Citra IPA Recipe Critique

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In two weeks I will be attempting my 3rd AG/PM recipe. I only say PM as I add extract to improve my efficiency.
I am going to making an IPA based on Citra hops only because I bought 10 oz thinking they were hard to find I have since found other wise.

Recipe:
Malts
11.50 lbs - 2 Row
.50 lbs - Caramel Crystal
.50 lbs - Special B (only because I have it on hand)

Hops
.50 oz Citra @ 60
.50 oz Citra @ 45
.50 oz Citra @ 30
.50 oz Citra @ 15
1 oz - Willaette @ 5

Yeast:
1 Vial - California Ale Yeast

Equipment:
5 Gallon Mash Tun with braid
8 Gallon Kettle with a 7.25 boil

I am using the Single Infusion Batch Sparge Full Body method in Beersmith.

My question is that Beersmith says to sparge with 3 additions of 1.83 gallons of water. Could I add the water in two steps rather than three?
 
I just added the Special B because I have it on hand.

I will split my volume in 2. Is there anyway to change it in beersmith?
 
I think there's a box you can check that says split sparge equally, something, but I'm not sure. Also you might want to push your 30/45 minute additions to 5 and 10 minutes for more of that great citra flavor.
 
I was also going to suggest a hop movement. The thing is any hop additions before 20 min result in bitterness with little to no flavor. So if you like the bitterness, then you can keep your additions as is. I you want more flavor move you 45 & 30 to 20 & 15. Then add something for 10, 5, & flame out for aroma. If you have all that citra around, then you might as well take 2-3 oz and dry hop it 5-7 before bottling or kegging. Just a thought. Good luck with it.
 
Here is my adjusted/updated recipe. I have heard some negatives of using Citra as a bittering hop but I am still willing to try it. I do have some Galena on hand and was thinking about using that for bittering.

Grain Bill
10 LB Pale 2 Row
1 LB Caramel Crystal 60
1 LB Biscuit (should I using something other than Biscuit?)

HopsHops
.50 oz Citra or Galena @ 60
.50 oz Citra @ 15
.50 oz Citra @ 10
.50 oz Citra @ 5
.50 oz Citra @ 1

Dry Hop?
 
Biscuit won't be bad, it should add some bready, toasted notes to the beer.

As for your hop schedule. If this is a true IPA, 2.5 oz. during the boil will not cut it and dry-hopping is required to achieve the aroma you are looking for in an IPA. My latest had 5 oz. during the boil with 90% of that being added in the last 10 minutes. I had a 1 oz. bittering addition of Citra at 45 minutes then hop bursted it at the end.

I would double the amount of hops you are using and have a spare 2 ounces on hand for dry hopping. Using the schedule you have now, you are coming in extremely low on the IBU scale and I think off the chart for an IPA. Unless the Citra you have are something like 14%-16%AA your IPA will end up being more of a Pale Ale with a high ABV.

Something like 1 oz. at 45 minutes then 3-4 ounces in the last 15 minutes of the boil will put you in the IPA range for bitterness and flavor. Then you should dry-hop with at least 2 ounces for a minimum of 5 days.

If that many hops are too much $$ then you could always cut the grain bill back to around 9-10lbs. total and do a Pale Ale.
 
I say, MOAR HOPS! This is an IPA, right? 2 ozs of any hop is not nearly enough for an IPA. I'd say 6-8 late, plus whatever you need to get 50-55IBU from the bittering shot would be the minimum I'd go for an single hop showcase.
 
Citra is a good all around hop, but like Amarillo it is rare and more expensive than most others. For that fact, I like to save it for flavor and aroma additions and use something more standard and cheap for my bittering addition.
 
You can safely ignore people who say not to use Citra for bittering.

Citra is a good all around hop, but like Amarillo it is rare and more expensive than most others. For that fact, I like to save it for flavor and aroma additions and use something more standard and cheap for my bittering addition.

Either works fine, the latter may cost more but Citra's a great bittering hop. Use it FW or in the mash if you wanna preserve some of it's flavors and get bitterness from it.
 
Amen on the Citra. Always pick more up all the time.

You could always SMaSH. 12 pounds 2 row....1 oz @ 60 min...1 oz @ 15 min...1 oz @ 5mins or flameout.

Dry hop for awesomeness!
 
I'm sitting on 21oz of Citra. I use it for an all Citra IPA and for a black IPA. It costs more, but who cares when you are not a production brewery?

