Crituque Dark Red Rye IPA

[jujitsudave]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could offer some feedback on this recipe I found:

http://www.craftedpours.com/homebre...pa-homebrew-recipe-with-heavy-tangerine-notes

Sounds interesting, but looks like a lot going on here. I think in the end what I'm looking for is a mandarin/citrusy red rye IPA. I did a quick search and found post with hop additions similar to this, and the author had some negative results. One comment they received was a critique on using Amarillo as a major bittering hop. Does anyone recommend a modified hop schedule? And does the grain bill look right? The use of mandarina bavaria sounds really interesting, does it really give a mandarin flavor? Thanks for the feedback!

 

[JordanKnudson]

I think it looks okay, with a few caveats.

1. It's using lots of hops in the boil, compared to relatively few hops post-boil. You might push some of those middle additions to the end, and up the dry hop.

2. Amarillo as a bittering hop is great, but I imagine if you read a critique of that somewhere, it was because bittering can be done with pretty much any hop (Magnum would be a great -- and cheaper -- sub in this case), and Amarillo has a lot to offer as a character hop, so that's probably where you'd want to use it rather than "wasting" it on bittering.

3. While the chocolate rye in the grain bill isn't sufficient to really add much flavor (it -- along with the special b -- seems to be there for color only), the crystal rye may present you with some issues. First off, 20 oz of crystal overall is going to be a lot (10oz C60, 8oz Crystal rye, and 2oz special B). You could knock out the crystal rye entirely and not run into any problems. Furthermore, crystal rye has a very distinct flavor that some people do not like. It has some licorice notes, and generally an imposing taste that -- if you aren't looking for it -- can really get in the way of a beer.

4. Mandarina Bavaria is a great hop. No complaints there. It's awesome.

If it were me, I'd do it like this (it will come out a little lighter, but you should still get a good color, though maybe not full red):

10 lbs 2-row
3 lbs rye malt (increased to add rye character in place of the crystal rye)
10 oz crystal 60
2 oz chocolate rye
2 oz special B

.75 oz Magnum @ 60 minutes
1.0 oz Amarillo @ 15 minutes
1.0 oz Mandarina Bavaria @ 15 minutes
1.0 oz Amarillo @ flameout/hopstand
1.0 oz Mandarina Bavaria @ flameout/hopstand
2.0 oz Amarillo @ dry hop
2.0 oz Mandarina Bavaria @ dry hop

Ferment with wlp001/wy1056/us-05