Help w/ Partial Mash IPA recipe

Alright, so the last time I tried to wing a recipe I screwed up. I did an IPA using 1/2 lb of Centennial hops in the boil but used nothing but 1 lb of CaraAmber as my grains. Just an extract recipe. It has been about 5 weeks in the bottle and is pretty much too sweet to drink. It attenuated down to about 1.020 from 1.063.

Need some help with a good partial mash recipe minus the hops, I think I can come up with the hop schedule. Also, I plan to use mainly Summit hops and possibly adding some Simcoe or Amarillo.

I am looking for something that will allow the hops to really come through and stand out. A SG of about 1.055-1.062 should suffice. Here is what I came up with, please help me make this a winner.

6lbs Gold LME
3lbs 2-row
1lb German Dark Munich
1lb Rye Malt

1.5oz Summit @ 60
0.5oz Amarillo @ 20
0.5oz Amarillo @ 15
0.5oz Amarillo @ 10
0.5oz Amarillo @ 5
1.5oz Summit @ 0

From Beer Calculus:
OG: 1.067
FG: 1.017
IBUs: 74

Will probably use US05, Wyeast American Ale II or WLP001. I have had a problem with my IPAs in the past attenuating, any advice? I guess making a huge starter couldn't hurt, I have only made 1L starters in the past.

mixmasterob said:

Alright, so the last time I tried to wing a recipe I screwed up. I did an IPA using 1/2 lb of Centennial hops in the boil but used nothing but 1 lb of CaraAmber as my grains. Just an extract recipe. It has been about 5 weeks in the bottle and is pretty much too sweet to drink. It attenuated down to about 1.020 from 1.063.

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Sorry to address your previous recipe rather than the new one, but....

When did you add your hops to the boil? 8oz of centennial is a LOT, so I'm surprised that you are finding it sweet!

No joke buddy, its unreal. It was 2 oz @ 60, 1 oz @ 10, 1 oz @ 5 and 2 oz @ 0. Then I dry hopped with 2 oz Centennial and 1 oz Cascade. So, not quite 8oz in the boil.

EDIT: The Centennials were only 6% AA.

mixmasterob said:

No joke buddy, its unreal. It was 2 oz @ 60, 1 oz @ 10, 1 oz @ 5 and 2 oz @ 0. Then I dry hopped with 2 oz Centennial and 1 oz Cascade. So, not quite 8oz in the boil.

EDIT: The Centennials were only 6% AA.

Click to expand...

hmmmmm..... even at 6%, that's about 60 IBUs. weird.

Any thoughts on the new recipe?

It looks OK to me, but I am wondering if something about the way you are handling the hops is causing them to not lend the proper bittering, which could make this batch also come out sweet.

Why not use DME instead of LME? 1.020 seems to be a magic number that many extract beers can't get past. Maybe try a 1/2 lb of honey to dry it out.

Since the gravity of your boil is probably pretty high, your hop utilization is probably very low. I'd try higher alpha hops in greater quantities at the beginning of the boil. You can also only put 50% of your extract in at the beginning and put the rest in toward the end to increase utilization.

All good tips. I will lean towards using some honey. What about the recipe itself though, how does the grain bill look?

I'd pull the rye malt. I'm not opposed to rye in an IPA, but I personally find it distracts a little from the hops. As for yeast, I'd go with the US-05. Cuts out the need for a starter and I think it is the same strain as the white labs and wyeast.

I kinda want to use the rye, maybe I should just drop it down a bit? Maybe to 1/2 pound?

Altered a bit:
5lbs Light DME
3lbs 2-row
1lb German Dark Munich
1lb Rye Malt

1.5oz Summit @ 60
1.0oz Amarillo @ 10
1.0oz Amarillo @ 5
1.0oz Amarillo @ 0
1.5oz Summit @ 0

Will also dry hop with an ounce or 2 of amarillo.

I made the Amarillo additions a bit bigger and later to hopefully make it more hop forward. When using so many hops, do you guys strain the wort into the fermenter?

Thinking about doing this soon, any more advice on the new recipe? Suggestions would be awesome.

You don't have to strain the hops but I think it cuts down on the mess to leave them behind. You can rack the wort from the brew kettle, this will leave most of the hops and hot break behind.