Help with first recipe

Hey,

So this is my first attempt ever at a recipe and was wondering what you guys thought.

Here are the details of what I'm basing this off of:

Wachusett Green Monsta IPA
India Pale Ale
• An All-American yeast teams up with Cascade, Amarillo and Centennial for a homerun of hops in every sip.
• Caramel 40, Caramel 80, Bondlander Munich, Rye and American two-row malts.
• A.B.V. 6.0% | 55 IBUs

Here is what I came up with:

Batch size: 5 gallons
OG: 1.057
IBU: 62.5
SRM: 8.2
mash: 154 for 60min
yeast: wyeast 1056

9lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
2lb Rye Malt
4oz Munich Malt
4oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
4oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L

1oz Centennial boil-60min
1oz Cascade boil-15min
1oz Amarillo boil-10min
1oz Amarillo boil-5min
1oz Amarillo dry hop
1oz Cascade dry hop

I'm not too concerned with copying the original recipe. I'm just wondering if my recipe makes any sense

What do you think??

I am not too familiar with rye malt. I would be a little concerned that might be too much rye.

I am a little more familiar with the crystal malt and the hops you are using. On the plus side, Centennial, Amarillo, and Cascade are great hops for an IPA. I personally wouldn't go as dark as 80 for the cryastal. I think I would shoot for more like 7 SRM, using mostly crystal 40 in this recipe. I like the munich, so if you do eliminate the rye, you might up the Munich. I personally use vienna in IPA, I am not sure if I am breaking the rules there, but it seems to give a little body and flavor.

Mashing at 154 is good, but try not to overshoot. If you end up at 149-154 that is okay. Better than mashing at 155-159 in my opinion. In my IPA I mash in Kettle and slowly heat from 137 to 154 then raise to 170 when conversion is complete.

I don't normally use centennial for bittering. I have used, bravo, Chinook, columbus, and amarillo with good results. You might try to get more feedback on centennial for bittering. I know it is good for flavor. I have been using american ale II for my yeast in this application. Have you gotten that far?

Rye malt or flaked rye has a very distinct, tart flavor. If thats something you think you are looking for in this beer, go for it! I personally would swap the munich and rye amounts and/or adjust the rest of your malt bill to maintain your target OG while lowering the percentage of rye. The hops are supposed to be the star of the show in an IPA. A little rye would be a nice addition to the hops imo but too much and you'll start muddying up the flavors and I would think it would turn into a confused beer. Also, rye can result in stuck mashes so mebbe a handful of rice hulls should be considered to counter that effect.

Oh, and centennial is wonderful for bittering as well as aroma and flavor!

I thought I agreed about the amount of rye. I use one pound on a really big RIS with lots of other dark specialty grains and a pound of rye still shines bright. However I just checked NB since I recall an ipa with rye in the last catalog and they use 2.75 pounds in a 1.078 beer. Might as well go for it.

These are my noob observations:

1. Too much rye. 1-1.5 lbs. should be more than enough.
2. Regardless of whether you change the rye amount or not, you'll want to use rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge. 1lb or so for that batch.
3. C80 is overkill, C20 and C40 would be a better choice if you must use 2 crystal malts.
4. As for your hop schedule, Amarillo would kill the Cascade as it sits. If you want to make it a noticeable combo of Cascade and Amarillo, do this:

1oz Centennial @ 60
1oz Amarillo and Cascade @ 15
1oz Amarillo and Cascade @ 5
1oz Amarillo and Cascade dry hop




Those are just my .02.


Cheers,
Kef

I would mos def leave all the rye. Looks like a solid recipe to me! I love rye in my ipa's ever had founders rye pa? It's awesome. The crystal is totally subjective and you are def not going crazy with it. Again overall the recipe looks pretty tasty to me.

Cheers

Thanks for all the input!

I have not used american ale II yet. I would definitely consider trying it once i get everything else sorted out.

I started looking around online after i posted this and realized i needed some rice hulls ><

I do like the idea of balancing the amarillo and cascade so I'm going to adjust that. I'm not too sure if I want the rye to shine through a lot either so I'm thinking about droping that to 1.5lb.

I have not tried fonders rye pa. I don't think I've seen anything form them around here (New Hampshire).

so I think I'm going to try:
Batch size: 5 gallons
OG: 1.060
IBU: 63
SRM: 7.2
mash: 154 for 60min
yeast: wyeast 1056

9lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
1.5lb Rye Malt
1lb Munich Malt
4oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
4oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
8oz rice hulls

1oz Centennial boil-60min
1oz Cascade boil-10min
1oz Amarillo boil-10min
1oz Cascade boil-5min
1oz Amarillo boil-5min
1oz Amarillo dry hop
1oz Cascade dry hop

Thanks again for the feedback!

