Another Nugget IPA

This weekend i plan on brewing a SMASHish Nugget IPA. Its a basic recipe to help me get to know Nugget. I have never used the hop and also since its in leaf form which i also havent used it will be fun.

Here is the recipe.
5.5gal
7lbs 2 row
2lbs white wheat
1lb C20

I am thinking of doing a 120min boil.

1oz 60min
0.5oz 30min
0.5oz 15min

May add some gypsum to boost the hop flavor.

Ferment with WLP001.

2oz of hop seems very low for an IPA.

I use Nugget for bittering and used in with Cascade in my last black IPA as flavor additions @15, 10, 5. It was good with the Cascades but Nugget alone is a very strong spicy hop...smells wonderful but I would personally want to add some Cascade late in the boil and dry hop.

Most American IPA's use no less than 5 oz of hops in 5.5 gallon batches. I use 6.5 oz in my Cascade/Centennial/Citra IPA's and the aroma/flavor is awesome! I find the flavor/aroma right if I use 3-4 times more hops in the last 5 minutes of boil and as dry hop than I do for bittering! So if I bitter with 1oz I would use 3-4 oz of additional hops in the last 5 min of boil and as dry hop. 2-3oz in dry hop in 5.5 gallons makes a huge difference.

Beersmith says i should be around 55IBU's which is to style of an American IPA.
I also dont want something that is going to kill my friends with bitterness.

Use a claculator to find the IBU contribution of your additions. Move the 30 to flameout, and think about moving some of the bitter to later, depending on how much you need eto get your desired bitterness. You also need some for dry-hopping.

But what isn't measure in IBU is hop flavor and aroma. An American IPA has lots of both which you aren't getting with low amounts of late additions.

tennesseean_87 said:

But what isn't measure in IBU is hop flavor and aroma. An American IPA has lots of both which you aren't getting with low amounts of late additions.

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Exactly!

Bitterness without hop flavor and aroma is a pretty poor tasting IPA. The hops you add with 0-5 minutes left in the boil and as dry hop do not add to the IBU's they only add flavor and hop aroma!

I just looked at my first IPA recipe which turned out awesome, even my wife loved it...and it had 6.5 ounces of hops in 5.5 gallons but only had 60 IBU's. Because 3 ounces of those hops were added toward the end of the boil and 2 ounces were dry hop.

I made a Pale Ale using only Nugget hops and the beer turned out excellent. In this case I would move the 15 to 5 and 30 to 15 and increase to 1 oz each
For my pale ale i went 3/4 oz at 60, 3/4 oz at 15 and 3/4 oz at 5 and the IBU was 46 about right for an APA. For an IPA I would consider an ounce at each addition if your AA is about 14% that will get you 61 IBU

For that batch size, I'd use at least 7 oz. total hops... minimum. Kiss aroma and overall hop character goodbye if you only use 2 oz total.

If you want smooth, low IBUs... bitter to 25-30 IBUs early then pound it out late at 10-5-0-DH.

Also, your crystal malt is currently set to 10%. Reduce that to about 5-6% tops. This will allow the hops to shine more and be more IPA worthy.

Ok how about this hopping schedule. I only have 4oz of Nugget leaf hops which is why i was conservative.

1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 5min
1oz dry hop 7 days

For lowly bittered, higher aroma with only 4 oz. available:

0.50 oz. @ 60
1.50 oz. @ 15
2.00 oz. @ dryhop

or

0.75-1.00 oz. @ 60
1.00-1.25 oz. @ 0
2.00 oz. @ dryhop

I have heard that you can coax a few more IBU's out of hops with a 75 min boil on the bittering hops but some disagree. Without hard lab data it would be hard to prove one way or another.

bobbrews said:

For lowly bittered, higher aroma with only 4 oz. available:

0.50 oz. @ 60
1.50 oz. @ 15
2.00 oz. @ dryhop

or

0.75-1.00 oz. @ 60
1.00-1.25 oz. @ 0
2.00 oz. @ dryhop

Click to expand...

