Ipa.. too malty?

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hophog

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This is my second attempt at an AG IPA.. personally I thought my first attempt went pretty well, maybe some minor off-tastes not sure why also a huge head. But otherwise fairly comparable to other IPAs I've had.

I'm looking for any advice on my recipe. I figured I'd try a maltier IPA than usual but now I am beginning to wonder if it will be TOO malty given my grain bill and yeast selection.

Mash at 153

10# two row
2# munich
1# crystal 40L


1oz chinook at 60
1oz chinook at 20
1oz chinook at flameout

1oz chinook and 1oz willamette dry hop

wlp002 (english ale)


Do you think this will still be good or should I add some sugar or lower mash temp to dry it out some?

I think I got pretty good efficiency doing my mash in a 6-gal pot last time (broken hydrometer) and then sparging.
 
You know, I go back and forth on my IPAs between a sweeter maltier finish and a drier finish. My favorite recipe has NO crystal, just 96% two-row and 4% amber malt. But lately, I've been finding that I'm enjoying a maltier IPA just as much. The latest is 9% crystal malt, 6% Munich malt, and the rest base malt (in this case, pilsner malt) along with some English ale yeast. And it's just as good, just different!

I would say that your grainbill looks good for your purpose. I'd check the SG/IBU ratio to make sure you had enough bittering and consider mashing at 152.
 
I like a malty balance in my IPA, too. My latest batch has 40L and 80L caramel malt (total of 1 lb) and 1 1/2 lb of Munich. I mashed high, at 158. I only use English yeasts in beers that I want to be identifiably English, which my (and your) recipe is not. I like the Edinburgh strain, fermented in the low sixties, it gives a clean flavor profile, and while accentuating the malt, does not hide the hops like wlp002 does.

Here's the recipe I used for that last batch Short-Nights-IPA

I'm running out and need to brew some more of it!
 
I take it that's a no on the sugar? I was thinking of adding 1# or something just to dry it out a little, but it sounds like maybe that is not necessary.

About the IBUs, I'm not familiar with a typical IBU:SG ratio, but an IBU calculator for this recipe said it would have 53.1 IBU an OG of 1.069 and a FG 1.023. ABV 6.1%.

Is that reasonable or should I move some of the chinook earlier in the boil or maybe take some from the dry hop and use it in the boil? I'd prefer not to have to buy more, but I can if I need to.

Thanks... I'm learning lots from you all!
 
The sugar will dry it out, but by adding alcohol content. I have found that sugar in a standard IPA can push the alcohol to a hot-tasting level. My IIPA's have some, but I think you don't need it here.
 
I take it that's a no on the sugar? I was thinking of adding 1# or something just to dry it out a little, but it sounds like maybe that is not necessary.

About the IBUs, I'm not familiar with a typical IBU:SG ratio, but an IBU calculator for this recipe said it would have 53.1 IBU an OG of 1.069 and a FG 1.023. ABV 6.1%.

Is that reasonable or should I move some of the chinook earlier in the boil or maybe take some from the dry hop and use it in the boil? I'd prefer not to have to buy more, but I can if I need to.

Thanks... I'm learning lots from you all!

A final gravity of 1.023 in an IPA would be too high for me. My recipe (linked above) finished up at 1.014, which I thought was good. The IBUs in my recipe were 61 - or at least that's what Beersmith predicted, I have no idea what they actually ended up being in practice, but it had a nice, appropriate bitterness.

To get more bitterness and IBUs you can boil longer, too - say a 75 minute addition instead of a 60 minute, if you don't want to add more hops.
 
Yep that's the yeast. Not a lot I can do about the FG with this yeast.. I don't really want to have to buy another. The attenuation is 63-70%. I guess maybe I should have read up more before buying.. but it will be interesting I suppose.
 
Looks like a great recipe to me, but I'm a huge fan of malty IPAs - to me, big hops require big malt for balance. Last time I was brewing an amber (with some crystal 40 and caravienne) and I accidentally threw in 14% magnum instead of 7% cascade for bittering. So I added a ton of Willamette flavor/aroma hops and called it a hopped-up amber or malty IPA. It's one of my favorites I've ever brewed. Give it a shot.

And +1 to the advice above. No sugar, shoot for low teens FG.
 
I don't think that will be possible with this yeast.. unless I can manage to push the attenuation over 70% somehow.
 
I don't think that will be possible with this yeast.. unless I can manage to push the attenuation over 70% somehow.

Sure you can. What's the projected OG? with 13 pounds of grain, it can't be crazy high. So, I'm guessing 1.072 or so. You can lower the quantity of grain so the OG is lower, and use less crystal malt, and easily finish under 1.018. I'd also lower the crystal a bit if that is a concern.
 
Don't blame the yeast, your method determines your results.

I fermented an RIS from 1.09 down to 1.011 with wyeast 1968 (wlp 002) in less than 48 hours at 66*.

Mashed at 149* for 90 minutes and used 1 # of sugar in the grist. If I could do it over I would mash at 153* and up the specialty malts a little bit.
 
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