Hop heads

I am relatively new to brewing and would like to learn about brewing IPA's for my personal enjoyment. I would appreciate any input that could be offered in the way of your experiences, web sites for research, and recipes that you guys may have tried.

I am a fan of the Dogfish head 90min.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

I just switched from doing extract to All Grain and am loving brewing and also winemaking. Lot to learn on the site, some really knowledgeable individuals here.

I made this recipe 3x altering it slightly each time. Late extract addition of altering hop schedule gives you different taste, malt/hops balance even when using the exact same ingredients.

Enjoy and RDWHAHB

HOPipotimous said:

I am relatively new to brewing and would like to learn about brewing IPA's for my personal enjoyment. I would appreciate any input that could be offered in the way of your experiences, web sites for research, and recipes that you guys may have tried.

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The best kind of research involves going to the local beverage establishment, and sampling various different brews. This will give direction to your on-line searches.

I am a fan of the Dogfish head 90min.

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Dude, that's not beer - it's hop syrup! *ducks and runs*

frazier said:

The best kind of research involves going to the local beverage establishment, and sampling various different brews. This will give direction to your on-line searches.


Dude, that's not beer - it's hop syrup! *ducks and runs*

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+1 on drinking...at your local tavern. But some of us have crap with respect to selection. Either that, or our town is ultra religious (read Southern Baptist) and local joints don't have any real selection other than bmc (they're not even worth capitalizing).

There are a lot of resources here. You can also check out some online HBS that display their recipes. Just check out their versions of IPAs. I personally don't go for DIPAs since they're a bit too malty/sweet for me. I have something at the back of my throat that starts a gag reflex if the beer that's headed down the pipe is too malty. So I'm a hop head, and I mainly go for IPAs in the bitterness range of 80 IBUs or more but highly attenuated to keep the sweetness down.

There's 219 IPA recipes in the database, including a DFH60, but no 90. Many of them are clone recipes, so you might take a look and see if your second favorite is there.

Also, do a search for "hop burst". That's a technique for using massive amounts of flavor and aroma hops without getting too bitter.

If you are doing kits I'd recommend making several, saving a few bottles and then taste testing them. I did B.Best hopnogg and have the IPA going now. B.Best seems a littlre limited as far as selections go so I just bought two kits from Midwest, Ferocious and octane IPA. the octane uses oak chips in the secondary... real curious to see how that comes out.

yeah, dogfish 90 minute, i just had one today, last of the 4pack, i agree, not as big of a fan as the DIPAs. to malty and sweet. i prefer the 60 minute. and the 90 minutines is $10 for 4pack.

try making the midwest double hop head ipa if you like the 90 minute doghead.

gawine said:

try making the midwest double hop head ipa if you like the 90 minute doghead.

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I just cracked my first bottle of my hop head double from midwest last night. Still way too young (only 2.5 weeks in the bottle...I got impatient), but I got a sense of it. I wouldn't put it on the same page as the dogfish 90. Maybe halfway between the 60 and 90.

Thanks to all who have responded. I do loike the DFH and would be interested in brewing
something similar because the majority of my friends and family find my particular preference of beer far too bitter. I usually look for high IBU's when buying beer for myself.

david_42 said:

There's 219 IPA recipes in the database, including a DFH60, but no 90. Many of them are clone recipes, so you might take a look and see if your second favorite is there.

Also, do a search for "hop burst". That's a technique for using massive amounts of flavor and aroma hops without getting too bitter.

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Thanks for the "heads up" I will check out "hop burst". I do like some aromatic IPA's as long as they are not incredibly malty. It may prove effective for finding that middle ground between my preferences and those of my friends.

frazier said:

The best kind of research involves going to the local beverage establishment, and sampling various different brews. This will give direction to your on-line searches.


Dude, that's not beer - it's hop syrup! *ducks and runs*

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I must have been thinking of the 60 minute as I do not recall it being incredibly sweet. I cannot get it locally but I had a bit while visiting a relative.

I've felt very disappointed with my "clone brews" when I first started out. When you first start brewing, you have a lot to learn, not only about the process but about ingredients, time and taste. My advice would be start with the simplest recipes to get your process down, then make beers that taste good to you. After a while, you will feel confident enough to work on a clone. From personal experience I was unhappy with my clone brews before I dialed in my process (b/c every brewer's process is different)
-Jefe-