Peach IPA Recipe Help/Review

Hello all, with summer around the corner (it feels like summer now in Ohio at least), I wanted to make a nice refreshing IPA. I'm still relatively new to AG brewing (2 AG and 4 extract) and even newer to recipe creation. I'm hoping to get some inputs on a recipe I drafted out for this weekend. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

What I'm looking to do here is to build an IPA that might remind someone of a peach cobbler, but more peach than cobbler. I'm looking to Maris Otter and Biscuit to give a cookie/biscuity taste to the IPA and Honey Malt to give a little residual sweetness with a bit of honey flavor. I figured I would showcase a single hop with Citra as I believe the citrus flavor and aromas provided will pair well with peach.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: US-05
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.068 (from BeerSmith)
Final Gravity: 1.011 (from BeerSmith)
IBU: 90.3
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 9.0
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 @ 72F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 72F (maybe longer?)

11 lbs - Maris Otter
1 lb - Biscuit Malt
8 oz - Honey Malt
1 oz - Citra - Boil 60 min
1 oz - Citra - Boil 20 min
1 oz - Citra - Boil 10 min
1 oz - Citra - Boil 5 min
5 lbs - Peach Puree - Secondary
1 oz - Citra - Dry Hop (unsure if I want to dry hop or not)

Mash at 148F for 60 minutes.

Like I said, any inputs would be great. I haven't picked up any of the ingredients yet. Probably won't go shopping for ingredients until Friday.

Well, I am by no means an expert, but I found this thread from the "fruit in an ipa" thread, so thought I'd chime in with my 2 cents...

Mash looks good, but I'd probably go with a 90 minute boil. Might help with your alpha acid isomerization a bit. I've been using that for my hoppy beers lately and am happy with the results.

Grain bill looks good to me!

Yeast - I would definitely ditch the US-05 and use one of the Conan strains (Yeast Bay Vermont Ale or GigaYeast Vermont IPA) to really help out with that peach flavor. I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you go with this yeast you'll want to change your fermentation temp/schedule as well.

Hops - I would have to disagree with you on that one. I don't think Citra is peachy at all or would go very well in a peach IPA. You probably want to go with hops on this list: https://www.hopunion.com/aroma-wheel/?aroma=Stone-Fruit. Personally I really like the Galaxy hops and think that'd go well here. Also, I'd probably try to do one big batch of hops at the 90 or 60 minute mark to get most of your bittering, and then save everything else for hop bursting at the end (15 mins or less). You should get a lot more of the hops flavor/aroma you're looking for like that. Lastly, definitely dry hop. It's an IPA.

Fruit addition - 5 lbs of fresh peaches is about the max you'd want to go for 5 gallons of beer. Since you're using puree you'll probably want to cut that back a bit. The latest issue of Zymurgy has a nice table in it actually, but if you don't subscribe it basically says that you'd want .8 lbs of puree for every lb of fresh fruit. So you'll probably want to use 4 lbs. of puree.

Don't forget, the fruit is going to add some fermentable sugar that you're not currently accounting for. Personally I wouldn't do a secondary on this one. I'd just toss them in when you drain your kettle and let them stay in there through primary, dry hopping, and cold crash. I don't use beersmith, but on brewer's friend they have fruits as fermentables so you can calculate what they'll do to your SG/FG. There's also this formula to figure out how many gravity points your fruit will if you're old school about it:

SG = [Wfruit X (Psugar/100) X 45]/Vbeer

Wfruit = weight of fruit in pounds
Psugar = percentage of your fruit which is sugar
Vbeer = volume of beer in gallons

That's really about all I can add! Good luck with the recipe, would love to know how it turns out!

Excellent advice. I agree on all of it especially the Conan yeast. I just did a split batch IPA with Chico & Conan and the Conan is immeasurably better! I will be brewing a Peach beer here in GA soon.

@drgonzo2k2 Great advice.

I don't know why I completely forgot about Galaxy hops. I think I've been on a Citra kick and just wasn't thinking of something better.

I didn't even know about the Conan yeast, I'll have to check out my LHBS to see if they have any. I'm unsure about ordering it as it might not come in time for the weekend (unfortunately can't postpone as friends share my equipment and it's my turn in the rotation). But this yeast sounds amazing for what I want.

I've changed the hop schedule to have a FWH and dropped the 20 min boil to 15 min.

