APA beginner recipe - suggestions please!

[comrade_drkomir]

Hello,

I'm a beginner in brewing and I wonder what do you think about my recipe for APA? Do you have any suggestions, should I add something, should I remove something?

Should I change Citra with Centennial? Should I add Centennial hops at all?

Thank you!

 

[cswis86]

The only thing I'd change is to move the 30 minute Citra addition to later in the boil to preserve some of its flavor and aroma. Maybe throw it in at flameout with the Amarillo. Can't hurt to throw some Centennial in at flameout also if you have it!

 

[RM-MN]

Hello,

I'm a beginner in brewing and I wonder what do you think about my recipe for APA? Do you have any suggestions, should I add something, should I remove something?

Should I change Citra with Centennial? Should I add Centennial hops at all?

Thank you!

Since you say you are a beginner, what experience do you have with all grain brewing? Enough to be certain of the brewhouse efficiency?

I love Citra hops. I do not like Centennial. Your choice on the hops. I'm not so sure I would want to brew a 5 gallon batch, maybe cut it to half that, then brew it again half size with the other hop.

 

[comrade_drkomir]

So I'd just add magnum at 60min and then Citra with Amarillo and centennial at Flameout? What about hops in between at 30min for flavour? Amounts are ok?

 

[comrade_drkomir]

Since you say you are a beginner, what experience do you have with all grain brewing? Enough to be certain of the brewhouse efficiency?

I love Citra hops. I do not like Centennial. Your choice on the hops. I'm not so sure I would want to brew a 5 gallon batch, maybe cut it to half that, then brew it again half size with the other hop.

As I said I'm a rookie. I've brewed all grain batches 3 times until now. Efficiency is probably low, not sure about it.

 

[cswis86]

So I'd just add magnum at 60min and then Citra with Amarillo and centennial at Flameout? What about hops in between at 30min for flavour? Amounts are ok?

You'll get plenty of flavor and aroma from the flameout addition so I wouldn't worry about doing a 30min addition. After you cut off the burner cover the kettle and let them steep for 10-20 mins before chilling. When I brew pale ales I typically do a 60 min, 10 min, and flameout addition. I don't find the 30 min additions add much flavor compared to later additions. Amounts are fine and the grain bill looks great! You can up the Magnum amount a little to get your IBUs up but it's not necessary. You'll get bitterness from the flameout addition even though the IBU calculators don't account for additions at "0" min.

 

[Jag75]

Agreed , I dont do 30 min hops either . Save em for the end.

 

[kh54s10]

The earlier you put hops in the boil the more they contribute to bitterness and the less they contribute to flavor and aroma. I used to spread them out throughout the boil. Now it is a 60 minute charge for bittering and rarely anything before the 15 minute mark. Usually 10 or 5, then the rest at flameout or during a whirlpool (hopstand) at 170 degrees for 15 minutes. After that sometimes a dry hop addition.

 

[eric19312]

Not sure if your version of Beersmith has it but for APA and IPA and late additions I think it is good idea to let the software calculate IBU contribution from whirlpool additions.

In my version if you click on that little check box next to your equipment pull down you will find a group of settings called Hop Utilization and Whirlpool Options. In that area there is a little checkbox that says "Estimate Boil Hop Util in Whirlpool"
You want that checked. Else your flameout additions end up showing zero IBU and that can only happen if you have some monster chiller.

You can play around with your whirlpool additions based on how fast you chill from boiling to about 170. The longer the hops are in wort over 170 the more IBU they will contribute. You will likely find if you check that box and plan to let your flameout additions steep at 190F or so for 15 minutes they will be predicted to contribute quite a few IBU.

 

[mattdee1]

The recipe looks like it could be simpler while still achieving the same basic result, but it looks fine as it is.

And, since this is a forum where the whole point is to exchange ideas, I'll offer a possibly-controversial suggestion that I know many will not agree with and you're 99.9% guaranteed to ignore: don't even bother with dry hops until you've got a good cold-side process that eliminates (or at least drastically reduces) the exposure of your beer to oxygen.

Oxygen in the beer is bad for all types of late hop additions, but, in my experience anyway, it is particularly ruthless toward dry hops. It kills all the good attributes of the dry hops and leaves behind an unpleasant, harsh taste. And this happens almost immediately.

This point was really driven home for me through a few years' worth of 10gal batches split into 2 fermentors. I was always looking for ways of making the two beers different to get a bit of variety, and one trick I used at least a dozen times was to put dry hops into one fermentor and none in the other. Without exaggerating, every single time I did this, I strongly preferred the non-dry-hopped version. Every. Single. Time. The problem is definitely not that I don't like dry-hopped beers, as I actively seek out good commercial examples and enjoy them a lot.

tl;dr - Only when I started minimizing oxygen exposure (purged kegs, closed transfers) did I start to find it even worthwhile to dry hop beers. YMMV.

 

[comrade_drkomir]

The recipe looks like it could be simpler while still achieving the same basic result, but it looks fine as it is.

