First stab at an IPA

[Immocles]

Hey folks,
I'm looking for a little input on a recipe for an IPA. I've never made one before, but a few friends have requested that I give it a shot. I've had luck with less bitter pale ales, but also battled oxidation on those brews. I believe my biggest culprit of the oxidation was my dry hop. Up until this brew, I have used a 6.5G bmb for fermenting 2.5g batches. When I dry hopped my 1G batches, I had less problems, but my first dry hop tries in the bmb at half capacity quickly lost their flavor and became sort of a brownish, cloudy mess of color. Even though I will be fermenting in my shiny new 3G Fermonster, I plan on avoiding the dry hop altogether (I know, I know, not traditional, but its my plan of attack). Am I waaay off base with my hop schedule? I was hoping to make up some of the dry hop aroma in flame out additions and some of my bitterness in constantly tossing hops at it the last 15minutes. I guess I'm worried that I'm being too heavy-handed, or completely not enough. I'm pretty thick skinned, so if this is a horrible plan of beer death, please let me know!


I'm trying to use up some hops that I know I won't get around to using again for a long time due to brewing preferences, pitching a jar of 001 slurry from a week ago, and also burning up the last bit of DME that I have on hand. I'm someone who likes to liquidate resources before purchasing more. I'm sure its a mental disorder, but thats how I roll.

 

[Coffeeturnal]

Looks pretty good to me! I personally love a bit of Munich in an IPA, but I often see people saying it doesn't belong so... Your call.

I'd be looking to get your IBUs up a bit for a 6.9% IPA. I think I'd shoot for around 55-60 IBUs, preferably from 5-10 min additions.

Will you be cooling immediately, or whirlpooling your flameout additions? An extended hot whirlpool can give significant bitterness in my experience.

Or just brew it as is. Probably will turn out tasty

 

[Immocles]

I still do my cooling in the kitchen sink without a chiller, without whirlpooling. My flameout additions generally go in after I switch out the first tub of cold water(which is still quite hot!). I’m banking on those adding more to ibu than what is actually being calculated in beersmith.

 

[Abrayton]

I still do my cooling in the kitchen sink without a chiller, without whirlpooling. My flameout additions generally go in after I switch out the first tub of cold water(which is still quite hot!). I’m banking on those adding more to ibu than what is actually being calculated in beersmith.

I still believe that an immersion chiller was the best purchase I’ve made, after a year of sink ice baths. Pull the trigger!

 

[Immocles]

It’s on the list. A friend of mine bought one from the getgo of our brewing start, but our kitchen sink has one of those shower head looking faucets, and will not connect. I know I can go a pump route, but it’s still just more gear. My wife does a ton of painting and various other messy artist stuff , so I’m slowly convincing her we need a nice washout sink in the basement for our hobbies.

 

[Beer-lord]

I would increase the hops a bit more for balance. That's not enough hops for an IPA in my opinion.

 

[Dgallo]

All depends on what kind of ipa you’re aimibg for.

Also your beer that the hops lost their punch and then became a brown cloudy mess oxidized on you. If you’re goibg to get into making IPAs look into low o2 pickup practices. Will save you from thinking your recipe was bad when it was just oxidation.

 

[Immocles]

All depends on what kind of ipa you’re aimibg for.

Also your beer that the hops lost their punch and then became a brown cloudy mess oxidized on you. If you’re goibg to get into making IPAs look into low o2 pickup practices. Will save you from thinking your recipe was bad when it was just oxidation.

Yeah I realize the oxidation from the past. This is more likely to be one of the very few ipa I brew, to be honest. It’s not a style I’m super fond of and I’m basically brewing this because it was requested. Hence the recipe/hop schedule questions. I’m less worried about it oxidizing this particular time since I’m fairly certain it’ll be drank in its entirety immediately. The pale ales that went bad, were very dynamite for the first 3-4 weeks of their existence. It was really just the last couple straggler bottles that fell off completely.

