IPA with complex grains bill

[mambro]

Mash at 61C (142F) for 1 hour

6Kg Maris Otter [75%]
1Kg Munich [13%]
0.15kg Caramunich 1 [2%]
0.25kg Belgian Biscuit Malt [3%]
0.25kg German wheat [3%]
0.25kg Oat flakes [3%]

60 min Magnum 20g
30 min Simcoe 20g
15 min Simcoe 20g
0 min Topaz 15g
dry hop Topaz 30g
dry hop Simcoe 30g

Safeale-05 pitch at 14C (57F) - Fermentation at 14C (57F)

Boil volume 31L, after boiling (90 mins) 25L

Expected OG: 1.059
Expected FG: 1.012
Expected ABV 6.2%
Expected IBU: 60IBU

Questions:
1) Wheat and oak flakes: does it make sense in a in IPA in that quantity?
2) Would I notice the grain bill mashing at 61C or at that temperature I should just not care too much about special grains?
3) Is topaz and simoce too resinous for a malty IPA? If I use topaz as a flavour hop (30-15 mins) would I get something tropical similar to mosaic?

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

With that grain bill I'm not sure it would qualify as an IPA but as long as you don't plan to enter it in any competitions, who cares. Half the fun of brewing is experimenting to find what you like. Your mash temp may be a bit low to get full conversion. You might want to try 148F and maybe even add 15 or 30 min to your mash time.

For the hops, if you want something with a little resin but not too much, Mosaic would be a good option. I haven't used Topaz so I don't know about that. For your 0 min Topaz, I would suggest a 30 min hop stand at 170F. I did some oats in a DIPA to get a creamier mouthfeel and it worked great. I did about 5%.

 

[maddcow]

Ive done kitchen sink type beers when I am trying to get rid of ingredients. Including an APA that was 20% wheat and 20% oats. I wouldn't worry too much about your 3% additions. It should help head retention but thats it. I would mash a little higher, maybe 65-66 C. IDK 61 seems a little too low. As far as the Topaz, Im not sure. Never used it.

 

[mambro]

With that grain bill I'm not sure it would qualify as an IPA but as long as you don't plan to enter it in any competitions, who cares. Half the fun of brewing is experimenting to find what you like.

Totally agree

Your mash temp may be a bit low to get full conversion. You might want to try 148F and maybe even add 15 or 30 min to your mash time.

Interesting. I actually read somewhere 60mins is a quite conservative amount and that actually mash can be much shorter (20-30mins) for most of the grains. Is that not true?

For the hops, if you want something with a little resin but not too much, Mosaic would be a good option. I haven't used Topaz so I don't know about that. For your 0 min Topaz, I would suggest a 30 min hop stand at 170F. I did some oats in a DIPA to get a creamier mouthfeel and it worked great. I did about 5%.

Thanks I didn't know about hop standing. Looks promising.
I actually always do that indirectly since, not having a wort chiller, I leave the kettle outside (around 0C --> 32F) with the lid on for around 2 hours with the hops in before filtering them out and transferring everything to the fermenter. The lid probably doesn't allow the oils to evaporate since previous IPA I brewed turned out with quite an hoppy aroma. [or maybe that was mainly because of the dryhopping :\].

Anyway this time, after around 1 hour, when the temperature had dropped to 170F (77C) I added what was supposed to be the 0min Topaz. and left it there for 45 minutes. Looking forward to see how it will turn out, it's supposed to strengthen the hop flavour.

I would mash a little higher, maybe 65-66 C. IDK 61 seems a little too low. As far as the Topaz, Im not sure. Never used it.

Thanks, you saved my beer I remembered from "Radical Brewing" the "lower bound" for mashing to be 60C but I was wrong it's actually 63C I eventually mashed at around 64-65C

 

[TimBrewz]

Questions:
1) Wheat and oak flakes: does it make sense in a in IPA in that quantity?
These only make sense if you have the goal of increasing the creaminess of the mouthfeel

2) Would I notice the grain bill mashing at 61C or at that temperature I should just not care too much about special grains?
61c is too low of a mash temp. You would need to mash for at least 90 minutes and you would have a very thin beer. I would mash at a more normal 65-67 C for a medium body. Your specialty grains are not if high enough proportions to require a lower mash temp to offset their body building attributes.

3) Is topaz and simoce too resinous for a malty IPA? If I use topaz as a flavour hop (30-15 mins) would I get something tropical similar to mosaic?

I have not used Topaz, but I have used Simcoe extensively. I see Topaz described as : Resinous, grassy tones with light tropical flavors Simcoe is full of pine and some citrus notes. I think you could get a tropical fruit aroma from these in combination. My recommendation would be to add more hops in the last minutes of the boil(maybe get rid of the 30 minute addition?), and to use some Simcoe at the end of the boil with the Topaz. This will give you a bigger hop aroma that is somewhat different from the aroma of dry hopping.

Cheers,
Tim