English IPA recipe (BIAB)

[dstockwell]

So I got the hops direct sale and have a pound of Pilgrim. so what you think of this recipe. I did not show a dry hop since EIPA's aren't traditionally dry hoped.

Recipe Type: All Grain BIAB
Yeast: S-04
Batch Size (Gallons): 3.25
Original Gravity: 1.069
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 48
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 11.5 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 Days at 64 degrees

Grain Bill
8 lbs. Pale Ale
8 oz. Crystal 60
8 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat

Mash
BIAB Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees.

Boil & Hops
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 15 min.
2 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 0 min.

 

[IanCompetent]

The base looks great but you may want to consider subbing out the C60 for Melanoidin or Honey Malt. You'll get a cleaner profile and won't have any caramel flavours getting in the way of the natural lemon tones you'll get from the Pilgrims.

I'd also consider a lower SG and FG and mashing at a lower temp (140-148 F). English IPA generally has a pretty dry finish.

On my travels through England, a few brewers told me that they generally try to stick to FGs between 1.008 and 1.012. A lot also told me that they keep all non-base grains and adjuncts totalling under 10% of the total grist. S-04 attenuates fairly well but Nottingham is cleaner if you don't want a lot of esters.

Just my opinion, of course. Post the results and good luck!!

 

[hanuswalrus]

I like the 8 oz Victory. For the Crystal, I would recommend using an English crystal malt, like Simpsons Caramalt, or Thomas Fawcett medium/dark crystal. I find them to be higher quality than Briess.

I love melanoidin malt, but I would never use 8 oz in a 3.25 gal batch. I tend to limit that malt to about 2-3% of the total grist. That's just me, though.

What pale ale malt are you thinking for the base? Maris otter would be my go to for an english pale.

 

[eluterio]

I agree with Ian on the yeast selection.

 

[dstockwell]

OK, so changed it up some. Still having a problem in Brewers Friend getting the FG: below 1.015 using Nottingham right now showing 6.5% ABV based on 70% efficiency.

Grain Bill
7 lbs. Maris Otter
6 oz. Honey Malt
6 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat

Mash
BIAB Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 144 degrees.

Boil & Hops
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 45 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 15 min.
2 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 0 min.

IBU's: 47

SRM: 9.2

 

[IanCompetent]

That looks pretty good. The biscuit will help limit the sweetness of the honey malt.

I'm a bit of a stickler on the low mash temps. 144 is my preferred temperature for most styles, especially Pale Ales and Bitters. The beer attenuates better and finishes more crisp and dry. I know that it doesn't suit everybody's tastes, but somebody suggested it to me and I've never gone back.

Look forward to the end results.

 

[IanCompetent]

I agree with Ian on the yeast selection.

Yeah, I just don't like S-04 in a pale beer. It's fine for a stout or porter. Nottingham is a nice yeast but I wish somebody would make London ESB and Irish Ale in dry form. They were my go-to yeasts but the Wyeast packs crapped out on me too much.

 

[JKaranka]

You should dry hop, most IPAs here are dry hopped except the ones that are like light bitters (e.g. GK IPA, Brains IPA, and other ones ~3.5%). Many bitters are dry hopped too, so I assume this is some American thing not dry hopping British style beers?

 

[dstockwell]

Yea not a standard practice to dry hop English IPA.

 

[JKaranka]

I'd say they were all dry hopped until the 1950s/1960s, then the proportioned of dry hopped IPAs fell, and now most of them are dry hopped again. Same with bitters (there is a blurry line between them) which all used to be dry hopped and many still are.

Dry hopping, aging, use of brewing sugars, high alcohol content and balancing bitterness with malts are the traditional features of British brewing. All those still exist, but some in isolation (e.g., dark milds still use brewing sugars but aren't high alcohol anymore; old ales are aged and high in alcohol but not dry hopped, IPAs are still dry hopped but not aged as they used to be, etc.).

 

[Calder]

Still having a problem in Brewers Friend getting the FG: below 1.015 using Nottingham right now showing 6.5% ABV based on 70% efficiency.

Grain Bill
7 lbs. Maris Otter
6 oz. Honey Malt
6 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat

Mash
BIAB Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 144 degrees.

Boil & Hops
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 45 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 15 min.
2 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 0 min.

IBU's: 47

SRM: 9.2

At that level, the Honey Malt is going to be the dominant flavor. I don't like Honey Malt, and that would be undrinkable to me. Cut it by half and it might work. Personally I'd drop it all together, and not replace it with anything. The MO should provide plenty of malt flavor.

144 F seems really low to mash at. I suspect you might risk not getting full conversion at that temp if you don't leave it long enough. I think you will get a plenty fermentable wort if you mash around 148/150 F, and will get more malt flavor.

Brewers Friend (like most/all programs) is pretty dumb when it comes to predicting FG, and shouldn't be relied on. All it is doing is applying the 'set' attenuation for the yeast to the OG, and really doesn't account for fermentability of the wort. As an experiment, replace all the MO in your recipe with cane sugar to get the same OG, and it will probably give you the same FG even though cane sugar is 100% fermentable.