 

[Dgallo]

Yeah I realize the oxidation from the past. This is more likely to be one of the very few ipa I brew, to be honest. It’s not a style I’m super fond of and I’m basically brewing this because it was requested. Hence the recipe/hop schedule questions. I’m less worried about it oxidizing this particular time since I’m fairly certain it’ll be drank in its entirety immediately. The pale ales that went bad, were very dynamite for the first 3-4 weeks of their existence. It was really just the last couple straggler bottles that fell off completely.

Gotcha.

a good rule of thumb for an American ipa is a .75 ratio of ibu/GU. West coast 1.0-1.25 ratio and NEIPA
.5 ratio or less. Hope that helps

 

[Immocles]

Hmm, okay.
When in doubt, I always have another oz of cascade to throw at it. Or .25oz or so of a few other fruity hops.

 

[jfolks]

A ipa without dry hops is not an ipa (pale ale instead). Double your flameout additions, add 3 oz dry hops with yeast pitch to avoid o2 ingress via dry hopping)

 

[eulipion2]

Do you have a CO2 tank that you can flush the hops, and then the fermenter after adding the hops? A 5# tank might be worth the purchase, even if you're not planning to start kegging any time soon. That way you can flush your fermenters, bottles, secondaries, or anything else that might come in contact with finished beer.

Instead of a wort chiller you could look into "no-chill" brewing. There are several threads here, as well as on other forums and publications. I no-chilled for a few years with excellent results. Belgians were particularly nice, but I had good luck with pretty much everything I brewed.

 

[Immocles]

Do you have a CO2 tank that you can flush the hops, and then the fermenter after adding the hops? A 5# tank might be worth the purchase, even if you're not planning to start kegging any time soon. That way you can flush your fermenters, bottles, secondaries, or anything else that might come in contact with finished beer.

Instead of a wort chiller you could look into "no-chill" brewing. There are several threads here, as well as on other forums and publications. I no-chilled for a few years with excellent results. Belgians were particularly nice, but I had good luck with pretty much everything I brewed.

Nope, I do not have a tank. But that is a good idea. I do plan on getting my hands on a small cannonball keg, or a 2.5G at some point in the future. It won't happen for this brew, but I'll keep my eyes open and scour some of my hoarder friend's garages and sheds to see if I spot one. I haven't looked into the no chill methods too much at all. My current procedure is far from ideal, but it does work for me.

I think I will double both doses of cascade. Probably still won't dry hop. I think given the drinkers, I might be better erring on the side of less hops. Theres maybe two hopheads in the group, but I'm hoping to fall somewhere in between to appease the masses. I guess worst case scenario is that 8 of them drink half of a beer and switch back to keystone, and me and two other guys black out halfway through the football draft.....Again...

 

[Immocles]

Bout halfway through mashing this brew. I ended up dialing back the grain bill slightly, to keep the abv closer to 6%. I always seem to be slightly more efficient than planned, so I didn't wanna break into the mid 7%s by "accident". Gonna add the half ounce to each cascade addition as well. It seems like it'll be a bit more balanced with a few slight adjustments.

 

[Immocles]

Well, I’m sipping on the third bottle of this brew, and some mistakes were definitely made. I changed the recipe slightly, lowers the grain and upping the cascade additions. It’s not terrible, but not great. Can’t call it much of an ipa. I’ve managed carbonation with zero head. The only other time I’ve had that was when I used carb drops, but this was batch primed. I love the malt taste to it, but unfortunately it should be hop forward. I get just a whisper of citrus, but the bitter itself is pleasant. It’ll get drank, but disappointed nonetheless. At least the other brews I’m bringing to the party are fantastic. Or maybe I’m overly critical of myself. Guess I’ll find out Sunday!

Thanks for the input guys, next time I’ll dump hops in until I’m uncomfortable with the amount, and then shove a few more ounces in after that haha

 

[Immocles]

Resurrecting my own thread.

