IPA hop schedule and steeped grains help

[emory]

I working on my first recipe to brew as my third batch. I am trying to make an IPA with a huge grapefruit/citrus flavor. I am looking for lots of hop aroma basically. Here is what I have right now. I think it is probably overly complex so let me know.

Briess Pilsen Extra Light Liquid Extract 6 lbs, 0 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 10 1 lbs, 0 oz
Briess Victory 0 lbs, 8 oz
Cascade Pellets 2 oz @ 60 mins
Amarillo Pellets .5 oz @ 30 mins
Cascade Pellets .5 oz @ 30 mins
Cascade Pellets .5 oz @ 15 mins
Amarillo Pellets .5 oz @ 15 mins
Cascade Pellets .5 oz @ 5 mins
Amarillo Pellets .5 oz @ 5 mins
Cascade Pellets .5 oz @ 1 mins
Amarillo Pellets .5 oz @ 1 mins
Amarillo Pellets 2 oz @ Dry
Cascade Pellets 2 oz @ Dry
White Labs California Ale
60IBU
1.053 SG
5.78 SRM


Should I change the malt around a bit or use different steeped grains? The total hops come out to 10oz, all pellet. Should I move those into more hops at later additions and simplify or does doing a spread out schedule even out flavors more? Less dry hop? I am wondering if I should add an extra pound of extract or more grain to kick up the SG a bit for balance. Thanks for any help!

 

[dcp27]

I'd move the 30min adds to within the final 15mins, it won't add too much to your flavor/aroma where it is. Maybe throw in a lb of munich or vienna to give it a lil more malt backbone?

 

[emory]

Ok, I'll move the 30 minutes up to 5 minutes. Can you steep Vienna or Munich or would I have to do a partial mash for those?

 

[Rick500]

Look up the All Amarillo IPA in the recipes section, it's a big grapefruit bomb. It's awesome.

Add an ounce of amarillo as a dry hop.

 

[dcp27]

They need to be mashed, but they can convert themselves. Victory also needs to be mashed too.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart

 

[emory]

That chart is great! I'll look up partial mashing some more tonight and figure out if I want to try that for this go around.

Rick, the all amarillo IPA uses a lot less hops then what I was thinking. Will my amount be way overboard? I have not made a pale ale or IPA yet and am still unsure about hop amounts. I looked at other recipes and it seems to vary greatly. It seems that one uses the higher alpha acid amarillo as its 60 minute which balances the IBUs out with mine. I was also looking at this Amarillo Pale Ale which uses larger hop additions and no 60 minute to get about the same effect. I am thinking I will buy a pound of amarillo and cascade and brew this in a few different ways to save money rather then buying by the oz from the LHBS.

 

[emory]

Did some thinking over the week and decided that I am going to go with partial mash so I picked up another pot.

Now thinking this for a 5 gallon batch:
lb oz
35% 4 0 British Pale (Maris Otter)
26% 3 0 Rye Malt
17% 2 0 Briess Pilsen Light DME to hit OG
9% 1 0 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
9% 1 0 Vienna Malt
4% 0 8 Cara-Pils/Dextrine

All Amarillo,
1 oz at 60 min
2 oz at 15
2 oz at 5
4 oz at 1
3 oz drop hop.

1.061 OG, 1.017 est FG, 71 IBU, 7 SRM, cal ale V yeast

I really want to get close to a bear republic beer I had, Ryevalry, which was strong grapefruit, bit of rye bite, and a nice residual sweetness. I want the vienna for a bit of character, the crystal for a bit of sweetness.

any thoughts?

 

[remilard]

Looks good. What is your lautering mechanism? A mesh bag? I think you will be fine with a mesh bag but if you have a more traditional lautering mechanism a handful of rice hulls wouldn't hurt with the rye.

I used to do a lot of hoppy beers with citrusy hops only, so I won't try to talk you out of all amarillo, but another option would be to include a lot of simcoe and/or columbus at 0 and dry.

 

[midfielder5]

9.5 # of grain for a partial mash. . Am I reading that right? How are you draining the grain from the wort? A mesh bag will be heavy (but I'm not strong).
I'd hardly call it a PM

anyways there are cheap cooler conversions on here that you could do for AG. You are basically there. I know that was not your question. It looks good except that 3oz of dry hopping one hop type is too much IMO. You can get the same aroma from 1or 2 oz. But it is your $.
Good luck!

 

[emory]

I was wondering about that. I was planing doing it in a bag, but I might look into a mash tun conversion. If I dont go that route I should be able to use a bit less of the marris otter as the rye and vienna can self convert right? Probably no reason not to go all grain at this point

I can move to 2 oz of dry hop. I bought a pound of amarillo bulk so the per oz price is only about a buck so I'm not worried either way. Thanks for the help!

 

[dcp27]

I've done a few 9+ lb mashes in a bag and if you go that route I recommend getting a large stainless steel strainer that can fit across your kettle so you don't need to hold the bag the whole time while draining. I found one at the hardware store for around $10 and it made it much easier.

 

[midfielder5]

A strainer is a good idea as mentioned above. It will have multiple purposes-- I use one to keep hops out of the fermenter when I aerate), but I recommend you spend the $$ and go AG as you seem so inclined. People here do stove-top AG, too.

it just really depends how much room you have to store stuff and how much $ you can spend on the hobby.

You might want try this one recipe, and see how it works. BTW, that mesh bag will be ~25 pounds as it drains [9.5 of grains plus 1.9 gallons of absorbed water].
my two cents.

good luck!

 

[emory]

I think all grain is the eventual destination, so why not start now! I just looked up the cooler mash tun conversion and it does not look too hard. I'll start scouting for parts now. I'll read up a bit more on all grain and make sure that my set up can handle it. I have not yet tried a full boil on my apartment stove so that may be an issue. I'll give that a try tonight and perhaps try some insulation of the stove can not handle it.