook)

45 min
.25oz (Chinook)
.25oz (Centennial)

30 min
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)

15 min
.25oz (Nelson Sauvin)
.25oz (Centennial)
.25oz (Chinook)

10 min
.5oz (Simcoe)
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)
.25oz (Chinook)

5 min
.25oz (Centennial)
.25oz (Simcoe)
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Flameout
.25oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Dry Hop:
1oz. (Nelson Sauvin)
.25oz. (Simcoe)
1oz. (Citra Whole Leaf)
.25 (Centennial)

I'd probably omit the 45 minute additions or move them to later in the process; with the 60 minute addition providing the bitterness, you won't see much from those at 45. I'd probably also remove/relocate the Chinook from the 60 and leave it just with columbus for the full duration, but that's likely more of my own preference than anything else.

What's your Target OG & IBU's?

Well im new to the art, and i kinda just threw this together cause it sounds like something I would really like. So i dont really have a "target" OG. Through a very primitive means I calculated that the IBU's would be up around 150, but had read that because of the amount of malt and alcohol that the IBU's need to be up around that mark to really shine through. Am I wrong in this?

With the Chinook, I can see what you are saying with moving them. I like Chinook because i like a little bit of "grassy" in my IPAs and thought it might add a little bit of a different dimension to my very citrus focused hop bill. But like you said, thats personal preference I guess. Yall are more experienced and if you wouldnt put it in there i would probably take your word for it.

andrewcoopergt said:

Well im new to the art, and i kinda just threw this together cause it sounds like something I would really like. So i dont really have a "target" OG. Through a very primitive means I calculated that the IBU's would be up around 150, but had read that because of the amount of malt and alcohol that the IBU's need to be up around that mark to really shine through. Am I wrong in this?

With the Chinook, I can see what you are saying with moving them. I like Chinook because i like a little bit of "grassy" in my IPAs and thought it might add a little bit of a different dimension to my very citrus focused hop bill. But like you said, thats personal preference I guess. Yall are more experienced and if you wouldnt put it in there i would probably take your word for it.

Click to expand...

Hops added between 60 minutes and about 20 minutes don't give much flavor, and only bitterness but not the full bitterness. To me, 45 minute and 30 minute hops are a waste in most beers. If you're not getting flavor out of them, why are they there?

I'd suggest if you want to make your own recipes to always target an OG and an IBU. The key to any beer is balance, and IBUs are only a part of it. If you can enter the recipe into some brewing software and get an IBU/OG ratio of 1.000 or so, that would be good. That's only for bittering of course, and not the actual "hoppiness" you have in the beer. That's why late additions are so important! I also think you've got way too many different hops- the resulting flavor will be muddy, not hoppy with that many. Also, too many hop additions and not enough dryhops. I don't like citra or nelson sauvin but if you do, I'd redo your hopping like this:

60 min
1.25 oz (Columbus)


15 min
.50oz (Centennial)
.50oz (Chinook)

10 min
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)
.505oz (Chinook)

5 min
.50oz (Centennial)
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Flameout
1oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Dry Hop:
2oz. (Nelson Sauvin)
2oz (Centennial)

I would suggest downloading the free trial of Beersmith, and plug this recipe into it, it should only take a few minutes to download. But I also think you should take the time learn how all formulas work. Maybe write out a few recipes by hand so you understand that math. How to Brew & Designing Great Beers are the books I've learned from.


I would say try to target 1.080 for your OG & something around 90-100 for IBU's, following Yoop's Hop Schedule would be a good idea.

Yooper summed up my rational for the relocations perfectly, and I'd absolutely second the free trial of BeerSmith. Once you get a feel for all the variables in brewing, BeerSmith feels absolutely natural and has definitely enhanced my recipe constructing experience.

Thanks for the suggestions! I will do just that!

Ok, so I took the advice and have used BeerSmith to change things around and get calculations. The Estimated IBU's is 69.3, the OG estimate is 1.071 (this is without the 1/2lb of honey. Anyone know how to get it to add the honey into the equation?), and Bitterness Ratio at .977. I like my IPA's pretty hoppy. Is this going to be enough hop for me? Sorry for the tons of questions...im learning.

Here is the updated recipe:

Malts:
8 lbs. Light DME

Specialty Grains:
.5lb. Carapils (dextrine malt)
.5lb. Crystal Malt 20L

Adjuncts:
.5 lb. local honey
Hops:
1oz. Columbus (13.9%)
1oz. Citra (12.3%) (Whole Leaf)
1oz. Centennial (8.2%)
1oz. Simcoe (12.2%)
4oz. Nelson Sauvin (12.4%)
Hop Schedule:

60 min
1oz (Columbus)
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)

15 min
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)
.25oz (Centennial)
.25oz (Simcoe)

10 min
.5oz (Simcoe)
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)

5 min
.25oz (Centennial)
.25oz (Simcoe)
.75oz (Nelson Sauvin)

Flameout
.5oz (Nelson Sauvin)
.5oz (Centennial)

Dry Hop:
1oz. (Nelson Sauvin)
1oz. (Citra Whole Leaf)

I'd increase the late hops (10 minutes, 5 minutes, 0 minutes) to at least .5 ounce for each addition. .25 ounce isn't much.

I'd personally crank it up a bit on the hops. Just as a point of reference Pliny the Elder is 1.070 ish and about 100 IBU's.

I would take your 10 and 5 min addition and split them between flameout and dryhop. Im not a big believer in tons of additions. I like my recipes simple. 3 additions plus dry hop is enough. bitter, flavor, aroma...more aroma. I dont think adding 3 flavoring additions is going to do more than a flavoring and bigger aroma addition. after all, most of our taste comes from our nose anyway.