 

[dstockwell]

OK, so changed it up some more.

Grain Bill
7.5 lbs. Maris Otter
6 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat
2 oz. Crystal 120 (for color)

Mash
BIAB Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 150 degrees.

Boil & Hops
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 45 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 15 min.
2 oz. Pilgrim 11% dryhop

IBU's: 46

SRM: 10.2

 

[eluterio]

OK, so changed it up some more.

Grain Bill
7.5 lbs. Maris Otter
6 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat
2 oz. Crystal 120 (for color)

Mash
BIAB Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 150 degrees.

Boil & Hops
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 45 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 11% @ 15 min.
2 oz. Pilgrim 11% dryhop

IBU's: 46

SRM: 10.2

I always love a simple beer. Its a good starting point here.

 

[JKaranka]

I always love a simple beer. Its a good starting point here.

Yeah, I'd drop the crystal colour addition. Quite a few EIPAs close to 100% MO or similar.

 

[eluterio]

Yeah, I'd drop the crystal colour addition. Quite a few EIPAs close to 100% MO or similar.

On my IPA's I stop using Crystal malts period. I love the simplicity of a malt back bone with tons of hop character.

 

[dstockwell]

Finally brewed this today slightly changed grain bill.

Grain Bill
5 lbs. Maris Otter
3 lbs Fawcett Optic
6 oz. Victory
4 oz. Torrified Wheat
2 oz. Crystal 120

.5 oz. Pilgrim 9.1% @ 60 min.
.5 oz. Pilgrim 9.1% @ 10 min.
1.5 oz. Pilgrim 9.1% dryhop

Mashed @ 148 and after 75 min left overnight. I think I will continue to overnight mash.

OG 1.070

 

[JKaranka]

Sounds good!

 

[IanCompetent]

The grain bill looks nice. A half oz. of Blackprinz is really nice for colour. I've used it with my last few bitters to good effect if you want to save your C120. Good choice of mash temp; under 150 is the way to go for English beers. Gives a brown/burnt-orange hue with no residual flavours at all.

I agree with JKaranka and eluterio; I'll use Carastan for a Burton Ale but for all other IPA's, I'll nix the C malts. I like fruity/citrus-y IPA's and the addition of caramel flavours is unappealing to me.

Let us know how the Pilgrim hops turned out. I have gotten conflicting reports on their character and would like to hear about them first-hand from somebody that used them.

Just curious - what are the advantages of an overnight mash?? Thanks!!

 

[JKaranka]

Just curious - what are the advantages of an overnight mash?? Thanks!!

Mainly convenience. I've not done one for quite a while, but I find it makes a much shorter brew day. If I do all in one day it's a good six hours, but by grinding the malts and getting the mash ready the night before it's cut down by over two hours. It also gets good attenuation, though.

 

[harrydrez]

I did not show a dry hop since EIPA's aren't traditionally dry hoped.

Not really sure where you're getting that from. Don't forget that these beers are shipped across the ocean and then they sit on a shelf under florescent lights for who knows how long. That degrades hop character and oxidized malt can pick up a sweet taste.

 

[JKaranka]

Not really sure where you're getting that from. Don't forget that these beers are shipped across the ocean and then they sit on a shelf under florescent lights for who knows how long. That degrades hop character and oxidized malt can pick up a sweet taste.

Yeah, even things like Fuller's London Pride have a nice dry hop character over here. Maybe you should try to get cans? On the same token, I was quite disappointed by Stone's Ruination being quite malty and just moderately hoppy!

 

[dstockwell]

Mainly convenience. I've not done one for quite a while, but I find it makes a much shorter brew day. If I do all in one day it's a good six hours, but by grinding the malts and getting the mash ready the night before it's cut down by over two hours. It also gets good attenuation, though.

Yep, worked out very well...

 

[dstockwell]

Not really sure where you're getting that from. Don't forget that these beers are shipped across the ocean and then they sit on a shelf under florescent lights for who knows how long. That degrades hop character and oxidized malt can pick up a sweet taste.

I know it was somewhere i read, but can't find it so not going to worry about it. To much to read not enough time.. I will though dry hop.

 

[dstockwell]

I think from searching the internet (not enough info) I'm going to back down on the dry hop to maybe .75. If it's not enough I have plenty of Pilgrim for a second try. Guess I'll decide once primary is finished.

 

[alhounos]

Keep in mind that European and English hops are much more subtle than new-world hops. You'd barely notice that that much dry hop, even in a 3 gallon batch. It might be nice for an ordinary bitter, but a bit more would be nice in an IPA, IMO. All comes down to personal taste though, have fun.

 

[dstockwell]

So I decided to dry hop with one ounce. This recipe I will definitely work on improving. After 5 days in the bottle had to try it.

Now not sure I am qualified to try and have tasting notes, but will give it a shot.

Aroma - very little lemon, needs more dry hop
Taste - Slight spice, rounded bitterness

A little more 10 min addition, and additional dry hop, hops are very subtle. But with very little information on Pilgrim hops I think this is a good brew and can be made better.