What's wrong here?

As a beginner, I have to date, brewed 3 IPAs, a weissbier and a milk stout (I have Jamil's West Coast Blaster fermenting as I write also). I cracked open a weissbier the other night, a little early but I wanted to check one out. I genuinely exclaimed "wow!" when I tasted it. I used to drink my fair share of weissbiers back in Europe and I know how they should taste, so I was very excited when I tasted my brew, especially knowing that it'll get even better over the next couple of weeks. I checked my final gravity on my milk stout and drank the hydrometer sample. Again I remarked "wow!", and it's not even carbonated! I'm particularly excited about that one. Exciting times in my homebrew learning and discovering. But my question is this - why do my IPAs suck?! Is a good IPA actually a very difficult brew to get right or is it that something like a weissbier is hard to mess up because of the simplicity of the ingredients? I don't know where I'm going wrong. I generally hit my gravity readings. Sanitation is good. I have controlled temps, etc etc. I love a good IPA and I would really like to be able to brew one!

What do your IPAs taste like? Why do they taste off? Your process and ingredients would help too.

It's hard to put my finger on it. They taste kind of muddled and amateurish. They certainly don't make me say "wow!" that's for sure. It's not that they are a chore to drink but I don't find myself that excited to drink them either!
In terms of process, I've mashed at 150F, 152F and 156F. I've used 2 row as my base malt each time. Dry hopped two of them, the second with 4oz of hops. What other details can I give you to help nail this down? I really want to make an IPA that I really enjoy drinking.

I've found that when I get muddled beers it's because I'm trying to get creative with my recipe. Keeping it simple usually alleviates muddled flavors. You may find that a SMaSH beer with less hops may make it taste more pleasant. I usually don't go over 1 oz dry hopping. Or just try using one or two specialty grains in the grist. Experimenting with different yeasts would also be a good idea. Try the clean yeasts first like 001 or 1056, then go fruity like an English strain. Your taste may like them more. I think that the main point is not to go overboard with any ingredient and try a simpler approach. Hope this helps a little.


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Yes, I have considered following or making recipes that are a little more simple and then try to build from there. I have only used US-05 in my IPAs and that is a good suggestion to try some different yeast strains. Thanks.

The trick with IPAs is simple grain bill and hop additions. Keep the grain simple so that the hops can shine. After all that is what am IPA is all about. Aside from buttering hops all of mine are used at 5 minutes and later. Typically I add a little at 5 minutes and then add good amount at flame out. When you turn the burner off just add a few ounces and stir it real good and then let sit 0-30 minutes with the lid on before you cool your wort. Different times allow for different flavors so it'll take some experimenting to find out what you like. Personally I go for citrusy American hops. Cascade, Amarillo, citra, etc. or galaxy is awesome too. Hops have many different flavors from the oils. Some boil off very fast so depending what you do can greatly affect your outcome. Good luck on the next batch of IPAs. I hope this helped.

It seems that simplicity is definitely the way forward for my next IPA. When you say to keep it simple, would you suggest just two different malts, perhaps? Is it always best to use 2 row as my base malt or is there a better option?


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2 row is the usual base. Keep your crystal malts between 4-7% of the grain bill.

My next ipa, I'll probably add some Munich and victory, but in 1 lb quantities only.


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try the zombie dust clone recipe on here as a starting point, and tweak specialty malts and hops as you see fit. the clone recipe as-is is a delicious IPA.

If you got the spare change, maybe you can pick up the Mitch Steele Ipa book.
Also see if there is a problem with your water. I add gypsum to all my Ipa's.
What kind of Ipa do you like? West coast, dry and hopped to ninkasi herself? Milder east coast style with a bigger malt presence and more hop flavor with slightly subdued ibus? Next time you're enjoying one you like, look at the brewer's website to see if you can get a feel for the ingredients.

Definitely start with a simple recipe before you start to experiment. Like trevorc13 mentioned, most of my muddled flavors come from experiments, usually to many kinds of hops or to much. Without pulling any recipes out, perhaps try an Amarillo or Cascade, an ounce at 60min, an ounce at 30min, and ounce at 5-10min and an ounce at flameout (assumes a 5gal batch). Skip dry hopping at first. Simple grain bill; mentioned above, IPAs (American IPAs in particular) are all about the hop character. Go simple, get a flavorful IPA, then start trying new things.

Of course this is all predicated on the flavors being just muddled and there not being any off-flavors that would indicate a problem elsewhere.