So I'm a few weeks out from it yet, but I want to give an IPA another try. Again, I'm not looking for a NEIPA or anything overly crazy hopped. Basically looking for a nice simple American IPA with a juuuust little extra. Any more experienced folks care to critique my hop schedule? I still have to brew the session pale ale that will give me the yeast for this one, so I'm definitely ahead of myself. The Citra and Cent hops are leftover and all that I will have on hand, but I again find myself with a bunch of cascade.

I've struggled mightily to get even a basic IPA, so I realize I'm at the lower end of what most folks consider an IPA. I'm just taking my pale ale recipe/schedule and beefing it up, hoping for similarly good results. I seem to struggle whenever I use hop combinations. The SMaSH ales I've brewed are damn good, but any time I think i'm getting creative, its just disappointing. I'm also open to scrapping the entire thing, buying more centennial, and finding a 2-hearted clone recipe off HBT. Any input, both good or bad, will be appreciated.

 

[Abrayton]

Here is a slightly modified Two Hearted clone that I really enjoyed.

 

[Abrayton]

That grain bill has become the base for all of my IPAs and really like it with no plans to change.

 

[Immocles]

I might have to jot that down, at the very least. That grain bill is pretty similar to what I use for my non-smash pale ales as well, only I use Munich (at less of a %) instead of Vienna. It's on the list to try to replicate at some point this year. Im hoping to use up some other hops before I order more though. I have a problem with liquidation.

 

[RCope]

So if I was going to make a West Coast IPA out of that hop bill I'd simplify a bit. But first, I'd change the grist...Decrease the honey to 2 oz (or cut it out completely), add 4 oz of white wheat malt or flakes (you mentioned no head), and leave out the DME. For the hops, it seems you have available: .35oz Warrior, .75oz Centennial, 1oz Citra, 2oz Cascade. I'd do .35 Warrior at 60, 1oz Cascade at 5 (with the Whirlfloc), 1oz Cascade for 15-20 min WP (at 185ish), 1oz of Citra and .75oz Centennial dry hop for 3 days. If you have no way to mitigate O2 during dry hop I'd do it near the end of fermentation and let it go for 5 days or so (stable FG). Cheers!

 

[Immocles]

So if I was going to make a West Coast IPA out of that hop bill I'd simplify a bit. But first, I'd change the grist...Decrease the honey to 2 oz (or cut it out completely), add 4 oz of white wheat malt or flakes (you mentioned no head), and leave out the DME. For the hops, it seems you have available: .35oz Warrior, .75oz Centennial, 1oz Citra, 2oz Cascade. I'd do .35 Warrior at 60, 1oz Cascade at 5 (with the Whirlfloc), 1oz Cascade for 15-20 min WP (at 185ish), 1oz of Citra and .75oz Centennial dry hop for 3 days. If you have no way to mitigate O2 during dry hop I'd do it near the end of fermentation and let it go for 5 days or so (stable FG). Cheers!

Yeah, that grain bill was the first edition that I brewed last summer. I've experimented and switched that up almost completely. Definitely simplified it quite a bit! Roughly 91% 2row, 5% Munich, 4% Crystal 40L

My question is more with the hop schedule at this point. I hadn't really thought about a whirlpool addition. I know its a small addition, but aren't those more characteristic of juicy IPA?

 

[RCope]

New School West Coast IPA . WP additions are just my go to way to add more hop flavor with less bitterness on the hot side, not exclusive to NEIPAs. But there are many ways to add hops. It seems you're not happy with your way so far, so just another data point...

 

[Immocles]

You do bring up a good point. I hadn't considered using cascade only as a kettle hop and leaving other two for the dry hop.

Hmmm...

 

[Immocles]

New School West Coast IPA . WP additions are just my go to way to add more hop flavor with less bitterness on the hot side, not exclusive to NEIPAs. But there are many ways to add hops. It seems you're not happy with your way so far, so just another data point...