And, since this is a forum where the whole point is to exchange ideas, I'll offer a possibly-controversial suggestion that I know many will not agree with and you're 99.9% guaranteed to ignore: don't even bother with dry hops until you've got a good cold-side process that eliminates (or at least drastically reduces) the exposure of your beer to oxygen.

Oxygen in the beer is bad for all types of late hop additions, but, in my experience anyway, it is particularly ruthless toward dry hops. It kills all the good attributes of the dry hops and leaves behind an unpleasant, harsh taste. And this happens almost immediately.

This point was really driven home for me through a few years' worth of 10gal batches split into 2 fermentors. I was always looking for ways of making the two beers different to get a bit of variety, and one trick I used at least a dozen times was to put dry hops into one fermentor and none in the other. Without exaggerating, every single time I did this, I strongly preferred the non-dry-hopped version. Every. Single. Time. The problem is definitely not that I don't like dry-hopped beers, as I actively seek out good commercial examples and enjoy them a lot.

tl;dr - Only when I started minimizing oxygen exposure (purged kegs, closed transfers) did I start to find it even worthwhile to dry hop beers. YMMV.

What would you change in my recipe in order to be simpler but yet still achieving the same basic result? Any kind suggestion is more than welcome!

Otherwise, thank you all very much for your help!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

There's a LOT going on in the recipe (for a self proclaimed rookie). More is not always better. Take a look at the recipe section of HBT for a SMaSH APA.

 

[comrade_drkomir]

I will try my recipe nonetheless, and I'm gonna post the end results here!

Anyway, I would like to ask you for suggestions about another recipe, this time NEIPA:

What would you like to change, remove or add?

Thank you very much for the help and suggestions. Appreciate it a lot!

PS: I have no idea why BS shows zero bitterness. It should be more IMO.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Why 2 screenshots of the design?

Also, something is wrong with 0 IBUs! That's because, according to the screenshots all hops are added at 0 minutes (post boil) or dry hop!

 

[eric19312]

What about the water? What is your target profile?

seems like a lot of c20. Could cut that and just add more pils.

just a warning this style is exceptionally sensitive to oxidation. Having a good plan for limiting oxygen exposure on cold side is probably way more important than which hops you use. Even great hops taste nasty when the get oxidized.

 

[eric19312]

Why 2 screenshots of the design?

Also, something is wrong with 0 IBUs! That's because, according to the screenshots all hops are added at 0 minutes (post boil) or dry hop!

he didn’t follow my previous suggestion to get BeerSmith to estimate IBU from flameout additions. Doesn’t really matter it’s all theoretical and he’s got a nice crap ton of hops in there so prob going to get plenty of bitterness for the style.

 

[comrade_drkomir]

Why 2 screenshots of the design?

Because on the first screenshots you can't see all of the ingredients.

he didn’t follow my previous suggestion to get BeerSmith to estimate IBU from flameout additions.

I was trying to find it, but I couldn't. I'm quite of a big noob with Beer Smith. You said that I should check a little check box next to my equipment where I would find Hop Utilization and Whirlpool Options. I can't find it...

 

[BrewBuilder19]

There's a LOT going on in the recipe (for a self proclaimed rookie). More is not always better. Take a look at the recipe section of HBT for a SMaSH APA.

I brewed an APA a few months ago based on a recipe kit I found on Norther Brewer with:

1 oz Chinook 60 min
.5 oz Chinook 5 min
.5 oz Chinook Flamout

2 Oz Citra Dryhop

Fermented with Wyeast 1056 (Chico) and was in the primary for roughly 3 weeks. Pretty straightforward and simple but dam it turned out excellent. I do agree thought that I wouldn't do the Citra 30 min - the aroma of citra hops is what id want so add it later

 

[comrade_drkomir]

I brewed an APA a few months ago based on a recipe kit I found on Norther Brewer with:

1 oz Chinook 60 min
.5 oz Chinook 5 min
.5 oz Chinook Flamout

2 Oz Citra Dryhop

Fermented with Wyeast 1056 (Chico) and was in the primary for roughly 3 weeks. Pretty straightforward and simple but dam it turned out excellent. I do agree thought that I wouldn't do the Citra 30 min - the aroma of citra hops is what id want so add it later

Thanks for the recipe. For how long did you dryhoped it and which malts did you used?

 

[eric19312]

Because on the first screenshots you can't see all of the ingredients.



I was trying to find it, but I couldn't. I'm quite of a big noob with Beer Smith. You said that I should check a little check box next to my equipment where I would find Hop Utilization and Whirlpool Options. I can't find it...

I think you have older version of Beersmith. Hop utilization in whirlpool might have been added in version 3.

 

[eric19312]

actually it was in Beersmith 2 also:

 

[comrade_drkomir]

Hey guys. This is my result. Summer APA, from the recipe I've posted in my first post here. Actually beer turned out pretty good. Munich malt has done it's job - it has a nice copper colour to it. Foam has small bubbles and it's quite dense. Smell is pleasantly citrusy and has a hint of endelflower. I don't know exactly from where, maybe from Amarillo hops? It's not too bitter, just the way I wanted, but I kinda miss bitter aftertaste, but okay. It's a summer beer and it's very drinkable. Cheers!