I like the idea of doing a primary with the peach puree (as I hate secondary). There were few factors that I'm unsure about though. Throwing in the puree at the beginning in theory could cause a lot of the peach character to get stripped away during the vigorous fermentation. To avoid this I've seen people talk about adding in the fruit after the initial vigorous fermentation when the krausen breaks. Because I use carboys instead of buckets for primary I'm afraid of oxidation when adding a puree after the krausen breaks.

When everything is worked out I'll post the final recipe on the recipe forum, but I'll still provide a follow-up here.

A good peach is sweet, juicy, and succulent... not bitter, crisp, and dry. A little bit of acidic tartness will also go a long way. If you want PEACH, then logical reasoning suggests that you should probably shoot for something more like an APA or a lowly hopped IPA which finishes at 1.015-ish vs. an innately bitter IIPA.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Conan (Vermont Ale)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV: shoot for 6% or less
IBU: shoot for 55 or less (some IBUs gained from the hopstand)
Boiling Time: 60 min
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 62-64F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 68-70F (w/Peach)

Mash at 150F for 60 minutes

77% - Thomas Fawcett Pearl Malt
17% - American Red or White Wheat
4% - American Crystal 40L
2% - American Crystal 60L

40 IBUs - Columbus or Warrior - Boil 60 min
--you don't need any other boil additions--
3 oz. - Galaxy, Amarillo & Citra Mix @ 180F Hopstand (30 min hold)
5 oz. - 2:2:1 ratio Galaxy, Amarillo & Citra Mix @ 7 day dryhop (in secondary with peaches)


^That hop combo will be very fruity, juicy, and offer a perceived sweetness. Another hop to consider is Palisade.

bobbrews said:

...then logical reasoning suggests...

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't brew for logic. I brew to play around with flavor combinations that I wouldn't normally play with. I want to make things that I couldn't normally find elsewhere because people say logically it won't work.

Best Case: I have a refreshing dry, bitter, and juicy peach ipa to enjoy.
Worst Case: It was an absolute failure and I'm out a little money. But at least I learned something in the process. I also have plenty of friends who will drink almost anything so it's not a complete waste.

This thread wasn't a "Give me a completely different recipe" thread, but more of a collaboration to seek other inputs towards the style being brewed.

Someone is moody.

I just want to clarify that I wasn't being moody, but was just defending the idea of a Peach IPA.

You had valid concerns regarding what a peach traditionally is/can be. I was just more bothered by throwing out the entire idea rather than building on the recipe being put forth.

Hugs or share a beer?

Vamptrump said:

I was just more bothered by throwing out the entire idea rather than building on the recipe being put forth.

Click to expand...

I love IPAs. They're basically all I brew. But when I see a recipe that I think needs a lot of work, then I offer my personal advice with logical reasoning as to how I think your main goal would work better for you, i.e. great peach flavor in a refreshing and hoppy Summer beer.

Of course, you can choose to do what you want in the end, but that doesn't make my opinion invalid.



You also did say twice in the opener:

Vamptrump said:

Any input would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Vamptrump said:

Like I said, any inputs would be great.

Click to expand...

Good luck!

You got me on asking for any input.

I am considering moving hops from the boil to a hop stand. So my hop schedule would be:

1 oz Galaxy FWH
3 oz Galaxy Whirlpool @ 180 for 30 min
1 oz Galaxy Dry Hop

From what I understand on the two insertion of hops, it should provide a more smoother/rounded bitterness vs. a sharp bitter hit.

I really want to focus on a single hop, so I'm avoiding mixing in any others and believe based on previous recommendations that Galaxy will provide everything I need. I've always loved single hop IPAs.

Quick Update:

Brew day went down (albeit not without a hitch). Currently the beer is sitting in primary going crazy. I ended up over brewing and ended with 6 gallons instead of 5 in a 6.5 gallon carboy.

Final Brew Day Recipe (as the 5 gallon recipe):
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP008
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.068 (from BeerSmith, forgot to take OG in chaos of the day)
Final Gravity: 1.011 (from BeerSmith)
IBU: 118.7 (from BeerSmith, seems wrong as it's adding 37.4 IBUs from hopstand. Brewer's friend calculator showing 66 IBU)
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 9.0
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 @ 72F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): None

11 lbs - Maris Otter
1 lb - Biscuit Malt
8 oz - Honey Malt
1 oz - Galaxy - FWH
1 oz - Galaxy - Boil 15 min
2 oz - Galaxy - 180 degree hopstand for 30 min
3 lbs - Peach Puree - Primary
1 lb - Apricot Puree - Primary
1 oz - Galaxy - Dry Hop after 7 days

Mash at 148F for 75 minutes.

