Please help me tweak my recipe...

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kingmatt

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I brewed the following recipe a few months back and am looking to brew it again but make a few adjustments:

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Wyeast 1056
Yeast Starter: Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5 (full boil)
Original Gravity: 1060
Final Gravity: 1016
IBU: ?
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days at 60 deg
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days at 60 deg

6lbs Briess Gold Unhopped LME (late addition at 50min)
2lbs Munton Extra Light DME (60 min)
1/2 lb Crystal 40L

Crystal 40L steeped for 30 min in 1.5 gallons of water @ 155 deg

1.5 oz Amarillo 8%AA 60 min
1 oz Amarillo 8%AA 30 min
1 oz Amarillo 8%AA 15 min
1 oz Amarillo 8%AA 5 min
1.5 oz Amarillo 8%AA flameout
2 oz Amarillo 8%AA dry hop

I was hoping for a very citrusy well hoppped IPA but I feel like it came out a little too bitter for my taste. What would you suggest I adjust to lower the IBUs a bit so that the citrusy/grapefruit comes out in more of the flavor/aroma?

Should I increase the crystal?

Lower the 60 or 30 min hop additions?

Both?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :mug:
 
I would get rid of the 30 minute addition and just add more to each of the late additions. That should give you better flavor/aroma and lower to IBU's a bit. With the current recipe, the IBU's calculate into the 90's, which is a high for a beer of this gravity.

You could cut out the 30 min addition, scale the 60 min back to 1oz, and move the late additions all to 1.5oz. The IBU's should be in the mid 60's. This should also help if you are questioning the malt bill. You could add some more crystal if you want, but I wouldn't add more than 1lb. total. Lowering the IBU's should let the malt taste more balanced.
 
I believe most of the citrusy/grapefruit character comes from your aroma hop additions so I would cut back the bittering hops to 1 oz. at 60 minutes. I brewed a rye IPA recently with this hop schedule:

1 oz. Chinook (13% AA) 60 min
.5 oz. Cascade (5.5% AA) 10 min
.5 oz. Cascade (5.5% AA) flameout
1 oz. Cascade (5.5% AA) dry hop in secondary

I haven't dry hopped it yet, but the citrusy flavor is definitely there and it's coming together quite nicely.
 
I think your late additions are fine, it's the early ones that are too big. Without running any of this through a calculator, I'd say eliminating the 30min completely and reducing the 60min to somewhere around 3/4oz would be on target.

You may want to boost the OG to 1.065
 
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