Farmhouse IPA help

[BaylessBrewer]

I'm looking to brew a Farmhouse IPA next using wyeast 3711 for the yeast and Citra, Mosaic and Galaxy for the hops. This will be a 5gal batch and I plan on purchasing 4oz of each hop.
What I don't have is a good idea of what to do for a base on this beer. I'm thinking:
Pilsner 75%
Vienna 10%
Wheat 10%
Medium Crystal 5%
Bitter to around 40 IBU and throw lots of hops in for a 1hr whirlpool @ 170* F and then Dry hop of course.
I've never brewed this type of beer before so a little help and guidance is needed.

 

[Pie_Man]

That sounds like a good grain bill for your farmhouse IPA. If you are going to use crystal, I would use C20 for an IPA.

Cheers!

 

[m00ps]

I would leave out the crystal. Im not a fan of crystal but even more so for saisons. Advice from bear flavored:
"Finally, for the love of god: keep your saisons dry. Stick to a simple, clean malt bill. Take any caramel malt you might find laying around your brewery out back, douse it in gasoline, light it on fire, dig a ditch, shovel the remains into the ditch, and fill the ditch with concrete. Then move somewhere else, because your property might now be haunted by caramel malt."

The hops sound good to me. The yeast selection will be key. 3711 is very well suited for a farmhouse IPA due to its absurdly high attenuation, full mouthfeel, and its lemony esters. Those should pair well with those hops.

I just made a farmhouse IPA with a bunch of apollo and some others. Going for pungent resiny funky dankness

 

[Jonkl]

Even for an IPA, I might bitter for less than 40 IBUs. 3711 is going to dry it out quite a bit, and the bitterness will come through a little more than you're expecting.

I'm not as anti-crystal-malt as some, but on this one, I tend to agree with keeping it out. I think a good Belgian Pilsner malt + Vienna should give you more than enough backbone for the hops and yeast.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

So the vote is to drop the Crystal. That's a easy one. I'll just add that % to the Vienna.
75% Pilsner
15% Vienna
10% Wheat
Now on to the hops. I was thinking of bittering with a small charge of Centennial to around 25-30 IBU and then hit it with 1-2 oz of each Citra,Mosaic& Galaxy at 170* and let them whirlpool for an hour. Then I plan on dry hopping with Mosaic & Galaxy with a small amount of Citra but most will be the Mosaic Galaxy. I want the yeast to compliment the hops or vice versa how ever you want to look at it so I'm thinking 1oz Mosaic, 1oz Galaxy and 1/2 oz Citra. Won't be a straight up hop bomb but I think at those rates it should pull out the juicy/fruity flavors.

 

[tennesseean_87]

3711 will dry the crap out of anything. I don't think you need to drop the crystal. I have used it in big stouts mashed high and it still went to 1.004.

 

[tagz]

I don't think 5% crystal in a hoppy saison is out of order. While 3711 does create a full mouthfeel it's still pretty dry and a bunch of hops will make it seem drier. I think you could go either way.

 

[Pie_Man]

I think the use of crystal somewhat depends on the end beer the OP is looking for.

I originally assumed it was an IPA with some Belgian yeast character. In which case I think a small amount of crystal is acceptable.

But, I guess if you are going for a farmhouse/saison-style beer, but with more hop flavor, then I would probably drop the crystal.

It could really go in either direction...

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I don't think 5% crystal in a hoppy saison is out of order. While 3711 does create a full mouthfeel it's still pretty dry and a bunch of hops will make it seem drier. I think you could go either way.

Well now I'm second guessing changing the original malt bill. Guess I'll hold off on brewing this for another week or two while I get it all sorted out.
Anyone have any input on hop selection and timing

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I think the use of crystal somewhat depends on the end beer the OP is looking for.

I originally assumed it was an IPA with some Belgian yeast character. In which case I think a small amount of crystal is acceptable.

But, I guess if you are going for a farmhouse/saison-style beer, but with more hop flavor, then I would probably drop the crystal.

It could really go in either direction...

I'm looking to play off the fruity/lemony flavor the yeast gives. If that helps any