I will meet you half way:
1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 0 min
1oz 3 day dry hop after end of fermentation

Since i doing leaf i dont want to lose alot of my brew to the hops which is another reason for reduction.

zmad2000 said:

I will meet you half way:
1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 0 min
1oz 3 day dry hop after end of fermentation

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The best way to meet halfway is to use that schedule for a half-batch. I'd much rather have one case of really good beer than two cases of subpar beer. All you'll learn from a 5 gallon batch of underhopped IPA is that you didn't use enough hops. A 2.5 gallon batch of properly made IPA will teach you how nice a hop Nugget is. If you're looking to conserve your hops, you could use something else at 60 minutes and add that other ounce of leaf to the flameout and/or dry.

kingwood-kid said:

The best way to meet halfway is to use that schedule for a half-batch. I'd much rather have one case of really good beer than two cases of subpar beer. All you'll learn from a 5 gallon batch of underhopped IPA is that you didn't use enough hops. A 2.5 gallon batch of properly made IPA will teach you how nice a hop Nugget is. If you're looking to conserve your hops, you could use something else at 60 minutes and add that other ounce of leaf to the flameout and/or dry.

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Or drop your gravity to compensate. Make a really hoppy APA with dry-hops, but get some malt out of the way. This will also increase hop utilization, and you'll only need 40-50 IBUs to balance a 5% beer.

zmad2000 said:

I will meet you half way:
1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 0 min
1oz 3 day dry hop after end of fermentation

Click to expand...

That's not half way bro since your original plan was,

1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 5min
1oz dry hop 7 days

But hey, it's your beer. It appears you took your own advice despite asking for some. Let us know how that works out for you.

zmad2000 said:

Since i doing leaf i dont want to lose alot of my brew to the hops which is another reason for reduction.

Click to expand...

Makes no sense. 4 oz. hops is quite weak for a 5.5 gal batch of IPA, and it will not absorb as much wort/beer as you think. Wait until you start using 14 oz. per batch. You'll have more of an APA as is.

Well i did double my hops 2oz to 4oz and changed the hop schedule from 60,30,15 to 60,15,0 and dry hop.

I keep on looking at the BJCP guide and some other recipes and i see there is a shift on how IPA's are being made. Next time i make an IPA i will try out some of the new methodes but for now. If it isnt IPA worthy then i will just call it something different.

zmad2000 said:

Well i did double my hops 2oz to 4oz and changed the hop schedule from 60,30,15 to 60,15,0 and dry hop.

I keep on looking at the BJCP guide and some other recipes and i see there is a shift on how IPA's are being made. Next time i make an IPA i will try out some of the new methodes but for now. If it isnt IPA worthy then i will just call it something different.

Click to expand...

Yea I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, perception has generally changed the way we look at IPAs. You will have to bump it up to at least 6-8 oz per batch to get a good to great IPA like what we are used to as commercially available brews.

With that said, here’s an alternative thought to your brew…. Do you have any other clean bittering type hops available? Magnum or Glacier or even Warrior?

Since you really do not get a lot of flavor from early boil additions you could use something else for your 60 minute and then use 2 oz of nugget hops late (I’d recommend 1 oz each 10 and 0 minutes). Then 2 oz nugget dry hops. This would honestly get you the closest to what we all perceive as IPA. And you’ll get a good feel for what the Nugget hops bring to the table.

Otherwise you have a pale ale with a high gravity.

It’s not uncommon to use 5-6 oz of hops (including dryhop) in a pale ale recipe.

zmad2000 said:

Well i did double my hops 2oz to 4oz and changed the hop schedule from 60,30,15 to 60,15,0 and dry hop.

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I'm confused as to how you got those numbers.

THIS IS WHAT YOU HAD IN POST 9
1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 5min
1oz dry hop 7 days

AND THIS IS WHEN YOU SAID YOU'D MEET HALFWAY
1oz 60min
1oz 15min
1oz 0min
1oz 3 day dry hop after end of fermentation

I don't see you doubling your dryhops or ever using a 30 minute addition.

The only difference is that you moved 5 min to 0 min and shortened your dryhop by four days.

Unless you're talking about your original post...

1oz 60min
0.5oz 30min
0.5oz 15min

But my edit was in post 10 where you said you'd meet halfway.

I think he meant from his original post. I've had blondes with more hops in them. SWMBO is a hop head, you know.