IPA issues and recipe

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golfgod04

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So I am a partial mash brewer. Ive been having issues trying to make a good IPA. I first using water from my house (which I found was not good for beer). So I switched to using 100% distilled water and using some gypsum when doing the partial mash. However, my beers are still not coming out hoppy enough. I always do 60 minute addition of bittering hop, 10 minute addition, and then a 20 minute hop steep once I cool the wort to 175. When I do this method, it comes out hoppier than if I don't. I was wondering if there is something else I am missing/doing wrong? Do I need other additives besides the gypsum? Here is the next recipe I am thinking:
Partial Mash IPA 5 Gallon Recipe

Partial Mash Grain:
4lbs Golden Promise
0.5lbs Crystal 10L
0.5lbs Flaked Wheat
0.5lbs Vienna
1 tsp Gypsum

6.6 Pale Liquid Malt Extract

Hops:
60 minutes 1 ounce Warrior
10 minutes 1 ounce Amarillo
10 minutes 1 ounce Cascade
10 minutes 1 ounce Centennial

Cool wort to 175
2 ounces Amarillo
2 ounces Cascade
2 ounces Centennial

Dry Hop for 5 days
2 ounces Amarillo
2 ounces Cascade
 
I first using water from my house (which I found was not good for beer). So I switched to using 100% distilled water and using some gypsum when doing the partial mash. However, my beers are still not coming out hoppy enough.

...

Do I need other additives besides the gypsum? Here is the next recipe I am thinking:
Partial Mash IPA 5 Gallon Recipe

Partial Mash Grain:
4lbs Golden Promise
0.5lbs Crystal 10L
0.5lbs Flaked Wheat
0.5lbs Vienna
1 tsp Gypsum

6.6 Pale Liquid Malt Extract

Hops:
60 minutes 1 ounce Warrior
10 minutes 1 ounce Amarillo
10 minutes 1 ounce Cascade
10 minutes 1 ounce Centennial

Cool wort to 175
2 ounces Amarillo
2 ounces Cascade
2 ounces Centennial

Dry Hop for 5 days
2 ounces Amarillo
2 ounces Cascade


http://www.brewersfriend.com/water-chemistry/

Bookmark it and/or the Bru'n Water spreadsheet.
 
I was wondering if there is something else I am missing/doing wrong? Do I need other additives besides the gypsum?
Yes, if you are starting with distilled water you need to do more than add gypsum. You need to get a decent gram scale if you don't already have one.
The reasons for adding certain things are complicated, but there's lots of literature available that explains everything.
Here's an IPA water recipe:

Pale Ale, IPA or dIPA Water “From Scratch”

Here’s a guide to making 15 gallons of brewing liquor for a hoppy pale ale (SRM = 8, but should work fine for anything in the 4–12 range), starting with distilled water.

IPA Water (15 gallons)

15 gallons distilled water
1.5 g chalk (calcium carbonate) for 26 ppm HCO3–
3 g Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) for 5 ppm Mg2+
6 g gypsum (calcium sulfate)
3 g calcium chloride

And here's the article it came from:

http://beerandwinejournal.com/two-water-guides/

Good Luck
 
Definitely add some epsom salt. The sulfate accentuates hop flavor. I would also look into bru'n water some more. It looks scary to use at first, but its actually pretty easy to use.

Also, whats your dry hop method?
 
Water chem is important to hops.
however also have a look at yeast, and yeast health. just ensure you are pitching enough healthy yeast, always rehydrate dry yeast, and pitch multiple packets in most cases (especially for IPA's)

a a partial mash brewer, make sure your Og gets nice and low as well, as higher OG's can affect hop flavour, because of the left over sugars in the beer.
I know some people have issues with Extract getting low enough.
 
Definitely add some epsom salt. The sulfate accentuates hop flavor. I would also look into bru'n water some more. It looks scary to use at first, but its actually pretty easy to use.

