English IPA Partial Mash & Boil

I'm assembling a partial mash English IPA derived from a variety of sources, mainly Yooper's English IPA. This is what I am looking at right now:

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: English IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 1.25 gallons
Efficiency: 35% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 5.24%
IBU (tinseth): 50.17
SRM (morey): 10.74

FERMENTABLES:
1 lb - Pale 2-Row (10.5%)
1 lb - Victory (10.5%)
1 lb - Torrified Wheat (10.5%)
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (5.3%)
6 lb - Maris Otter LME - (late addition) (63.2%)

HOPS:
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 21.8)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 20 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 13.2)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 10.82)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 4.35)

MASH STEPS:
Temperature, Temp: 150 F, Time: 30 min, Amount: 6 qt

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast

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I've heard a lot of people go on about MO, and I was thinking of trying NB's MO LME as the "base" malt, but doing a BIAB mini-mash of some 2-row, Victory (or Biscuit) and the torrified wheat.

My understanding is that MO is basically 2-row, but the malting process gives it a biscuity aspect. Does steeping/mashing Victory or Biscuit bury this? If I am using Victory/Biscuit for that sort of flavor, will it matter if I use MO or pale LME?

I am also considering ditching the Crystal. I OD'd on Crystal on a previous English ale attempt and I am really not a fan of the straight malty sweetness Crystal provides. I'd sorta like to keep the maltiness of a grainy/biscuity variety vs. sweet, if you understand my meaning. Does Crystal provide something indispensible or can I make a sensible substitution for it?

I will probably brew this in mid-August when the SWMBO is out of town.

Thanks all!

Looks tasty! I am a huge fan of EKG, they are one of my favorites. I also really like torrified wheat and put it in a lot of recipes. I think it pairs really well with victory too. Since your really going for that biscuit character I don't think the crystal is needed. I usually don't use crystal in an ipa with torified wheat but it would still be good. I use MO in all English styles (go figure) and more malt forward beers and have used it in ipa's with pleasing results. Not sure if the 1lb of us 2-row will do much but it can't hurt. Keep us posted, always glad to see more EKG ipa's!

The 2-row is just there to convert some of the starches in the victory and torrified wheat vs. just steeping them. It doesn't really add a ton of gravity, just modifies how much starch will be floating around in the final brew.

Dropping the crystal drops me to the light end of the IPA style, but it still works. If it drops into a hoppy ESB/Pale Ale range I'm OK with that too.

Right, duh. It's been awhile since a partial mash.

Instead of the crystal, I was thinking of maybe a brown or turbinado sugar addition, maybe 0.5 lbm. Adds back some gravity and color and a bit of flavor, but ferments out a bit more than crystal. Straight table sugar doesn't interest me as it just boosts ABV - nice, but not my aim.

Here's my updated recipe. I think this will go a bit drier than indicated due to the turbinado sugar, but I'm sort of trying to get a less sweet but flavorful maltiness, if that makes sense.

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: English IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 1.25 gallons
Efficiency: 35% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 5.57%
IBU (tinseth): 55.93
SRM (morey): 8.74

FERMENTABLES:
1 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (10.5%)
1 lb - Victory (10.5%)
1 lb - Torrified Wheat (10.5%)
0.5 lb - Turbinado - (late addition) (5.3%)
6 lb - Maris Otter LME - (late addition) (63.2%)

HOPS:
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 22.7)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 17.44)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 11.26)
1 oz - East Kent Goldings for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 4.52)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temperature, Temp: 150 F, Time: 30 min, Amount: 6 qt

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: No

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Mashing in the works now. 2 qt. per lb. grain at 150F.

My EKG are 7.2%AA, so I adjusted the schedule as follows:

0.5 oz at 60 min
1.0 oz at 20 min
1.0 oz at 10 min
1.5 oz at 5 min

She's in the fermenter, OG 1.058. I pitched it on a Nottingham yeast cake from a batch of Centennial Blonde, should be off to a good start.

EDIT: And she's bubbling the airlock with attitude 3 hrs later!

6 days in and the gravity is 1.017. Still seems to be sluggishly fermenting, cloudy with the occaisional bubble. I had it in a 64F room, I moved it to a warmer room (75F) yesterday.

Bottled yesterday, FG 1.010. Tastes wonderful warm and flat. The MO and Victory does add a nice flavor, and the EKG is prominent and floral. Primed for 2 volumes with table sugar.

Very nice! I love your lag time. Said it before, but I Love EKG and victory. Glad to hear they've paired well together here! I like the idea of going with turbinado instead of table sugar. I would want this one dry too. Went with turbinado instead of table sugar on my last dipa and it turned out great. I've been doing a fair amount of english pale's recently, if this turns out as good as it looks I might have to give it a go. Looking forward to the final report

Yeah, 4 weeks in primary is definitely a long primary for me, but school started up and I got pretty busy and so the patience came naturally.

The smell of the EKG coming out of the airlock early in the ferment was heavenly. Not quite that much aroma in the last tasting during bottling, but it is still there. I think with a little carbonation it will hit the nose pretty nicely.

OK, now I have to get back to work and forget this for another 3-4 weeks. I'll post the tasting notes, stay tuned.

I sampled a little early (shame ), just a quick chill in the freezer. It's still a bit young but man, oh so good despite that!

Perfect grainy maltiness. I'm glad I decided against the Crystal/Caramel additions - the MO and Victory are really nice. The biscuity aspect is amazing. Malty but not sticky sweet. The EKG bittering is perfectly balanced and the flavor and aroma notes are very nice - prominent but not overbearing. It is not a hop-bomb by any means, but nicely hoppy for a British IPA. The thought-bubble in my head keeps saying "Wow, nicely balanced". I think with another 2 weeks conditioning in the bottle and a proper chill it will be about perfect.