That's it? I have a lb of pellet and an lb of whole. dance.gif Clearly you must step up your game. ;) :mug:
 
Actually, I personally feel that Columbus and Citra share a lot of similar qualities. If I am going to do a big Citra IPA I will use about 50% Columbus as "filler". It gets the IPA where I want it and still says "Citra". You should give it a shot.
 
Biscuit won't be bad, it should add some bready, toasted notes to the beer.

As for your hop schedule. If this is a true IPA, 2.5 oz. during the boil will not cut it and dry-hopping is required to achieve the aroma you are looking for in an IPA. My latest had 5 oz. during the boil with 90% of that being added in the last 10 minutes. I had a 1 oz. bittering addition of Citra at 45 minutes then hop bursted it at the end.

I would double the amount of hops you are using and have a spare 2 ounces on hand for dry hopping. Using the schedule you have now, you are coming in extremely low on the IBU scale and I think off the chart for an IPA. Unless the Citra you have are something like 14%-16%AA your IPA will end up being more of a Pale Ale with a high ABV.

Something like 1 oz. at 45 minutes then 3-4 ounces in the last 15 minutes of the boil will put you in the IPA range for bitterness and flavor. Then you should dry-hop with at least 2 ounces for a minimum of 5 days.

If that many hops are too much $$ then you could always cut the grain bill back to around 9-10lbs. total and do a Pale Ale.

Thanks for the info. I will take this into consideration along with FWH, which I hear Citra does well with this method.

Should I go 1 oz FWH then follow my hop schedule from above?

I am not around Beersmith at this point but will plug it in when I get home tomorrow and post it.
 
Thanks for the info. I will take this into consideration along with FWH, which I hear Citra does well with this method.

Should I go 1 oz FWH then follow my hop schedule from above?

I am not around Beersmith at this point but will plug it in when I get home tomorrow and post it.

Shoot for 50 or so IBU with the FWH, that's a good number to build and IPA on. Citra's great FW, smooooooth bitterness, leads right into the late hops flavor.
 
What should my FWH addition be and how do I enter it in beersmith? I have heard to put it in at 20 min but I also saw the FHW option.
 
I must experiment with this FWH business. Maybe on my next IIPA!

I'm sitting on 21oz of Citra. I use it for an all Citra IPA and for a black IPA. It costs more, but who cares when you are not a production brewery?

I may be alone in my boat but I like to watch costs where I can and some of us brew on a shoestring budget. I wish I had the excess income to buy whatever I need whenever I need it but until then there is cheaper hops, group buys and craigslist. Not all of us can be so privileged as to roll around in mounds of green goodness (be it money or hops).
 
I plugged into Beersmith and here is what it gave me.

60 Min boil, 12 Lb grain bill

Hop Additions:
.5 oz FWH 21 IBU
1.00 oz 15 min 18 IBU
1.00 oz 10 min 13 IBU
1.00 oz 5 min 7 IBU
.25 oz 1 min 6 IBU

Came out to 61.7 IBU. Sound good?
 
I would ditch the crystal malt all together. Let this get dry and you should get some sweetness from the hops. Or mash high. What yeast are you using? I'd go 001 or 1056. I've been making IPA's with all different crystal/caramel malts and they are better without it.
 
I plugged into Beersmith and here is what it gave me.

60 Min boil, 12 Lb grain bill

Hop Additions:
.5 oz FWH 21 IBU
1.00 oz 15 min 18 IBU
1.00 oz 10 min 13 IBU
1.00 oz 5 min 7 IBU
.25 oz 1 min 6 IBU

Came out to 61.7 IBU. Sound good?

I think you'll want more IBU from that FW add. I always shoot for 40-50 IBU from bittering/FW/mash hops additions.
 
I think you'll want more IBU from that FW add. I always shoot for 40-50 IBU from bittering/FW/mash hops additions.

So I added the calculations into Beersmith with my 13.9 Alpha 3.5 Beta Citra

1.00 oz Citra FWH 60 min boil - 48.6 IBU
1.00 oz Citra 15 min boil - 21.9 IBU
1.00 oz Citra 10 min boil - 16.0 IBU
1.00 oz Citra 5 min boil - 8.8 IBU
.25 oz Citra 1 min boil - .5 IBU

This gives a total of 95.7 IBU which is way high. Does beersmith calculate the FWH addition correctly. I have heard of entering it at 20 min and when doing so it gives me a 26.7 IBU with a total being 73.9.

My question is do I lower the later hop additions and use the Beersmith FWH, 60 minute boil setting
or
Use the 20 minute boil addition in Beersmith to adjust my later hop addtions.

At this point I am almost swaying away from the FWH addition and I don't want to make a beer that is too bitter or too sweet.
 
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