IPA Recipe Recommendation

Hey everyone, I've been trolling for a while but haven't posted as I haven't brewed for about 6 months.

Anyway I've not made an IPA yet and want to this weekend, the problem is most IPA recipes I see have Cascade or other related hops, as I'm not the biggest fan of the citrusy/astringent taste they give.

Any recommendations on a recipe? I'm extract only with specialty grains brewer so far. I do like big hop aroma/flavor and plan on dry hopping, but I just don't know which hops to go with.

Lots of people love the combination of amarillo and simcoe hops. I don't think those are particularly citrusy, and complement each other very well.

Welcome and good luck on your IPA!

I've made one with Warrior, Amarillo, then another one with Chinook, Warrior, and Amarillo.

They are great but they are somewhat hoppy, probably right what you are looking for!

Thank you for the replies guys. The local shop doesn't seem to have warrior or simcoe in stock, and from what I can gather amarillo is very similar to cascade.

According to BYO:
Hop AA% Possible Substitutes Description
Amarillo 8-9% Cascade, Centennial Citrusy, flowery.

I'm currently leaning toward Chinook and maybe just biting the bullet and trying some amarillo. You never know until you try.

If you don't like cascade, why not try an English IPA? Those are still nice and hoppy, but they have more malt flavor, and use hops like fuggles and east Kent Goldings. They have an earthy taste, not citrusy taste.

Bradsul has a nice English IPA that I've done, and I'm sure that there are others. That would give you the hoppy flavor you want, without the American C-hops.

YooperBrew, that's a great idea. I'll look into it, I found an AG, but will look for extract or try to convert.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/jack-ripa-34442/

Amarillo is more floral than citrusy, but it is a little bit - kind of a grapefruit aroma. However, if it is available (some issues with availability last year), I use it. It's been in every batch I've made for the last two or three years - I REALLY like it. It goes well with Cascade but it is far from the same thing. Try it - it makes a great pale ale, though more distinctively American than English.

perfectlemur said:

YooperBrew, that's a great idea. I'll look into it, I found an AG, but will look for extract or try to convert.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/jack-ripa-34442/

Click to expand...

That beer is actually pretty easy to convert, I did it for a friend of mine. If you can find it, I've occasionally seen a maris otter extract. Otherwise just use light extract in place of the maris otter to achieve the OG.

If you do a straight extract batch it will have a little bit of a starch haze due to the victory not having been mashed. If you can do even a small partial mash so that you can use some maris otter to convert the victory malt your beer will thank you.

bradsul,

I'm glad to have the counseling of the author, and a flyfisherman to boot, I can't go wrong!

I have never done any partial mash, and haven't even started reading up on it yet. Does it add much time or complexity?

Oh, nevermind, after looking into it my local shop has neither east kent goldings or galena. Wow, they're lame right now. They do have Yakima Goldings but they seem to be a lower AA.

Deciding on a recipe is the hardest part!

There seem to be a lot of flyfishermen brewers kicking around.

Yakima Goldings I believe are just a regional Goldings variety and would probably work quite well. Galena I simply use because it is fairly neutral in flavour and has a high alpha acid percentage. This lets me use much less. I originally used EKG for bittering and it cost a fortune.

Partial mashes are very easy to do. If you have a look at the wiki (link in the navigation at the top) and check out How to Brew - By John Palmer you'll find all the information you'll need. There are a number of excellent posts on the forum as well.

Edit: One of the better forum threads that come to mind: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

+1 on Yooper's idea.

Go with East Kent Goldings and Fuggles. Those are the most traditional IPA hops, and you won't have the American citrus/pine thing going on. I have an all-Fuggles in secondary now, the samples tasted gooooood.

SteveM said:

Amarillo is more floral than citrusy, but it is a little bit - kind of a grapefruit aroma. However, if it is available (some issues with availability last year), I use it. It's been in every batch I've made for the last two or three years - I REALLY like it. It goes well with Cascade but it is far from the same thing. Try it - it makes a great pale ale, though more distinctively American than English.

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I have been aging some Amarillo - as part of an experiment for my brew club.
I crushed some up and I'll be damned if it didn't smell like an Orange Orchard.
i know it's kinda off topic.

thing is. Traditional hops have always been hard for me to come by -- so I always use the weird stuff and let Chaos Rule.