ThaIPA recipe critique please

So I am attempting what I have decided to call a ThaIPA. I thought it was an original idea but I am sure it has been done before. I would like to produce an IPA with citrusy floral hop characteristics and the addition of kaffir lime leaves, coriander seeds and lemongrass.

Pretty set on the hops involved and amounts as they are what I have on hand currently and also I think would go well together and in this beer in particular. The hop schedule is a scaled down version of what I do with my bigger IPAs where I step up the hop additions incrementally as the boil approaches flameout.

Also set on the US-05 because I just drained a fermentor yesterday and have saved the trub.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improving this recipe or if there is anything I might have missed.

ThaIPA
American IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 19.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.800
Total Hops (g): 147.50
Original Gravity (OG): 1.062 (°P): 15.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.016 (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 6.09 %
Colour (SRM): 6.4 (EBC): 12.6
Bitterness (IBU): 49.8 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
2.300 kg American 2-Row (47.92%)
1.500 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light (31.25%)
0.750 kg Vienna (15.62%)
0.250 kg Crystal 20 (5.21%)

Hop Bill
----------------
20.0 g Magnum Pellet (11.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort) (1.1 g/L)
4.5 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
4.5 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
6.0 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.3 g/L)
5.5 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.3 g/L)
7.5 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
6.5 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.3 g/L)
17.0 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.9 g/L)
15.5 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.8 g/L)
31.5 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.7 g/L)
29.0 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
1 tbsp crushed Coriander Seed @ 7 Minutes (Boil)
18.0 g Kaffir Lime Leaves @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
85.0 g Lemongrass @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 64°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with Safale US-05


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Too new to comment..... well I am anyhow, TELL US how it turned out, No chile???? Its thai no chile???

Not really going for a chili beer. Not a big fan of chili in beers to be honest. Anyone else have recommendations?

Upslope makes a fantastic thai white ipa. Coriander, lemongrass, thai basil, and kaffir. Uses a wit yeast. If I recall is about 30 ibu.
http://upslopebrewing.com/beer/thai-style-white-ipa/

So I'd say back off the hopping. Maybe drop the 5 and 0 minute additions so you don't cover up the spices. Maybe just a 10 minute and 60 minute.

30 IBU for an IPA? So does that mean it just uses a lot of late boil hops for flavour but without providing bitterness?

Also, do you recommend I skip the whole dry hop then?

Thanks

I think that hop schedule is needlessly complicated. You could group stuff into like a 60min 10min and 0min addition and wouldnt taste the difference. But I also think you need much much more hops if you want to be in IPA territory. I can see sorachi being in a thai themed beer. Maybe along with some cilantro (or culantro) to compliment sorachi's herbal qualities. I would dry hop for sure but add some additional lemongrass and spices for a potent thai culinary flavored nose

I make my IPAs with a large emphasis on flameout hopstand additions. Ill save 3-4oz (100g maybe) for dry hopping. But Ill use over 10oz (300g or more) at flameout. Makes for an amazingly pungent hop character an no bitterness

I did one with kaffir lime leaf, lemon grass, and thai chiles last year. Turned out really nice. I would definitely suggest using some lemon grass and lime leaf in secondary.

Ok thanks for all the input everyone. Based on your recommendations I have modified the recipe. To be honest I am not really aiming for a big hoppy IPA with this one so I am comfortable with the amount of hops. It is of course going to be more of a strong pale ale but I am perfectly fine with that. Plus I think that level of hopping would better suit the flavour of the spices.

ThaIPA v2
Belgian Blond Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 19.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.700
Total Hops (g): 138.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.063 (°P): 15.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.016 (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 6.19 %
Colour (SRM): 4.2 (EBC): 8.3
Bitterness (IBU): 44.5 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.000 kg American 2-Row (52.63%)
2.500 kg Wheat Malt (43.86%)
0.200 kg Rice Hulls (3.51%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Magnum Pellet (11.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort) (0.5 g/L)
32.0 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
31.0 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.6 g/L)
35.0 g Centennial Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.8 g/L)
30.0 g Sorachi Pellet (14.1% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
7.0 g Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
10.0 g Coriander Seed @ 7 Minutes (Boil)
18.0 g Kaffir Lime Leaves @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
85.0 g Lemongrass @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
10.0 g Coriander Seed @ 7 Days (Secondary)
18.0 g Kaffir Lime Leaves @ 7 Days (Secondary)
85.0 g Lemongrass @ 7 Days (Secondary)

Single step Infusion at 65°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with WLP410 - Belgian Wit II Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Let us know how it turned out taste and character wise. Curious about IPA's in general.

