Opnions on this IPA

Planning on brewing this tomorrow morning. I've brewed this before with pretty much the same malt bill(just added 1lb of wheat malt to this one) and different hops. I really enjoyed how that one turned out. My Belma hops just arrived a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to brewing. Just looking for opinions/suggestions. Thanks!

BelMama IPA - American IPA
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Batch Size: 5.500 gal
Boil Size: 6.750 gal
Boil Time: 60.000 min
Efficiency: 70%%
OG: 1.073
FG: 1.019
ABV: 7.1%%
Bitterness: 83.8 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 9 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
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Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Briess - 2 Row Brewers Malt Grain 11.000 lb Yes No 80%% 2 L
Biscuit Malt Grain 1.000 lb Yes No 79%% 23 L
Aromatic Malt Grain 1.000 lb Yes No 78%% 26 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 72%% 2 L
White Wheat Malt Grain 2.000 lb Yes No 86%% 2 L
Total grain: 15.500 lb

Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Nugget 13.0%% 1.000 oz Boil 60.000 min Leaf 31.3
Belma 12.1%% 1.000 oz Boil 45.000 min Leaf 26.7
Belma 12.1%% 0.500 oz Boil 30.000 min Leaf 11.2
Falconer's Flight 11.0%% 1.000 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 14.6
Falconer's Flight 11.0%% 0.000 oz Dry Hop 0.000 s Pellet 0.0

Misc
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Name Type Use Amount Time
Irish Moss Fining Boil 1.000 tsp 15.000 min
Yeast Nutrient Other Boil 1.000 tsp 15.000 min

Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage
Wyeast - American Ale II Ale Liquid 0.528 cup Primary

Mash
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Name Type Amount Temp Target Time
Infusion 5.812 gal 162.506 F 152.000 F 60.000 min
Final Batch Sparge Infusion 3.140 gal 199.741 F 169.000 F 15.000 min

If it were me, I'd...

- knock 10 IBU off of the 60 min addition
- use either Belma or Falconer's Flight for all later additions. Belma would be cool because it is an experimental hop, while FF is already a hop blend; by mixing the two, you'll be covering up or muddling the flavors/aromas.
- ditch the 45 and 30 minute hop additions, doing nice big 20, 10, 5, and 1/0 minute charges.
- ditch the Biscuit and Aromatic malt, add .75 lbs of C10/15.

Good call on the Wheat Malt, I really like adding it to most of my Pale beers. Cheers!

Thanks for the input. I'll make those changes on the hops. Looks like it will be Belma then since I bought 3lbs of leaf when they were selling them for 5 bucks a pound and I only have 2oz of FF pellets at the moment. As for the malt it looks like I'm stuck this time around because I just mixed them up, came upstairs to check the computer and saw your post. I'll give that malt bill a shot next time though. I'll post back after I brew it up.

Brulosopher said:

If it were me, I'd...

- knock 10 IBU off of the 60 min addition
- use either Belma or Falconer's Flight for all later additions. Belma would be cool because it is an experimental hop, while FF is already a hop blend; by mixing the two, you'll be covering up or muddling the flavors/aromas.
- ditch the 45 and 30 minute hop additions, doing nice big 20, 10, 5, and 1/0 minute charges.
- ditch the Biscuit and Aromatic malt, add .75 lbs of C10/15.

Good call on the Wheat Malt, I really like adding it to most of my Pale beers. Cheers!

Click to expand...

I agree on all of this! Bittering hops at 60 min and then all the rest of your hops in the last 20 minutes is most efficient and gives better hop flavor/aroma.
The biscuit and aromatic malt, IMHO do not belong in a style like IPA where the idea is for the flavor and aroma to come from the hops, not the malt. The wheat will add a nice body to the beer without trying to compete with the hops for main flavor/aroma.

Personally I like a bit of Vienna or Munich malt in my IPA to provide some body and depth to the malt without competing with the hops.

IMO: the Irish moss is a waste because a beer with wheat and a lot of late addition hops is not going to be a clear beer anyway. The cloudiness in an IPA actually helps maintain the hop aroma and flavor since hop particles are riding around on the suspended particles. For example; when I cold crash a dry hopped beer I find that my hop aroma diminishes.

Let us know how this one turns out!

Don't need any carapils with all that wheat. Agreed that biscuit and aromatic are not to style. I always like a bit of corn sugar in my IPAs above 1.067 OG.

Would go with a simple 60/15/8/0/DH hop schedule. 30-40 IBUs early and the rest late to attain 80-85 IBUs total w/a 3 oz. dryhop.

Be sure to pitch the appropriate amount of yeast starter. I'm not sure if "liquid 0.528 cup" means you're making a starter, but that's not enough.

i agree with bobbrews - ditch the carapils

Thanks for the additional input. I did make a starter according to Mr. Malty's pitching rate calculator. I just didn't account for it in the recipe. I think after this brew I'll implement the suggestions on the malt bill, as the malts have already been mixed so there's no turning back on this one. So maybe other than the high IBU's this isn't really a IPA. I do know that the previous one I loved and everyone that tried it did as well and that's what's important. However I do want to make a true IPA using the suggestions offered and compare.

mrkrausen said:

Thanks for the additional input. I did make a starter according to Mr. Malty's pitching rate calculator. I just didn't account for it in the recipe. I think after this brew I'll implement the suggestions on the malt bill, as the malts have already been mixed so there's no turning back on this one. So maybe other than the high IBU's this isn't really a IPA. I do know that the previous one I loved and everyone that tried it did as well and that's what's important. However I do want to make a true IPA using the suggestions offered and compare.

Click to expand...

The beauty of home brewing is you don't have to brew to style. If you like your creation...brew it!

Some pretty good advice here on the whole. I am in agreement with pretty much all of it. The only thing I would add is from a hop aroma and flavor perspective I like to jack up my flame-out (0 minute) additions to provide a nice punch. I would do this in addition to an aggressive dry-hop.

mrkrausen said:

Thanks for the additional input. I did make a starter according to Mr. Malty's pitching rate calculator. I just didn't account for it in the recipe. I think after this brew I'll implement the suggestions on the malt bill, as the malts have already been mixed so there's no turning back on this one. So maybe other than the high IBU's this isn't really a IPA. I do know that the previous one I loved and everyone that tried it did as well and that's what's important. However I do want to make a true IPA using the suggestions offered and compare.

Click to expand...

Oh, it still fits the category... just not the preferences of some... meh