Is My New Recipe Any Good?

Been putting this together in the calculator. According to the thing, everything is within the normal ranges for an Imperial IPA, except for the IBUs at 210. Would YOU change any of the DME, hops, addition times or amounts? This is my first recipe that is my own, so I'm kind of afraid of muffing this up.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/37504/live-by-the-hop-die-by-the-hop

Thanks for any suggestions and advice.

Also, is this TOO much hops? I know you can never have a beer that is too hoppy, but is this at the point where it is overkill and won't have much of a difference?

I can't access the recipe but I can tell you that the human tongue doesn't taste much above 100 ibu. Noting this it wouldn't hurt to reduce boil times or just plan discard a hop addition. The bittering of course. Aromas are always nice in large abundance. Just make sure it doesnt effect other readings. I'm sure your calculator will help. Wish I could see the recipe but I hope this helps

You need to go into Your settings and publish the recipe so that you can then post that link. Or just try copy n pasting.

Edit: I used to use brewersfriend and loved it. I did notice that the SRM and IBU scales seemed to be different than actual results.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/37504/live-by-the-hop-die-by-the-hop
That should work. Changed it a little bit. Now just an American Rye IPA.

FluffyMuffins said:

Also, is this TOO much hops? I know you can never have a beer that is too hoppy, but is this at the point where it is overkill and won't have much of a difference?

Click to expand...

No way, def not too much. I like it overall. I'd say move your 30min to flameout, and maybe up the bittering a touch to compensate for the IBUs.

I'd also consider using a light malt extract instead of amber and steeping a little crystal 40 and/or whatever else you'd like. The idea is that with darker extracts you don't know exactly what went into it, but with lighter ones it's just base malt and probably a little carapils.

It's not an imperial, more of a standard strength rye IPA. I'd probably do just a half pound of crystal 40 and call it good.

Looks good. Only thing I personally would do different is use a different yeast, maybe wyeast 1056 or 1272 or safale -05 maybe wlp007. Those strains just tend to lend themselves better to west coast style hop forward IPAs

HellBound said:

Looks good. Only thing I personally would do different is use a different yeast, maybe wyeast 1056 or 1272 or safale -05 maybe wlp007. Those strains just tend to lend themselves better to west coast style hop forward IPAs

Click to expand...

Oh yeah I didn't catch the yeast, good call. I totally agree, the Sam Adams strain doesn't push the hops forward as much. It's quite nice, but not an IPA strain.

Rye malt needs to be mashed, fyi.

Thanks guys. Will be making some changes. Also, do you think this beer will have some body? My coffee stout was kinda watery in the middle and I suspect it was from a lack of DME. Is this enough DME and steeping grains to give it a nice malty body? Obviously not too over the top, just not watered down.

bovineblitz said:

No way, def not too much. I like it overall. I'd say move your 30min to flameout, and maybe up the bittering a touch to compensate for the IBUs.

I'd also consider using a light malt extract instead of amber and steeping a little crystal 40 and/or whatever else you'd like. The idea is that with darker extracts you don't know exactly what went into it, but with lighter ones it's just base malt and probably a little carapils.

It's not an imperial, more of a standard strength rye IPA. I'd probably do just a half pound of crystal 40 and call it good.

Click to expand...

Oh, I did make some changes. Before, it did fit the IIPA mold and was at 210 IBUs according to the calculator.

If you want the beer to have some body, the amber extract should add some considering it's got crystal malts in it. Personally, I would take 3 lbs of 2-row and 1 lb of crystal 40 and your rye and do a mini mash, it's just like steeping only for an hour. Just make sure you keep it at 151-153 for temp and the body you want for an IPA should be there.

But it needs to be one or the other, otherwise your beer will be too sweet. Example:

5lbs light DME
3lbs 2-row pale
1 lb crystal 40
1 lb rye

And same hop schedule with a west coast yeast. 1056 is easy and works like a champ

Should give you and OG of 1.063 and a final somewhere around 1.015-1.019

Just for the grains. Steep them in about 6.5 quarts of water for an hour instead of 30 mins. That's a mini mash!!!!
Then just add the rest of your water to your desired boil volume and proceed as usual!!

Cheers!

I'm not an expert on IPAs, but I am wondering why Warrior hops at 5m and 1m? Warrior hops are generally used for bittering, not aroma or flavor. I don't think they will give you the flavor and aroma you want for this beer (someone will, undoubtedly disagree). Personally, I would switch the Warrior and Chinook additions. I would also get rid of the 40 min addition (up the 60 if necessary) or move it to 20 minutes. Good luck.

You could switch the rye to crystal rye, though I think the crystal version is fairly dark. 40% specialty grains could be high for some beers but I wouldn't say it's wrong for all.

Btw nice username on there.

I know you can never have a beer that is too hoppy

FluffyMuffins said:

Oh, I did make some changes. Before, it did fit the IIPA mold and was at 210 IBUs according to the calculator.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. The concept is good overall, I generally just stress simple extract and "fill it out" with specialty malts.

DirtyOldDuck said:

I'm not an expert on IPAs, but I am wondering why Warrior hops at 5m and 1m? Warrior hops are generally used for bittering, not aroma or flavor. I don't think they will give you the flavor and aroma you want for this beer (someone will, undoubtedly disagree). Personally, I would switch the Warrior and Chinook additions. I would also get rid of the 40 min addition (up the 60 if necessary) or move it to 20 minutes. Good luck.

Click to expand...

+1. Warrior is a fairly neutral hop flavor wise with high alpha so if you are looking for big flavor and aroma in your late additions this is probably not the way to go.

Also seems like 2 lbs of crystal is a lot for a 5 gallon batch. Just my 2 cents.

Good luck

Chans

I can't remember for sure, will the rye convert on its own? Or does it need some base malt for the enzymes? 4.5 lbs. of grain seems like a lot for just steeping, even though more than half of it is crystal malt.

The rye needs to be mashed. That's part of why I suggested the mini-mash with 3 lbs of 2-row and the 1 lb of crystal