How's This For An IPA?

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Rhoobarb

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This weekend I’m planning to brew an India Pale Ale. I’ve done a pale ale typical of a Bass knock off and it turned out well. But this will be my first IPA. I’m closely following James T. Reese’s Diving Duck Ale recipe out of Marty Nachel’s Homebrewing For Dummies. According to the book, it took a 1st place award at the AHA nationals one year, so I figured it would be a good place to start. But I have made some changes. My current recipe is below:

Randy Rooster India Pale Ale
Recipe Ó 2005 by Mark Pannell

Extracts:
3.52 lbs. John Bull hopped extract
3.75 lbs. Cooper’s Bitter hopped extract
1 lb. Plain light DME

Grains:
1/2 lb. British Crystal malt, 2-row (40-L )
1/2 lb. British Pale Ale malt, 2-row (1.6-L)

Bittering hops: 1 oz. Willamette [4.8% AAU] (60 mins.)

Flavoring hops: 1 oz. Cascade [5.4% AAU] (15 mins.)

Finishing hops: 1/2 oz. Kent Goldings [4.0% AAU] (10 mins.)

Dry hop: 1 oz. Kent Goldings [4.0% AAU]

Fining agent: 1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins.)

Yeast: White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast

Misc. Flavorings: 4 oz. malto-dextrin powder

Primary: 6 days at 68o- 70o F

Secondary: 8 days at 68o- 70o F

Total boil: 60 minutes


Crack the grains, place in muslin grain bag and hold at 155o F for 30 minutes. Remove the grains and bring to a boil. Add extracts and DME off heat, bring to a boil and follow schedule above. Cool wort and top off to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast when cooled to 70o F and add dry hops. Prime with 1-1/4 cups plain DME.


The original Diving Duck calls for 2 lbs. of light DME and no grains at all. I have always used grains! So, I decided to scale back the DME to 1 lb. and use some grains I happen to have on hand that sounded like they might fit the profile. I also have some Simpson’s Dark crystal (90-L) and was tempted to throw it into the mix as well, but decided to hold off.

This is also the first time I have ever used hopped extracts or malto-dextrin powder and I’m a little apprehensive about that. I assume the malto-dextrin it is added at the beginning of the boil(?). But these are what the original calls for. Besides, I’ve already bought them! Also, the original did not use any Cascades at all. Adding them at 15 mins. was my own idea after looking over other IPA recipes. The original also used Wyeast #1056, I like White Labs.

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, warnings, changes, etc. before I dive in! Thanks!
 
Sounds like it'll have a nice hop finish. I've never used hopped syrup before, but it sounds like that's where you're getting all your bittering (the willamette won't add too much). I'll be interested to know how it comes out.
 
The grain won't add much to the fermentables, so you don't necessarily have to cut the DME. I'd definately add some grain it though like you have. But it looks more like a British style IPA, which tend to be more mellow on the hop front. The cascades will give it a bit more citrus flavor, which is something I personally love.

Do you know what the hop constituent of the extract is? does it give a predicted IBU or AAU? That could really affect the final bitterness, but if its just hop oils, it might become volitile during the boil and lessen. I've never used it, so I'm just speculating.
 
That doesn't look like a particularly bitter IPA...we'd probably call that a Pale Ale. Our IPAs are usually seriously hoppy, using something like Columbus for bittering (at ~16% alpha acid, 2-3 oz per 10 gallons)

This is just opinion, but I'm not a fan of hopped extract. I don't think the bitterness comes through as well, but YMMV. I'd prefer to use dry extract and whole hops. If you're definitely using the hopped syrup, I'd consider bumping up the bittering hops a bit...tough to say really what the hopped syrup will produce bitterness-wise.

And I second the suggestion to not cut the amount of extract. The grains won't be giving you fermentables, and an IPA should be big.

I would also add more aroma hops personally. But hey, I haven't ever won a medal. Never tried, but... ;)
 
rooftopbrew said:
Do you know what the hop constituent of the extract is? does it give a predicted IBU or AAU?
Well, according to the can of John Bull hopped extract and their website, it has a “color range” of 8-12 and “Hop Flavoured Range" of "30+/-3 EBU/EBC”. As for the Cooper’s Bitter extract, their website, while cool to look at, offered no useful information. I can only guess that it may be close to the John Bull. :confused:


Janx said:
...we'd probably call that a Pale Ale. Our IPAs are usually seriously hoppy...
When I want a hoppy beer - like an IPA - I like 'em hop, hop, hoppy, too! :D

Janx said:
... I'd consider bumping up the bittering hops a bit...tough to say really what the hopped syrup will produce bitterness-wise.

And I second the suggestion to not cut the amount of extract. The grains won't be giving you fermentables, and an IPA should be big.

I would also add more aroma hops personally... ;)
Doesn't take much to convince me! I'll go with the full 2 lbs. of light DME and up the hops! Maybe double the bittering and finishing hops?

If I were to go back in time, I would probably think twice about this and take a pass on the hopped extract. But, since I have the stuff already, I've decided to do this recipe and a more traditional one with unhopped extract - simultaneously - and compare the two side-by-side. I plan to do them this weekend on two consecutive days. As luck would have it, there is a nice looking IPA recipe this week on the BYO website: http://byo.com/recipe/233.html


Thanks everyone!
 
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