Looks good. Interested in hearing how this one turns out, so please do post back once you've sampled the final product.

Regarding the IBUs and Brewer's Friend vs. Beer Smith, what did you put into Brewer's Friend for your utilization % when you put in the hopstand hops? By default it assumes 0%, but I don't use Beer Smith, so I'm not sure what

Beer Smith appeared to calculate the hop stand time similar to a boil. I think I need to calibrate a calculation somewhere.

As for Brewer's Friend I kept the 0% utilization, since in theory the hop stand shouldn't be imparting any IBUs at that temperature level. Technically there would be some utilization at 180 vs 175 when it's supposed to be true 0 (at least from what the books have said).

Figured I would attach a picture of it after 24 hrs.

View attachment 1432045713954.jpg

Wish I saw this earlier, but I think a lot of people forgot to mention fermenting US-05 in the low 60's for the apricot/peach flavor that a lot of people describe. Some people like it, some don't.

Unfortunately I wouldn't have been able to ferment that low. I brew at my friend's on my equipment, and I can't setup a good fermentation chamber at his house. So I have to rely on his cool basement temperatures.

I have a Peach Ale that's been fermenting with Conan yeast and I am ready to add the peaches. I used 77% Maris Otter, 8% Torrified Wheat, 7% Malted Wheat, and 8% C-60. It is pretty dark, so it's between a pale ale and amber ale. It went 1.056 to 1.016 (5.25%) and I am ready for the peach addition. I am going to rack it into another 6.5g carboy for the extra space on top of the peaches and the fact the yeast might start up again. How do you plan on preparing the peaches? I am thinking 6 to 10 pounds washed, depitted, cut up, then frozen. Are you planning on cooking them at all? I thought about juicing them with an electric juicer and heating the juice to 180, but the pulp/skin loss in juicing might minimize the flavor.

I ended up just buying some peach and apricot puree from the LHBS. I was sitting on a busy schedule so I didn't have time to do anything. If I had time I would have washed, pitted, and pureed in the blender with some vodka to make the same ratio.

I'm dry hopping today, and bottling Saturday. Unsure how well the peaches will survive the primary fermentation. This was my first time just throwing in the fruit during primary. I know flavors will drop, but it will be nice to see how much lose.

Good luck with the brew Vamp! Thanks for the input- I will be sourcing some fresh GA peaches this week.

Not contributing to the thread other than to say I'm the guy working at Brewtinsils today you talked to. I'll be working at Ollie's Place when it opens, so feel free to bring a bottle by. I'm sure we'd all love to try it!

Happy brewing!

So a quick week update.

I was getting ready for bottling and pulled the carboy out of it's happy home. Aside from about 2+ inches of trub in the 6.5 gallon carboy, the beer was still really cloudy and hasn't cleared up enough yet. It did acquire a slight peach hue to it though. I opted to remove it from the large trub and push to a secondary to free up the primary for my next beer.

Aroma: Clear Galaxy hop aroma, it was like being punched in the face with hops when I opened the carboy up.

Taste: Subtle peach, hops, and a secondary aftertaste that lingered that I wasn't able to fully identify. A few of us were thinking possibly the yeast that hasn't fully dropped yet.

I'm letting it sit another 2 weeks in the secondary to clear up before I bottle.

I just juiced 6 pounds of peaches. what a mess, but going to heat to 180 to pasteurize and add to secondary to rack a pale/amber wheat ale onto. what have I gotten myself into?

I've never used juice in secondary before. Seems like a smart way to avoid a mess in a carboy.

We shall see. The juice was thick! Expecting some more fermentation.

So I completely forgot about this thread. The Peach IPA is bottled and carbed. Just cracked one open today. I love how it turned out. Peach didn't survive, but I don't even care. The hop bitterness is really smooth and rounded, and the hop flavor and aroma is clean, fruity, and fresh. I'm going to formally post the IPA recipe tomorrow on the recipe database, without the peach addition. This recipe will easily make it into my rotation.

Thanks for the update. I did the 7# of juiced peaches and bottled a week ago. Bottling sample was peachy good, so hopefully it will be a winner.

Figured I would post a picture. The peach/apricot puree really mucked around with the color and clarity.