Rye IPA Advice Needed

For my next batch I am planning on doing a Rye IPA with some black peppercorn added. I based a recipe off of another one I found and adapted it a bit. When I stopped by the LHBS today my normal guy wasn't there so someone else helped me make some adjustments. This is what we came up with. This is going to be my first go with partial mash. I am a little concerned about my grain bill. I am also hoping to get my IBU a bit higher (maybe 60 - 65ish). I already have the grains cracked and they are all mixed so I am kind of tied in there. I have 6 ounces of Amarillo pellets and 1 ounce of Perle pellets.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

malt & fermentables
% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
64% 6 12 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 36 5 ~
10% 1 0 Rye Malt 29 4 ~
10% 1 0 American Six-row Pale 33 1 ~
5% 0 8 Cara-Pils/Dextrine 33 2 ~
5% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 34 80 ~
5% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 34 40 ~
2% 0 4 Aromatic Malt 36 26 ~
Batch size: 5.0 gallons


Original Gravity
1.069 / 16.8° Plato
(1.062 to 1.072)
Final Gravity
1.017 / 4.3° Plato
(1.015 to 1.018)
Color
12° SRM / 24° EBC
(Copper to Red/Lt. Brown)
Mash Efficiency
75%

hops
use time oz variety form aa
boil 60 mins 1.0 Perle pellet 8.0
boil 30 mins 2.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3
boil 15 mins 1.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3
boil 5 mins 1.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3
dry hop 7 days 2.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3
Boil: 2.5 avg gallons for 60 minutes


Bitterness
53.4 IBU / 8 HBU
ƒ: Tinseth
BU:GU
0.77

yeast
White Labs California Ale (WLP001)
ale yeast in liquid form with medium flocculation and 76% attenuation


Alcohol
6.9% ABV / 5% ABW
Calories
227 per 12 oz.

misc
use time amount ingredient
boil 10 min 1 tsp Black Peppercorn

Why the 6-row? Kinda grainy for an IPA. Consider switching to 2-row or Pale Ale malt. Loose the C-pils. The extract is 10-15% C-pils as it is. Personally I would also cut back the others C-malts to 5-6% or so. Hop schedule looks OK. Some would say drop the 30 min addition and split it between First Wort Hop and the 15 min addition but YMMV. Put the pepper corns in a baggie or foil and coarsely crush with a hammer. A teaspoon might be too much. I'd put a 1/2 tsp in the boil and taste in secondary. If it needs more then add it to secondary.

Poobah58 said:

Why the 6-row? Kinda grainy for an IPA. Consider switching to 2-row or Pale Ale malt. Loose the C-pils. The extract is 10-15% C-pils as it is. Personally I would also cut back the others C-malts to 5-6% or so. Hop schedule looks OK. Some would say drop the 30 min addition and split it between First Wort Hop and the 15 min addition but YMMV...

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I initially had 1.5 lbs of Rye Malt. The person at the homebrew store recommended cutting that to 1lb and adding the 6-row. This is only batch 4 so I am somewhat at the mercy of what people tell me.

All of the grains are already mixed but I would rather go back and get new rather than brew with the "wrong" stuff.

Would it be reasonable to bump the rye up to 1.5 lbs (15%), do 0.5 lbs of 2-row (5%) and drop the c-pilz? That would leave the other c-malts at 5% each.

That amount of rye may not be too noticeable. For my tastes, 15% is about the lowest you can go and still taste it. And I agree that the 6 row isn't necessary, although the amount is so small that you probably won't be able to really discern its flavor.

Denny said:

That amount of rye may not be too noticeable. For my tastes, 15% is about the lowest you can go and still taste it. And I agree that the 6 row isn't necessary, although the amount is so small that you probably won't be able to really discern its flavor.

Click to expand...

So would it be worth to eliminate the 2-row altogether and just do 2 lbs of Rye?

[QUOTE="VMCosco"

% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
64% 6 12 Light/Pale Malt Extract Syrup 36 5 ~
10% 1 0 Rye Malt 29 4 ~
10% 1 0 American Six-row Pale 33 1 ~
5% 0 8 Cara-Pils/Dextrine 33 2 ~
5% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 34 80 ~
5% 0 8 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 34 40 ~
2% 0 4 Aromatic Malt 36 26 ~
Batch size: 5.0 gallons
[/QUOTE]

I only brew all grain, so I'm not the most knowledgable about partial mashing, but you need the 2-row or 6-row for the enzymes to convert the specialty malts. However, I think that the C malts are already converted and don't need to be mashed and can just be steeped. No need for CaraPils that just adds body and you don't need more body in an IPA - you want it as dry as possible. The Rye is going to add a lot of body. I usually use about 10% rye and it turns out great. Go with only C-40 or C-69 at the most. C-80 gets into the dark fruit range which I doubt you want in an IPA. You should drop the aromatic or switch it for Munich. Oh and definitely go with 2 row not 6-row

SDBrewer said:

I only brew all grain, so I'm not the most knowledgable about partial mashing, but you need the 2-row or 6-row for the enzymes to convert the specialty malts. However, I think that the C malts are already converted and don't need to be mashed and can just be steeped. No need for CaraPils that just adds body and you don't need more body in an IPA - you want it as dry as possible. The Rye is going to add a lot of body. I usually use about 10% rye and it turns out great. Go with only C-40 or C-69 at the most. C-80 gets into the dark fruit range which I doubt you want in an IPA. You should drop the aromatic or switch it for Munich. Oh and definitely go with 2 row not 6-row

Click to expand...

Not true. The rye and aromatic can convert themselves. The c-malts are already converted.

VMCosco said:

So would it be worth to eliminate the 2-row altogether and just do 2 lbs of Rye?

Click to expand...

If it's already mixed, let it ride. Adjust next batch if necessary...
Next time, post here before going back to that LHBS!

VMCosco said:

So would it be worth to eliminate the 2-row altogether and just do 2 lbs of Rye?

Click to expand...

That's up to you. I'd definitely increase the rye to 2 lb. It will convert itself (assuming rye malt and not flaked rye) so you dn't need the pale malt for conversion. But you might like the flavor you get from it.

Poobah58 said:

If it's already mixed, let it ride. Adjust next batch if necessary...
Next time, post here before going back to that LHBS!

Click to expand...

Good advice.

Denny said:

That's up to you. I'd definitely increase the rye to 2 lb. It will convert itself (assuming rye malt and not flaked rye) so you dn't need the pale malt for conversion. But you might like the flavor you get from it.

Click to expand...

I got an additional pound of Rye Malt and kept everything else. I got the same recommendation when I went back to the LHBS and spoke with a different person.

I could also use a little help on my hop profile as well. I figure my average boil volume to be about 2.75 gallons. I want the beer hoppy but I also want the rye and peppercorn to be noticable. I have 1oz of Perle and 6 ounces of Amarillo to work with. This is what I currently have which gave me about 63 IBU:

hops
use time oz variety form aa
boil 60 mins 1.0 Perle pellet 8.0
boil 30 mins 2.5 Amarillo pellet 10.3
boil 15 mins 1.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3
boil 5 mins 0.5 Amarillo pellet 10.3
dry hop 7 days 2.0 Amarillo pellet 10.3