SMaSH IPA?

I realized yesterday that my next brew will be a bit of a milestone in that it will be brew #100 (sorry, no fight club thread).

I tried a SMaSH that Evan! did last year with Munich (and EKG I believe) and it was a very good beer. I haven't had what I'd call a 'normal' IPA of my own for a while now so I'm thinking about doing this up. Nice and simple, yet should be a beer worthy of my first in the triple digits.

I welcome comments and suggestions. I'm mashing at 148 for 90 minutes and pitching 2 packs of Nottingham. I've had success with these steps on other IPA's in *really* drying them out.

I typically add 1# table sugar to IPA's to aid even more in a dry finish. I left it out of this because although sucrose isn't a malt I'm not sure if adding it will get me kicked out of the SMaSH club.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Munich Magnum SMaSH IPA
Brewer: HopHed Brewhaus
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 80.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.25 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 100.00 %
0.50 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 3.1 IBU
2.00 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 61.4 IBU
0.75 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (15 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
0.75 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (5 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
2.00 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -

1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

1 Pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out

Total Grain Weight: 15.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out

90 min Mash at 148.0 F

Congrats on the milestone. That's awesome. 100 batches of beer in the keg ... 100 batches of beer...

I'd be interested in a take on the flavor and aroma additions of Magnum. I've got some of this but I was assuming it would be for bittering. I've not heard it used for other additions, just that it has a reputation as a clean bittering hop. Not to say it wouldn't be great, I just don't know.

From conventional thought, I would have worries about using Magnum for aroma and flavor as everything I've read about them is that they're completely neutral. I've never added Magnum later than 60mins though, so I can't verify. Be the guinea pig and report back.

PseudoChef said:

From conventional thought, I would have worries about using Magnum for aroma and flavor as everything I've read about them is that they're completely neutral. I've never added Magnum later than 60mins though, so I can't verify. Be the guinea pig and report back.

Click to expand...

You've had a commercial example....Torpedo. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was the slightly muddy hop thing was in that flavor profile until I looked on their site...late magnum additions & dry hopping. I just find it a pretty unremarkable hop for flavor & aroma.

All munich SMaSH IPA. That sounds good.

brewt00l said:

You've had a commercial example....Torpedo. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was the slightly muddy hop thing was in that flavor profile until I looked on their site...late magnum additions & dry hopping. I just find it a pretty unremarkable hop for flavor & aroma.

Click to expand...

Very interesting. Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I'll need to pick up another 6 pack for tasting...drat.

When you are talking about very dry IPAs are you thinking of West Coast IPAs like Green Flash and Stone, or do you have something else in mind?

This sounds like a fabulous idea! In fact, you're on the right track historically, too. IPA was in the beginning brewed from pale malt and a ton of hops. In fact, there are a couple of US micros doing just that: a LOT of Maris Otter or other UK Pale Malt and a raft of hops.

I think you're going to end up with a pretty good beer, even though you're attacking it exactly the opposite to how I'd do it. I'd start with Pale Malt and mash high for dextrins, and use a mass of low-alpha UK hops for flavor/aroma.

Loftus's The Brewer, published in London in 1863, calls for the following:

"The malt employed should be [...] of the lightest possible colour, and thoroughly dried."

"The hops [...] known as the Farnhams, Goldings, or the very best East Kents are to be preferred; [...] about 23 lbs. [per quarter of malt used] for the foreign market."

One of these days, I'm going to do another 5-gallon batch of 19th-century Bass IPA. OG greater than 1060, 5 oz of mixed Fuggles and Willamette in the 2-hour boil, another 2.5 oz of the same mix late, another ounce of Kent Goldings dry-hopped.

I can hear you spurting blood from your eyes about the Willamette. But Bass among other breweries reported using up to 50% Californian hops in the boil of their IPAs in the middle of the 19th century. So there. ;P

To each his own!

Bob

PseudoChef said:

From conventional thought, I would have worries about using Magnum for aroma and flavor as everything I've read about them is that they're completely neutral. I've never added Magnum later than 60mins though, so I can't verify. Be the guinea pig and report back.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if the 15, 5 and dry hop additions will do much for me either, but I have 6 free ounces thanks to Hops Direct so I figured this is a good place to use them. If it's lacking in flavor and aroma then I'll be able to put Magnum in the bittering only list for future brews.

My only other options would be Cascade, Crystal, Sterling, Columbus or Vanguard. I thought about Cascade, but I don't want to make 5 gallons of carbonated grapefruit.

tekhna said:

When you are talking about very dry IPAs are you thinking of West Coast IPAs like Green Flash and Stone, or do you have something else in mind?

Click to expand...

I haven't had many west coast IPA's, but I've had my fair share of east coasters. I like my IPA's to be the exact opposite of DFH 90. Very little malt sweetness up front, big bitterness and a clean, dry finish almost like a Light American Lager.

Whats the reason for 2 packets of Notty?

IrregularPulse said:

Whats the reason for 2 packets of Notty?

Click to expand...

I went back and looked at the last IPA that I did and Notty took it from 1.072 to 1.006, so it appears that 1 pack will be enough.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

I'm a dufus. I dry hopped my Sticke Alt with 1 oz of magnum to see what type of impact it would have, if any, and I totally forgot about it until just now. I'll pop open a couple of bottles of that before I brew this to see what the results are. If they're subpar then I may bypass the whole SMaSH thing and use a different hop at 15, 5 and dryhop.

Well I just had a bottle of the Sticke Alt that I dry hopped with 1 oz of magnum and my fears (and the points of many who replied to this thread) have been realized. This isn't going to be much of an IPA if I use Magnum for late additions and/or dry hop. I'm throwing SMaSH out the window and given what I have in stock I'm thinking about using Crystal at 15, 5 and dryhop. It's a variant of Hallertau and should provide what I'm looking for.

Then again, I could just skip 15 and 5 additions altogether and just dryhop with a crapton of Cascade. I have 4 oz of Amarillo in stock also.

Thoughts?

well this is good to know. for once conventional wisdom is ok.

i think cascades and amarillo go good together. i have a bud who swears by dropping the flavor and aroma additions and just dry hopping. I haven't done that myself but what i've heard is that you get a slightly different and more complex hoppiness from the combination of the various additions, and so that's what I usually do, if I dry hop. I tend to do ten-minute and knockout additions and no dry hopping for my IPAs.

ohiobrewtus said:

I haven't had many west coast IPA's, but I've had my fair share of east coasters. I like my IPA's to be the exact opposite of DFH 90. Very little malt sweetness up front, big bitterness and a clean, dry finish almost like a Light American Lager.

Click to expand...

Have you had something like Green Flash West Coast IPA? That's sort of what comes to mind to me.

I like the choice of munich over vienna, post how it tastes

SMaSH is out the window. Here is the revised recipe that I'll be brewing next weekend along with a hopped up Amber Wheat. I'm sticking with all Munich because, well, I want to find out what an all Munich IPA will taste like and I have half a sack of Munich left.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Munich Magnum IPA
Brewer: HopHed Brewhaus
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.20 gal
Estimated OG: 1.078 SG
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 85.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.25 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 93.85 %

1.00 oz Vanguard [5.50 %] (60 min) (Mash Hop) Hops 2.7 IBU
2.50 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 73.5 IBU
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (15 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [4.10 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -

1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

1.00 lb Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 6.15 %

1 Pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 15.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Mash In Add 4.73 gal of water at 159.2 F 148.0 F