Also, whats your dry hop method?

my drop hop method is I put the dry hops into a muslin sack for 5 to 7 days before bottling. When I remove the muslin, I squeeze it out. Then I transfer it to the bottling bucket. Never had any issues with clarity.
 
Water chem is important to hops.
however also have a look at yeast, and yeast health. just ensure you are pitching enough healthy yeast, always rehydrate dry yeast, and pitch multiple packets in most cases (especially for IPA's)

a a partial mash brewer, make sure your Og gets nice and low as well, as higher OG's can affect hop flavour, because of the left over sugars in the beer.
I know some people have issues with Extract getting low enough.

I usually use US-05
 
I havent brewed it yet. I usually pitch 1 packet. usually come close to FG and OG
 
Here’s a guide to making 15 gallons of brewing liquor for a hoppy pale ale (SRM = 8, but should work fine for anything in the 4–12 range), starting with distilled water.

IPA Water (15 gallons)

15 gallons distilled water
1.5 g chalk (calcium carbonate) for 26 ppm HCO3–
3 g Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) for 5 ppm Mg2+
6 g gypsum (calcium sulfate)
3 g calcium chloride

I know that these are not your numbers but that is a very low amount of gypsum(and salts in general) for an IPA. My calculator shows 80 ppm of sulfate.
 
Last edited:
Pale Ale, IPA or dIPA Water “From Scratch”

Here’s a guide to making 15 gallons of brewing liquor for a hoppy pale ale (SRM = 8, but should work fine for anything in the 4–12 range), starting with distilled water.

IPA Water (15 gallons)

15 gallons distilled water
1.5 g chalk (calcium carbonate) for 26 ppm HCO3–
3 g Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) for 5 ppm Mg2+
6 g gypsum (calcium sulfate)
3 g calcium chloride

And here's the article it came from:

http://beerandwinejournal.com/two-water-guides/

Good Luck

As said below, I know these arent your numbers but to OP I would avoid using calcium carbonate (chalk) as it does not dissolve in water and the acids in the mash will not break it down either. The only way to do that is with C)2 (from what Ive read). You're better off getting your calcium from CalciumChloride.

I know that these are not your numbers but that is a very low amount of gypsum(and salts in general) for an IPA. My calculator shows 80 ppm of sulfate.

I agree. Martin suggests up to 150ppm unless the beer is highly hopped (read IPA). I usually shoot for 150-250ppm sulfate in my IPA's
 
I havent brewed it yet. I usually pitch 1 packet. usually come close to FG and OG

If your over 1.060 pitch 2 packets, make sure you rehydrate, and aerate.
get yourself a nice healthy fermentation.
if your only pitching 1 packet in beers larger than that, your FG can be higher, due to a non finished fermentation. but more likely is off flavours, not always detectable, such as diacetyl, and acetylaldehyde.

which is i would say more important than your water..
 
I would avoid using calcium carbonate (chalk) as it does not dissolve in water and the acids in the mash will not break it down either. The only way to do that is with C)2 (from what Ive read). You're better off getting your calcium from CalciumChloride.

Thanks, I agree with your assertion of using Calcium Chloride in an IPA.
Calcium carbonate is however, recommended for use in dark beers to reduce mash PH. Water chemistry, and the ability to detect the difference it actually makes in the taste/perception of a beer is something I've been experimenting with, but don't really have enough information at this point to draw my own conclusions, so I'm just repeating what information is available. The point I was trying to make to the OP was that there is plenty of information out there on beer water chemistry.
 
thanks for all the tips. If you were me, brewing a partial mash with 100% distilled water, what would you add?
 
thanks for all the tips. If you were me, brewing a partial mash with 100% distilled water, what would you add?

When I first started into water chemistry I read something on homebrewersassociation association that said youre good with 1g/gallon of gypsum and I've found that to be true most of the time so I would start there. Then as you get better at it/more into water chemistry you can start branching out with other minerals
 
ive used a teaspoon per 5 gallon batch before and noticed a little more hoppiness but i know you can over due it.
 
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