Heaven IPA (First timer!)

[cixelsyd]

My first attempt at an IPA, still in progress but primary is fairly well concluded! Very tasty so far, I can't wait to have the finished product!

Title: Heaven IPA

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.121
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.072
Final Gravity: 1.024
ABV (standard): 6.32%
IBU (tinseth): 58.26
SRM (morey): 10.5

FERMENTABLES:
9 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Light (81.8%)
1 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Amber (9.1%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 40L (9.1%)

HOPS:
1 oz - CTZ, Type: Pellet, AA: 17.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 35.26
1 oz - Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 12.09
0.25 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.8, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 3.41
0.25 oz - Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 2.32
0.25 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.8, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 2.2
0.25 oz - Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 1.5
0.25 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.8, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 0.88
0.25 oz - Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 0.6
0.5 oz - Perle, Type: Pellet, AA: 6, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
0.5 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.8, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp - irish moss, Time: 45 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
White Labs - English Ale Yeast WLP002
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 66.5%
Flocculation: Very High
Optimum Temp: 65 - 68 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)


Generated by Brewer's Friend - [url]http://www.brewersfriend.com/[/url]
Date: 2014-02-05 01:10 UTC 
Recipe Last Updated: 2014-02-05 01:09 UTC

 

[estricklin]

Congrats!

Nice choice of hop varieties by the way.

Check back in with us at drinking time.

 

[cixelsyd]

Will do! This is also the point at which I broke my first hydrometer, so I only have an estimate for OG, lol. I bought two to replace it, so hopefully the having an extra will prevent me from ever breaking another (because things never break if you have a backup! )

 

[kombat]

Looks interesting. I'd increase the dry hops, and next time make a starter for liquid yeast. If you direct-pitched one vial, with an O.G. of 1.072, you waaaaay underpitched. But it should still be fine. Only other issue I have is with the high expected finishing gravity, but I guess with extracts, that's to be expected. I'm anxious to read your tasting notes!

 

[Jayhem]

Definitely need a starter with liquid yeast, regardlenss of what the packaging says! It's not nearly enough yeast for a clean highly attenuated ferment which is desirable on an IPA style.

Also, 1 full lb of Crystal 60 is overkill. I'd use 8oz in a 5-6 gal batch.

Hops look good. More hops later in the boil and after the boil (whirlpool) is essential for good aroma and hop flavor. 2-3 oz in dry hop is standard on a big IPA. What is the total IBU's? I'd be shooting for 60-80 on this one and using no less than 6 ounces of total hops to achieve it, most late boil, whirlpool and dry hop.

 

[cixelsyd]

Looks interesting. I'd increase the dry hops, and next time make a starter for liquid yeast. If you direct-pitched one vial, with an O.G. of 1.072, you waaaaay underpitched. But it should still be fine. Only other issue I have is with the high expected finishing gravity, but I guess with extracts, that's to be expected. I'm anxious to read your tasting notes!

The expected FG was calculated by BrewersFriend, and is already wrong, when I racked to secondary I measured it at 1.020.

Anticipated IBU is 58. I was originally thinking I would dry hop longer, but doing some reading indicated that 3-4 days is optimal, so I pulled them and racked at 4.

I will look into making a starter next time! Any relevant links? I'm only just getting started with home brewing, but I am LOVING it. This is only my second batch of beer, though I've also started some hard cider (which has turned out AMAZING) and mead (which I will try this summer).

Also not sure if this changes your opinion, Jayhem, but it was crystal 40 not 60. I understand the different roasts behave differently. That said, it does taste quite malty still, I'm hoping that will tame a bit as it sits longer. I am looking to leave it at least another week or two.

 

[Jayhem]

1.020 is a poor FG for an IPA...it should be fairly dry 1.010-1.015. My guess is the lack of yeast numbers didn't allow it to fully attenuate the sugars like it should have. I would leave it in secondary no less than 2 more weeks and then check the FG number again. It needs to get down to at least 1.015 or you may end up with bottle bombs when you carbonate these! The problem is it's still fermenting just very slow because the yeast have petered out. It may just take longer to get the FG to drop lower. I've had beers take as long as 4 weeks to reach a stable FG number.

