IPA recipe critique

Hi...


Ive been reading the IPA recipe database and the other threads in this subforum about IPA recipes. I want something citrusy (is that a word?) with a dry finish. Originally I planned on all cascades for aroma and magnum for the bittering. I have around a pound of each of those in my freezer. This weekend when picking up some 2 row I found 2 ounces of amarillo in stock so I grabbed them. I have never brewed with them before so I thought they might go good with the cascade citrusy thing Im looking for from what ive researched.

This is what I came up with in beersmith using what I have in my cabinets...

10lbs - 2 row (have 13 pounds total in my stock)
1lb - carapils
1/3lb - crystal 60 (have a pound in stock)
1lb - corn suger last 15 minutes of boil
150F mash

1oz Magnum - 60min
1oz Cascade - 15min
1oz Amarillo - 10min
1oz Cascade - 5min
1oz Amarillo - 0min

I have pacman, us-05, or wyeast american ale 2 available to me in my yeast bank in the fridge. leaning toward pacman.

Maybe dry hop with an ounce or so of cascade since I have a bunch of it. The beersmith specs put this at (i typically get around 80% eff BIAB):

1.068 OG
1.008 FG
64 IBUS
Batch size 5.5g
5.5 SRM


What do you think? I like a citrusy / dry IPA. I also have 1/2 pound crystal 10 and a half pound of vienna in my cabinet.

I tried to keep the cascades and amarillo at the end of the boil. In what Ive read and brewed this gave me great aroma / flavor.

Thanks for all help this great community given me!

-bink

peanut butter jelly time!!!!

bink00 said:

10lbs - 2 row (have 13 pounds total in my stock)
1lb - carapils
1/3lb - crystal 60 (have a pound in stock)
1lb - corn suger last 15 minutes of boil
150F mash

1oz Magnum - 60min
1oz Cascade - 15min
1oz Amarillo - 10min
1oz Cascade - 5min
1oz Amarillo - 0min

I have pacman, us-05, or wyeast american ale 2 available to me in my yeast bank in the fridge. leaning toward pacman.

Click to expand...

I like it! I'd probably skip the carapils, and go with a .5 pound of the crystal 60L, or go with .5 pound carapils and .5 pound crystal 60L, for a 1 pound total of crystal malts. I'd also be inclined to add a pound or two of Vienna malt, for a more enhanced malt backbone without being sweet or heavy.

I'd probably use the pacman since you have it, and ferment it cool (62ish if possible) for the cleanest flavor that will let the citrus hops shine. This is going to be very grapefruity- which I love- but if you didn't plan on so much grapefruit you may want to reconsider the hopping a bit. I think it'd be perfect for my taste.

I definitely love the grapefruity/citrus with my IPAs. I like the 1/2 lb carapils / 1/2 pound c60 combo. I like the slight boost in SRM. I always forget that carapils is a crystal malt. The unfiltered orangish hugh is important to me in an IPA. Ill make this change!

I cant totally ditch the carapils. Biermuncher has commanded that I use it in EVERYTHING.

For this first round Ill probably leave out the vienna. I like vienna alot and will probably throw it in the second time around. Would you suggest less 2 row when adding a pound or two of vienna??? Id like to keep the ABV down into style. I think Im pushing now.


Thanks for the help!
bink

bink00 said:

I definitely love the grapefruity/citrus with my IPAs. I like the 1/2 lb carapils / 1/2 pound c60 combo. I like the slight boost in SRM. I always forget that carapils is a crystal malt. The unfiltered orangish hugh is important to me in an IPA. Ill make this change!

I cant totally ditch the carapils. Biermuncher has commanded that I use it in EVERYTHING.

For this first round Ill probably leave out the vienna. I like vienna alot and will probably throw it in the second time around. Would you suggest less 2 row when adding a pound or two of vienna??? Id like to keep the ABV down into style. I think Im pushing now.


Thanks for the help!
bink

Click to expand...

Yes, when you use Vienna or Munich as a character malt, you'd just reduce the 2-row by the same amount to keep the OG the same.

It looks like it's going to be a great beer.

Yooper said:

Yes, when you use Vienna or Munich as a character malt, you'd just reduce the 2-row by the same amount to keep the OG the same.

It looks like it's going to be a great beer.

Click to expand...

Ya know...after reading some notes on other beers I've brewed with vienna and a few other recipes...i think ill start with a pound of vienna!

Thanks!

Personally, I don't like using sugar in a beer unless the recipe has a good reason for it besides boosting ABV. I prefer to mash lower and use more malt, just my $0.02. Have had some beers not only dry out, but taste too hot (alcoholic) with sugar.

If you stumble across another ounce of Amarillo I would dry hop with one of those as well. If not, that's cool, looks good to me.

cmybeer said:

If you stumble across another ounce of Amarillo I would dry hop with one of those as well. If not, that's cool, looks good to me.

Click to expand...

Def save some for dry-hopping.

I thought I would update as I just killed the keg of this. I liked it alot. I ended up doing:

10 lbs 2 row
2 lbs vienna
.5 lbs carapils
.5 lbs c60

hopped according to first post

this time Im going to drop the C60 for C20. Im not good at describing the tastes but I think it had to much of that caramel taste? I was lucky enough to score a one pound bag of each Amarillo and Simcoe. So Im going to swap out the cascade with Simcoe. Also Im out of Magnum and got a bunch of Belma. Ive read that it should be a good clean bittering hop. So Ill bitter with that. Thanks for the help...it was a really good IPA, but I think it could be better and with MORE mango /citrus twang!

Also, what would you think about adding a pound of rye malt? I read the following article:

http://byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/19-brewing-tips/329-brewing-with-rye-tips-from-the-pros

I want a crisp finish. The article says 10% rye malt should help with that I think. I know a pound isnt 10% in this case but what do you think? Or would you drop some 2 row for more vienna instead of the rye?

So here is what Im gonna brew this weekend!


10 lbs 2 row
2 lbs vienna
1 lbs rye malt
.5 lbs carapils
.5 lbs c20

1 oz Belma 60 min
1oz Simcoe 15 min
1oz Amarillo 10 min
1oz Simcoe 5
1oz Amarillo 0min

dry hop 1 ounch each Simcoe / Amarillo

I want that uber citrus / mango twang! gotta go get the 3rd step going for my pacman starter!!