Falconer's Flight IPA

[KC_Robertson]

I am attempting my first from scratch HB. I'm brewing an IPA solely using Hop Union's Falconer's Flight hops. For time purposes I'm making an extract brew. Here's the recipe:

6lbs Briess Golden LME
3.3lbs Briess Amber LME
8oz Carapils
8oz Crystal 40
1oz Falconer's @ 60'
1oz Falconer's @ 20'
1oz Falconer's @ 5'
1oz Falconer's dryhop in secondary
American Ale yeast from local brewery

Brew app calculations:
OG: 1.068
FG: 1.017
SRM: 10
IBU: 72
ABV: 6.7%

Please feel free to critique and give feedback. Thanks in advance!

 

[yso191]

You didn't mention what you target flavor description was so it is hard to very much of the recipe as I/we don't know where you are trying to go. But the only thing that seems not right to me is the dry hopping seems quite light. Usually a minimum is two oz., but most use 4.

 

[KC_Robertson]

Sorry about leaving out the target flavor, like I said, this is my first "from scratch" HB. I'm looking for a medium bodied American IPA. The Falconer's Flight 7 C's hop is a blend of the 7 C's. I'm looking for your typical west coast hop profile. If you need more info, let me know. Thanks for the dry hop suggestion!

 

[yso191]

Well, in terms of the hopping profile, it looks like a fairly average IPA in terms of the taste of bitterness, but seems a little light on flavor and aroma additions. Remember that hops contribute two very different things Alpha Acids which really just contribute bitterness, and Oils, which contribute flavor and aroma. Oils boil off very quickly and Alpha Acids isomerize very slowly. So if you're looking for bitterness go big on the 60 minute additions - this obviously decreases with time in the boil. If you're going for flavor and aroma, stack up the late hop additions. Also, First Wort hopping tends to give full isomerization, but with a smoother bitterness, which I like.

I am in the flavor and aroma camp, with just enough bitterness to avoid flabbiness. Here is the hopping schedule for a recent IPA I brewed:

0.75 oz Citra [14.10 %] - First Wort 20.0 min Hop 6 15.7 IBUs
1.25 oz Citra [14.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 18.8 IBUs
1.25 oz Citra [14.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 14.1 IBUs
1.25 oz Citra [14.10 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 11.8 IBUs
1.25 oz Citra [14.10 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 12 11.8 IBUs
2.00 oz Mosaic [12.70 %] - Aroma Steep 5.0 min Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
1.25 oz Citra [14.10 %] - Aroma Steep 5.0 min Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
0.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml] Yeast 15 -
4.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop

 

[46andbrew]

Falconers flight hop is a great hop very balanced. My buddy brewed an extra ipa with them and it was probably the best flavor ipa I've had

 

[DPBISME]

The Hop additions look a lot like one of my IPA's and if this calculation is correct from Tastybrews On-line recipe calculator then you have plenty of Hop... I will try to run your numbers through Beersmith tonight.

I used 10.5 as the IBUs for the hops.

Stats

• OG 1.056
• FG 1.014
• IBU 74
• ABV 5.4 %
• SRM 7

Specifics

• Boil Volume 6 gallons
• Batch Size 5 gallons
• Yeast 75% AA

Style Comparison
Low High
OG 1.050 1.056 1.075
FG 1.012 1.014 1.016
IBU 40 74 60+
SRM 8 7 14
ABV 5 5.4 7.8

 

[MagicSmoker]

...
1oz Falconer's @ 60'
1oz Falconer's @ 20'
1oz Falconer's @ 5'
1oz Falconer's dryhop in secondary
...

I used a similar hopping schedule on my 5th batch of beer, also a Falconer's Flight IPA (the 7C's blend):

1 oz 7C's [10%] @ 60 min.
1 oz 7C's [10%] @ 10 min.
1 oz 7C's [10%] @ 5 min.
1 oz 7C's [10%] @ flameout

Frankly, this wasn't nearly enough hops for an APA, much less an IPA. Bitterness, flavor and aroma were all weak. I'm not talking a little off, I'm talking WAY off. When I brew this again I am going to increase the bittering addition to 1.5oz, move the 10 minute addition up to 20 minutes and increase it to 3oz, and then change the 5 min and flameout additions to a whirlpool addition of another 3oz. after the wort has cooled down below 180F (what I believe is called "hopsbursting" or a "hopstand").

I'm not going to do any dry-hopping on the next version because the whirlpool addition is supposed to provide a decent amount of aroma, but if it doesn't then I will perhaps dryhop at the rate of 4oz/5gal. I know one thing for sure: 1oz/5gal. only muddies up the beer!