CanAusBrewer said:

30 IBU for an IPA? So does that mean it just uses a lot of late boil hops for flavour but without providing bitterness?

Also, do you recommend I skip the whole dry hop then?

Thanks

Click to expand...

It's a white IPA, which are typically lower IBU. You could maybe do a small flameout addition. where do you live? I'd be interested in doing a trade, I can send you a few cans. PM me if interested.

Would love to mate but I live in Australia and I am afraid Uncle Sam does not take kindly to the importation of alcohol.

Just brewed this Sunday afternoon and it went very well. I just upgraded to a 38 L BIAB setup and this was my first all-grain brew as I have been doing partial mash with a smaller pot.

Didn't do a particularly fine mash and got 73% effciency at OG 1.071, although I undershot my target volume by 1 L.

I decided to transfer the lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander to the fermentor and it is now bubbling away at 18 degrees. Will ferment for two weeks and then do a mini-boil with more herbs.

Anyone have a suggestion for how to extract the flavour from the herbs for the secondary? Could do a mini boil but if you use water, you dilute the beer and if you use DME you would start a secondary fermentation. I have considered vodka but would prefer not to as I hate vodka.

CanAusBrewer said:

Would love to mate but I live in Australia and I am afraid Uncle Sam does not take kindly to the importation of alcohol.

Just brewed this Sunday afternoon and it went very well. I just upgraded to a 38 L BIAB setup and this was my first all-grain brew as I have been doing partial mash with a smaller pot.

Didn't do a particularly fine mash and got 73% effciency at OG 1.071, although I undershot my target volume by 1 L.

I decided to transfer the lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander to the fermentor and it is now bubbling away at 18 degrees. Will ferment for two weeks and then do a mini-boil with more herbs.

Anyone have a suggestion for how to extract the flavour from the herbs for the secondary? Could do a mini boil but if you use water, you dilute the beer and if you use DME you would start a secondary fermentation. I have considered vodka but would prefer not to as I hate vodka.

Click to expand...

Vodka is perfect. You wouldn't be able to taste it in your brew. However, a problem might occur when/if tasting the extract?

CanAusBrewer said:

Would love to mate but I live in Australia and I am afraid Uncle Sam does not take kindly to the importation of alcohol.

Just brewed this Sunday afternoon and it went very well. I just upgraded to a 38 L BIAB setup and this was my first all-grain brew as I have been doing partial mash with a smaller pot.

Didn't do a particularly fine mash and got 73% effciency at OG 1.071, although I undershot my target volume by 1 L.

I decided to transfer the lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander to the fermentor and it is now bubbling away at 18 degrees. Will ferment for two weeks and then do a mini-boil with more herbs.

Anyone have a suggestion for how to extract the flavour from the herbs for the secondary? Could do a mini boil but if you use water, you dilute the beer and if you use DME you would start a secondary fermentation. I have considered vodka but would prefer not to as I hate vodka.

Click to expand...

Chop it up as fine as you can and yea, add it to vodka.

I have put frozen fruit in the secondary before without boiling and the flavors came thru very good. I made a tincture once with black pepper and vodka and had to use so much to get the flavors to come thru for me I could taste the vodka.

Aaron62 said:

I have put frozen fruit in the secondary before without boiling and the flavors came thru very good. I made a tincture once with black pepper and vodka and had to use so much to get the flavors to come thru for me I could taste the vodka.

Click to expand...

Use more pepper

I brewed a Thai brew this spring and it's delicious. I went really big with my flavors, originally designed to be a Wit-Thai with a wit grain bill but I wound up using wlp530. I went whole hog with Tom Kha Gai flavors using ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, lime zest, red pepper, and small amounts of thai chili paste and even fish sauce(which you don't notice unless you eat it with fish then it peaks through).

Anyhoo my notes are here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=521357

Also I did such a heavy dosing for my 1.5 gallon batch as a steeping/whirlpool addition/flameout that I didn't add anything to secondary. The only negative to my brew is a soapiness, or actually floral component that comes off as soapy, that we suspect might come from the lemmongrass.

Ok thanks for all the great tips guys. I ended up making three vodka tinctures for this recipe by blending the vodka with each herb in the blender. Will soak for five days, strain, taste and add to cold crashed primary. Or I could even add just before bottling. What do you guys recommend?

See image

If you decently confident about the amounts of each, Id do half of each one when you take your first sample. Then adjust from there at the next gravity reading