Falconer's Flight IPA

Hi

I want to brew my first American IPA on Friday. I based this on a few other IPA recipes I looked at.

Any thoughts? I used Falconer's Flight as i wanted some Citra in there, but can't get it in South Africa

23L batch

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6.500 kg Pale Malt (SA) (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 87.0 %
0.550 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.4 %
0.420 kg Caramunich III (Weyermann) (71.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.6 %
31.00 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 47.0 IBUs
70.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 16.7 IBUs
1.2 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 6 -
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.6 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 63.7 IBUs Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Est Color: 9.9 SRM

That looks good to me, and at 64 IBU's pretty tasty as well.

About 5 years ago my wife and I toured around SA for 2 weeks. BEAUTIFUL country!

Just curious, how are the prices in SA? What will it cost to make this batch. Do you have a LHBS or must you have things shipped in Thanks!

Hey

Prices are reasonable, although I really struggle to get some of the American varieties (the ones that I do manage to get are a bit pricey).

Just checked my costing on this batch.

Comes to R236 which is $26 at the current exchange rates. Does that sound expensive?

The Falconers flight hops cost me R78 for 100g.
I have been using quite a bit of Cascade which costs me R40 per 100g, but wanted to try something new.

been looking at shipping in from USA, but transport is quite expensive and apparently the hops don't always arrive due to customs/inspections etc

I would like to see some more late additions, but if you only have 100g of Falconers, I'd split up your late kettle additions, maybe:

20g @20m
25g @10m
25G @flameout

and keep the 30g dry hop

daksin said:

I would like to see some more late additions, but if you only have 100g of Falconers, I'd split up your late kettle additions, maybe:

20g @20m
25g @10m
25G @flameout

and keep the 30g dry hop

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I agree. The hop additions were from a Sierra Nevada Torpedo Clone, although it used different hops. (citra etc). ( i adjusted to achieve similar IBU's)

I have ordered 150g Falconers so that i can adjust my hop schedule.

This was the clone that i based my recipe on:

7.900 kg Pale Malt (SA) (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 94.3 %
0.480 kg Crystal Malt (150 EBC) (76.1 SRM) Grain 2 5.7 %
41.00 g Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 56.3 IBUs
36.68 g Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 4 2.5 IBUs
36.68 g Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 10.0 IBUs
1.2 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 6 -
23.12 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
23.12 g Crystal [3.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
23.12 g Magnum [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

Here are some options with 150G of Falconers. I don't really understand the difference between say a 20/15/10 minute addition yet. I know that the earlier in the boil you add the hops the more bitterness you extract and later in the boil more flavour and aroma, but i don't understand the more subtle difference that a few minutes might make.

What do you think? Both of these options work out to the same IBU's

14.50 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 22.0 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 21.7 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 13.0 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 7.1 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

63.8 IBUs

OR

21.50 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 32.6 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 11.9 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 8.7 IBUs
45.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 10.7 IBUs
35.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

63.8 IBUs

Would the 2nd one be overwhelming with the big 5min addition? would that be unbalanced?

any thoughts on the hop schedule? i want to brew this tomorrow!

wondering if i should drop the IBU's a little. busy drinking a 45 IBU pale ale (based sacred summit which i found on here) - that is quite bitter...

dylanphelan said:

Comes to R236 which is $26 at the current exchange rates. Does that sound expensive?

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$26 bucks is great. I aim for $25 per batch, but it depends on the style.

As for your hop addition choices, I'd go for the top one. If you don't like hop bitterness, you may want to bring the IBU's down to 30-40 for a more balanced flavor. Good luck and keep us posted on your tasting notes.

Gesondheid!

thanks - that puts my mind a little more at ease. This is actually my most expensive batch thus far.

If i brew with Cascade for example it costs me half of what the Falconers Flight cost.

Has anybody got any input on the hop additions? I want to brew this tonight. I have 150grams falconers flight to work with.

Will bitter with columbus.

Still considering my IBU/SG ratio

masskrug said:

$26 bucks is great. I aim for $25 per batch, but it depends on the style.