The color of the Crystal/Caramel malt doesn't matter all that much, all Caramel malt gives beer a malty/sweet body and most IPA recipes use very little of it or none at all. It's all about what you prefer. I like my IPA to have some body so I use 8oz/5 gal of beer.

 

[estricklin]

Will do! This is also the point at which I broke my first hydrometer, so I only have an estimate for OG, lol. I bought two to replace it, so hopefully the having an extra will prevent me from ever breaking another (because things never break if you have a backup! )

That rule seems to hold true to everything, except in the oilfields! I've broken at least 7 hydrometers by now, I just order one every time I order grain haha! I've never broke one the same way twice, I always say "oh I won't put it on the counter or use it as a punch ever again" and then some other stupid way it gets broke, like putting it in the dishwasher or forgetting it's in a dish filled with water.

 

[cixelsyd]

1.020 is a poor FG for an IPA...it should be fairly dry 1.010-1.015. My guess is the lack of yeast numbers didn't allow it to fully attenuate the sugars like it should have. I would leave it in secondary no less than 2 more weeks and then check the FG number again. It needs to get down to at least 1.015 or you may end up with bottle bombs when you carbonate these! The problem is it's still fermenting just very slow because the yeast have petered out. It may just take longer to get the FG to drop lower. I've had beers take as long as 4 weeks to reach a stable FG number.

The color of the Crystal/Caramel malt doesn't matter all that much, all Caramel malt gives beer a malty/sweet body and most IPA recipes use very little of it or none at all. It's all about what you prefer. I like my IPA to have some body so I use 8oz/5 gal of beer.

I will be patient and let it sit. Also sounds like what you're describing is the source of the hearty malt flavor, based on my tastings thus far I would agree with you and decrease the amount for next batch! I'm a noob and didn't realize that one vial of yeast wasn't "really" enough to get proper performance for a 5gal batch, I'm now very interested to see how things turn out with better yeast performance.

 

[cixelsyd]

That rule seems to hold true to everything, except in the oilfields! I've broken at least 7 hydrometers by now, I just order one every time I order grain haha! I've never broke one the same way twice, I always say "oh I won't put it on the counter or use it as a punch ever again" and then some other stupid way it gets broke, like putting it in the dishwasher or forgetting it's in a dish filled with water.

I still may get a refractometer for OG measurements, I like the "high tech" aspect of it. That way I should use the hydrometer less and theoretically have less chance of breaking it, too.

 

[cixelsyd]

Update, measured 1.018 today. Tastes great, but it turned out more like a red ale than a proper IPA, I know next time to use much less/none of the crystal malt, as that maltiness is WAY more body than I like in an IPA. The hops are present, but almost totally overwhelmed by the malt flavor. It's a damn fine ale, considering, just not what I was going for! It's also crystal clear, which was a big deal for me to accomplish, and the color is dead-on, a nice medium-dark amber.

I'm thinking next time I reduce the crystal malt to 4oz or so, pitch with a starter instead of a single vial (wish I had realized that was more of a necessity than a thing people did for incremental improvements! I guess the yeast manufacturers don't tell you that so you buy more vials!), and extend the amount and time for dry hops.

Any other suggestions from anyone? IPA is my favorite style, and is what my efforts will be focused on for the time being.

 

[Jayhem]

Sounds good to me.

I actually am drinking a malty amber IPA this month. I brew it like this on purpose, to have the body of an Amber Ale with the bitterness of an IPA and it's a fine drinking ale! I use 2-row, Munich, a bit of Cara-Red and Victory malts with 4-5 types of hops and big dry hop.

If you want more of a west coast style (dry/bitter IPA) I would do something like this:

90% base malts (2-row is normal)

3-5% Crystal 60 - 80

5-8% table sugar (this helps dry it out even more so the focus will be more on the hops).

Make sure you IBU/GU (bitterness/OG) ratio is >1:1 In other words if the OG was 1.065 you would want more than 65 IBU's total bitterness.

Use a 60 minute hop addition for about 50% of the bitterness and the rest of the hops in the last 15 min of boil, whirlpool and dry hop. I like to use 6-10 ounces of hops per 5 gallons for a west coast IPA even though I usually do east coast style or hopped up ambers.