I already pulled the trigger on ingredients for 2 more batches and bought a whole pound of EKG - I'm so glad that I did! I think I'll wait to the next tasting and then put up the recipe in the Recipe forum.

Tried a second one today after 4 weeks in the bottle. Better, but still a little green. 2 more weeks and it will be good, I think. It's got really nice balance.

I brewed a second batch of this on Halloween. I replaced the turbinado with 0.5 lb of 2-row in the mash and mashed in the oven at 145F for almost 2 hrs (trick or treaters kept coming by while I was mashing, couldn't get boil started until the candy ran out). It's fermenting away now and I am thinking of a 1-oz EKG pellet dryhop in secondary, probably racking this Tuesday.

I'm going to brew a third batch this Tuesday as well, probably again subbing out the turbinado with a full pound of 2-row or perhaps MO if the LHBS has some. The hop schedule of 7.2% alpha EKG 0.5 oz @ 60 min, 1 oz @ 20 min, 10 min, and 1.5 oz at 5 min seems about perfect. I'm trying a small dryhop to get some of that great EKG aroma in the bottle - the smell coming out of the airlock is wonderful but doesn't seem to make it into the bottle.

Thunder_Chicken said:

Tried a second one today after 4 weeks in the bottle. Better, but still a little green. 2 more weeks and it will be good, I think. It's got really nice balance.

I brewed a second batch of this on Halloween. I replaced the turbinado with 0.5 lb of 2-row in the mash and mashed in the oven at 145F for almost 2 hrs (trick or treaters kept coming by while I was mashing, couldn't get boil started until the candy ran out). It's fermenting away now and I am thinking of a 1-oz EKG pellet dryhop in secondary, probably racking this Tuesday.

I'm going to brew a third batch this Tuesday as well, probably again subbing out the turbinado with a full pound of 2-row or perhaps MO if the LHBS has some. The hop schedule of 7.2% alpha EKG 0.5 oz @ 60 min, 1 oz @ 20 min, 10 min, and 1.5 oz at 5 min seems about perfect. I'm trying a small dryhop to get some of that great EKG aroma in the bottle - the smell coming out of the airlock is wonderful but doesn't seem to make it into the bottle.

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Aging really reduces the hops. If the beer was 4 weeks old when bottled, and then it's 4 weeks in the bottle, the hops flavor and aroma will continue to decline. It's true that English IPAs are more balanced then American IPAs, but I bet if you drink one at 3 weeks old, instead of 8 weeks old, you'll find a much better hops aroma in the "nose" with those wonderful EKG hops!

Yeah, I'm hoping to get this batch bottled sooner than 4 weeks this time.

I think I will still secondary as I really want to get my next batch going, but maybe skip the dry hop and just work on trying to bottle earlier. As soon as gravity stabilizes at FG I'll cold crash, rack, and bottle. I'll also see if I can get them someplace warmer to bottle carbonate - they have been sitting at 60F. I can probably get a couple cases into my water heater closet which is about 80F.

The gravity of the current batch is on the low end of the IPA style, but the IBUs are on the high end of the style, so it should produce a pretty hoppy brew.

Thunder_Chicken said:

Yeah, I'm hoping to get this batch bottled sooner than 4 weeks this time.

I think I will still secondary as I really want to get my next batch going, but maybe skip the dry hop and just work on trying to bottle earlier. As soon as gravity stabilizes at FG I'll cold crash, rack, and bottle. I'll also see if I can get them someplace warmer to bottle carbonate - they have been sitting at 60F. I can probably get a couple cases into my water heater closet which is about 80F.

The gravity of the current batch is on the low end of the IPA style, but the IBUs are on the high end of the style, so it should produce a pretty hoppy brew.

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I wouldn't skip dryhopping if you want hops aroma. It's a huge part of the perfect English IPA- that' hops "nose" and the flavor of the hops and malt together.

What I do is wait until the FG is reached, and then the beer will start to clear, and I dryhop about 5 days before packaging.

I think crystal is pretty important to the English bitters. I'd use some English pale crystal in a British IPA. I have yet to try torrified wheat, but look forward to playing around with it. I'm not a fan of EKG by themselves. I made a best bitter and found them incredibly boring. I'm a fuggles all the way guy when it comes to slavish English hop devotion.

Now that you've made the recipe a couple times, try swapping out ingredients. Just don't get rid of the Maris otter. That goes in all my distinctly English brews, and I unequivocally love it. From what I understand, it's not just a specially kilned 2-row, I think it's the only winter barley used in beer making.

I know Crystal is common in English styles, but I deliberately dropped the Crystal as it seems that it always is overwhelming (in my PM brews anyway). The Maris Otter LME is pretty fermentable but it still leaves plenty of malt to my taste. I'm trying for a less sweet but more 'grainy' maltiness, if that makes sense.

I'm sure to be tweaking this recipe in the future. I do like Fuggles as well but I also like EKGs floral nature. Fuggles can add a nice earthiness that might be nice. I have a pound of EKG in the freezer so I'll be working with that for a couple of batches anyway.

Hmmm...this batch is a bit overcarbonated, 7 weeks in the bottle. No gushers, but soda-like carbonation, very bite-y. I have to stir out some of the gas to get it drinkable, and then it is very flat. I am hoping that conditions away with longer chilling, though I've never had such bad carbonation before. My priming sugar syrup may not have distributed as uniformly as it should have.