As for your hop addition choices, I'd go for the top one. If you don't like hop bitterness, you may want to bring the IBU's down to 30-40 for a more balanced flavor. Good luck and keep us posted on your tasting notes.

Gesondheid!

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Hey - sorry, i didnt read your notes on the hop additions just now. thanks for the input

As far as costing in South Africa goes - I also just did a 20.8L / 5.5G batch of the SNPA clone. That cost me R156 / $17.7

masskrug said:

As for your hop addition choices, I'd go for the top one. If you don't like hop bitterness, you may want to bring the IBU's down to 30-40 for a more balanced flavor.

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Could you elaborate a little on your recommendation... why do you suggest this one over the other one which is heavier on the late hop additions.

I don't really understand yet how much flavour & aroma i get out of the different additions. I know that later additions add more aroma and flavour, but don't really know how to choose between the different late hop additions.

Why do you favour the more balanced one starting at 20mins. How much flavour do you get @ 20mins?

I had also though of this:

21.50 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 32.6 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 11.9 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 8.7 IBUs
40.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 9.5 IBUs
40.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

that one has an IBU/SG ratio of 0.999

dylanphelan said:

21.50 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 32.6 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 11.9 IBUs
20.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 8.7 IBUs
45.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 10.7 IBUs
35.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Falconer's Flight [11.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

63.8 IBUs

Would the 2nd one be overwhelming with the big 5min addition? would that be unbalanced?

Click to expand...

I used this exact hop schedule for my 10 gal batch for my last brew, with the exact same hop schedule. It was my first time using FF I cannot remember all the fine details of my recipe, Beersmith needs cloud support!!!!

My impression is I'm moving away form the flameout addition, and saving those hops for additional dryhop. My IBU was dead on same as your so without doing the g to oz conversions I'd say we are about the same. My IBU/SG ration was around 0.8? (memory, its normally what I shoot for with an APA).

Taste notes: flavor was good, good citrus taste, not anywhere as potent as the simcoe+armillo combo. Bitterness was a little lower than I wanted. Next time I try this recipe I would consider moving to a 20 min addition or at most a 30 min just to hit that borderline bitter with a tad of flavor addition. I want to think the columbus was where it should have been, and the citrus was where it was supposed to be but the balance a bit off, I like a little more bitter. Being that my recipe was for an APA (~5.3%), I would add a little more for an IPA. My OG was around 1.055ish, I personally would not consider this hoppy enough for an IPA.

All in all, it made a really good beer for an APA, not an IPA.

EDIT: noticed something, you have this which is why there is a discrepancy in my utilization compared to yours.

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG

Cutting yourself short or mistype? This is going to impact your recipe greatly.

Paulgs3 said:

I used this exact hop schedule for my 10 gal batch for my last brew, with the exact same hop schedule. It was my first time using FF I cannot remember all the fine details of my recipe, Beersmith needs cloud support!!!!

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thanks for the input.

this is for a 6 gallon batch (23L). So if you had the same hop schedule for a 10gal batch i presume mine would be a little more hoppy.

Paulgs3 said:

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG

Cutting yourself short or mistype? This is going to impact your recipe greatly.

Click to expand...

sorry - copied nonsense from beersmith. Haven't brewed this yet, so no measured gravity.

dylanphelan said:

thanks for the input.

this is for a 6 gallon batch (23L). So if you had the same hop schedule for a 10gal batch i presume mine would be a little more hoppy.



sorry - copied nonsense from beersmith. Haven't brewed this yet, so no measured gravity.

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Your right, I need to convert grams to oz to give you the proper advice, sorry. I figured since the IBUs were the same actual amounts were inconsequential since the over all IBUs were the same. I'll post my full recipe when I get home. The recipe can be scaled without consequence between a 6 and 10 gal batch and have same numbers.

ok thanks - I think i was also confusing myself there.