I think it is ready. Frankly, it looks freaking good. If it lacks a little head, add cara-pils next round. If it lacks aroma, you can move the 5 min hop additon to a flameout addition and let it steep 15 min before cooling.

I saw your first attempt at the green monsta ipa. how did it turn out? i want to try this first using LME any advice would be great. Thanks

I saw your first attempt at the green monsta ipa. how did it turn out? i want to try this first using LME any advice would be great. Thanks

donvito67 said:

I saw your first attempt at the green monsta ipa. how did it turn out? i want to try this first using LME any advice would be great. Thanks

Click to expand...

It didn't come out like green monsta and I felt it was lacking in the body dept. I actually just brewed another revision a few weeks ago:

Batch Size 5.500 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min
Efficiency 70%
OG 1.065
ABV 6.4%
Mash Temp 154
Bitterness 59.8 IBU

yeast
Wyeast 1010

grain
Munich Malt 4.000 lb
Pale Malt (2 Row) 7.000 lb
Rye Malt 2.000 lb
Rice Hulls 4.000 oz
Crystal Malt 80L 12.000 oz
Crystal Malt 40L 12.000 oz

Boil hops
Centennial 10.5% 1.000 oz Boil 60.000 min
Cascade 6% 1.000 oz Boil 30.000 min
Amarillo 9.5% 0.500 oz Boil 20.000 min
Centennial 10.5% 0.500 oz Boil 10.000 min
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 5.000 min
Dry hop
Amarillo 9.5% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day
Centennial 10.5% 0.500 ozDry Hop 7.000 day

I haven't tasted it yet but it smells great atm. I'll look into coming up with an extract version.

i found this online if it helps:

"The new Green Monsta IPA will be a 6% ABV, 55 IBU brewed with an all-American yeast strain. It will have a combination of Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial hops."

Read more: Wachusett Brewery's Green Monsta is changing | Beer Nut http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut/2011/03/08/change-can-be-good/#ixzz2EwvU0aKH

i am pretty much a beginner but would love to learn how to brew close to an exact batch. I live in Maryland so I cannot get this beer.

let me know how your second batch comes out.

Thanks for the help.

donvito67 said:

i found this online if it helps:

"The new Green Monsta IPA will be a 6% ABV, 55 IBU brewed with an all-American yeast strain. It will have a combination of Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial hops."

Read more: Wachusett Brewery's Green Monsta is changing | Beer Nut http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut/2011/03/08/change-can-be-good/#ixzz2EwvU0aKH

i am pretty much a beginner but would love to learn how to brew close to an exact batch. I live in Maryland so I cannot get this beer.

let me know how your second batch comes out.

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

Here is what I came up with:

Batch Size 5.000 gal Boil Size 3.000 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min
OG 1.062
ABV 6.2%
IBU 54.9
Yeast wyeast 1010 @ 62ish (or 1056/us05 @ 65-70 if you don't have temp control)

Crystal Malt 80L Grain 10.000 oz (steeped)
Munich Malt Extract 2.750 lb
Rye Malt Extract 3.000 lb
Rye Malt Extract 3.000 lb (late addition)

Centennial 10.5% 1.000 oz Boil 60.000 min
Cascade 6% 1.000 oz Boil 30.000 min
Amarillo 9.5% 0.500 oz Boil 20.000 min
Centennial 10.5% 0.500 oz Boil 10.000 min
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Boil 5.000 min
Centennial 10.5% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day
Cascade 6% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day
Amarillo 9.5% 0.500 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day

The rye malt extract is 70% pale malt, 20% rye malt and 10% Crystal 40 according to NB so that's why the crystal 40 went away in this version.

I'll let you know how this version comes out. I'll be sampling it pre-dry hopped
around Tuesday.

So I just tasted it uncarbed. It has too much body compared to GM and the dry hop wasn't simular. It's good, but not that close. Next run I'll probably use just 1oz centennial for the dry hop, 8oz of C60 and c80, and use less munich/more pale.

UMM.....Yeah I am an all grain brewer but the recipe seemed high on both crystal and rye. Don't be afraid to make a simple beer and work towards complexity. This is generally easier than removing complexity and sweetness.