How to get more caramel smell in IPAs? Boil intensity?

[luizffgarcia]

Hi guys, i am experimenting a lot with some IPA recipes i like and the one thing i still fail to achieve is the smell and taste of caramel i notice in some of my favorite IPAs such as Sculpin, Racer 5 and Alesmith.

I have already tried mashing at higher temps, last batches i tried 154.5f (68c) but had little difference in the body. Also my beers still look a bit too blond considering i am using some crystal in my recipes.

My question is, do you guys know any tricks to get that sweet caramel smell present in those beers that blends so well with the hops? I thought about something like:

- Do a more intense boil?
- Boil for 90 instead of 60 even if begin hopping at 60?

Not sure, its like my boil is not getting the caramel character out of the grains or something like that... My beers are finishing between FG 1013 to 1015.

Thanks for the help!

 

[JohnSand]

A harder, longer boil will help. Crystal malts too.
Search for clone recipes for your favorites.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[Kjay]

Use some crystal malt 40 or 60. I did a garbage can beer at the begining of the year using everything pretty much from my brew pantry to make a lawnmower variant I used a small amount of crystal 40 which gave the beer a more amber look & a caramel flavour.

 

[canehdianman]

Gambrinus' Honey Malt might add what you are looking for.

use is sparingly though. No more than 3-5% of the grain bill, or it will overpower.

 

[TallDan]

With a FG of 1.013-1.015 I'm guessing that your OG is around 1.060 making about 6.25% ABV. That's noticably lower than the commercial examples you mentioned which are in the 7-7.5% range (and likely finishing closer to 1.020). Sounds to me like you're brewing a mid-gravity American IPA and comparing it to commercial examples that border on Imperial IPA.

Personally, I'd leave your crystal malts, mash and boil all the same and bump up your base malt. Scale up the hops to match.

 

[luizffgarcia]

Thanks for the replies guys, i will try some of your advice