So you're saying the 63 IBU's werent bitter enough for it to be an IPA? I thought that would be plenty

Well, the thing with IBUs is that because it only measures the amount of total isomerized alpha acids in the beer, it won't necessarily tell you how bitter the beer will taste. That might sound dumb, but it's mostly because of two things. First, which I'm guessing you already know from mentioning your SG to IBU ratio, is that our taste of bitterness is influenced by the amount of alcohol and residual sugars (FG) in your beer. So a very light 4% with a very low FG would probably taste disgustingly bitter with 63 IBU, but on the other hand, a barleywine or dark Double IPA with 9 or 10% and a decent amount of remaining complex sugars might seem way too sweet and alcoholic with 63 IBU. Second is that there are multiple different types of alpha acids in hops, which give different types of bitterness. This is why different hop strains can be described as having a smooth, harsh, long lasting, quick, resiny, etc. bitterness on top of all of the flavor/aroma qualities.

In my opinion, 63 would be perfectly fine for a 6.6% IPA, but if it tastes less bitter than you were expecting, just call it a Pale Ale! I don't know which beers you're familiar with, but for comparison, Dogfish Head 60min IPA is 60 IBU and 6.0%, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is 5.6%/38 IBU, Stone IPA is 6.9% and 77IBU.

I just brewed a Falconer's Flight DIPA myself a little less than 2 weeks ago and should be bottling it today after I can go to the store to get a replacement bottle filler. I may have went a little overboard in using the entire half pound bag of FF in addition to 3oz each of Simcoe and
Amarillo! (About 400g total) That being said, it's about 80-90 IBU and I'm expecting about 9% ABV. All the hops except for .25oz were boiled for 25 mins or less to give it HUGE flavor without extreme bitterness.

Your recipe seems like it will be fine. Good luck!

snowmunkey9490 said:

Your recipe seems like it will be fine. Good luck!

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Thanks snowmunkey!

I am actually just finishing brewing this! Hit 1.062 which i'm happy with. Target was 1.063...

I had 6 variations of this recipe - ended up going for loads of late additions, saving a good bit for dry hopping! will send feedback soon - gonna check temps and hopefully pitch my yeast

That DIPA with Amariallo and Simcoe sounds great - those hops are so scarce here.... we pay so much for them. No way we can afford to / or it would be feasible to put 400g in! although i'd love to!

I literally just finished bottling a batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale dry hopped with 1 oz. of Simcoe. It smelled like a cat pissed in a pine forest (in a good way). The hydrometer sample was amazingly flavorful. That Simcoe hop is strong. I can't wait to taste it in 2-3 weeks, after it mellows a bit.

masskrug said:

I literally just finished bottling a batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale dry hopped with 1 oz. of Simcoe. It smelled like a cat pissed in a pine forest (in a good way). The hydrometer sample was amazingly flavorful. That Simcoe hop is strong. I can't wait to taste it in 2-3 weeks, after it mellows a bit.

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Sounds good.

I just dry hopped my SNPA clone with 35g of Cascade.

Looking forward to it!

So - I ended up with 22 Litres @ 1.062. Don't know why, but my efficiency is not very good. beersmith says 55% :-(

Readjusting my Beersmith values i end up with:

Measured Original Gravity: 1.062 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 64.2 IBUs
Est Color: 10.1 SRM

dylanphelan said:

Don't know why, but my efficiency is not very good. beersmith says 55% :-(

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1. How was your crush?
2. What does your mash tun look like?
3. I batch sparge. I found that stirring up the grains every 20 minutes really helped my efficiency.
4. Try slowing down the extraction flow rate.

6.9% abv is a good number. Congrats!


Good read: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/advice-best-ways-control-my-mash-long-387593/

dylanphelan said:

ok thanks - I think i was also confusing myself there.

So you're saying the 63 IBU's werent bitter enough for it to be an IPA? I thought that would be plenty

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I just tapped into my second batch of this and yeah, next time I'm going to use a lot more FF.

The IBU is not the be all end all in my brewing experience. The beer is good, the hops are OK... no where near as efficient as my simcoe amarillo batch I did a a few weeks ago. The simcoe really help with the explosion of amarillo's citrus bomb and adds good bittering, that FF just didn't have that punch, even with the columbus.

But this was my batch, hopefully your expirence will be to your liking.