I'm fairly certain that I will be going this route with the hop schedule. Not exactly sure when I will get this brewed, but it should be within the next 3-4 weeks now.
I do have a new question/opinion to ask though. I reuse my yeast cakes often, and will be bottling a pale ale early next week. I had planned on repitching the us05 that I used in that brew into the IPA, but I tossed in an oz sized dry hop into the pale ale. Looking at the fermenter tonight, I noticed that there is going to be a pretty good amount of hop material mixed with the yeast cake. I've never repitched yeast that had been dry hopped. Anything to worry about with this? I do have a fresh pack of us05 that I could pitch into the IPA instead of reusing, but I had sort of hoped to conserve as much as possible since it doesn't seem like I will be placing an ingredient order anytime soon. Anyone out there have an opinions on this?

 

[Abrayton]

An ounce DH is nothing to worry about, especially since you’re pitching an ipa onto it.

 

[Immocles]

Hmm, I guess I didn't consider that it would be going into an ipa anyway, ha

 

[Immocles]

Figured I may as well keep my own thread alive.

How long does it take for hops to settle and sink to the bottom of the fermenter? The few times I have dry hopped, they've been in gallon jugs (.25oz) and seemed settle by about the third day. I was hoping to bottle a pale ale tomorrow at some point and theres still quite a bit on the surface and some bubbling has restarted from the airlock. I didn't get a great look at the fermenter before I dry hopped, but when I moved the fermonster to my bench for bottling tomorrow, I noticed it is a lot cloudier than I would normally expect as well. Just ignore it all that and bottle as usual or should I let this sit until Wednesday/Thursday?

 

[Immocles]

Finally getting around to taking another shot at an ipa. Had some very positive success with a couple pale ales recently so I figure I might as well try and ride that wave.

Going with the following in a 3G batch
6.25lb 2 row
6oz munich
5oz 40L

60m Mash at 150F

.35oz warrior at 60
1oz cascade at 5
1oz cascade hopstand/steep 20m at 180F

Pitching a fresh pack of us05

Dry hop:
1oz Citra
.75oz centennial

Ive had really good luck and results with my new system, so im hoping this is a good improvement. And thinking simplifying the recipe will help as well.

 

[Immocles]

Update time.

@RCope Your recipe suggestion seems to be precisely what I was looking for. This is completely based on the bottle sample, but I liked the bitterness ( it could be a tad more, I think im just used to having more boil additions perhaps) but the flavor from the hops is right on where I was hoping. The aroma filled up my basement when I started bottling. So I'm very glad to have followed your advice with giving the hop steep/whirlpool at 180ish a try. It really, really seemed to get me where I want to be. Thank you! I will definitely be going this route more often in the future.

Now for the bad. I had planned on racking half into my 128oz ukeg and the remainder into bottles (usually 12-14 bottles). My growler was NOT cooperative. When I put the cartridge in, it punctured and hissed a bit louder than I had normally experienced, but it still seemed to hold pressure and purged normally. Then I started bottling and it began going a bit haywire and popped a bit inside. Blew a gasket and snapped a plastic piece on the bottom of the cap, rendering it useless. I ended up having to siphon from there to an additional 9 bottles with a somewhat clogged bottling wand. My honest first terrible bottling experience, but it happens. I'm hoping and praying that nothing *too* detrimental happened. I figure if I have to drink this case up quickly and early due to shortening its shelf life, worse things could happen.

 

[Immocles]

A week in the bottle, so a little early. It’s a solid beer, I appreciate all the help and input. Takes crisp, with a decent bitter (I’m upping that slightly next time) and citrus off the charts. I’m looking forward to making these a little more often now that I’m a bit more comfortable on the process. But for a style that isn’t a favorite of mine, I really enjoy it! Thanks again.