please critique my first ipa recipe

[Jeepinctbrewer]

http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/joes-ipa-1 just threw this together, wondering if some of you pros could give me some derection, i just ordered 4 oz of each hop chinook,cascade,and centennial i like the real hoppy piney ipa's this will be a 10 gallon batch. thanks!

 

[Matteo57]

One thought is I wouldn't dry hop for 14 days straight. 4-7 is what usually my goal is... Too long and you start getting vegetable flavors.

I have always loved Cascade and Centennial together also!

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

ya i should change that , i normally do 7 days also

 

[eltorrente]

If you want a piny flavor/aroma - you need to use Chinook at the end of the boil. Sub Chinook for the 5 min addition, or throw them in after the boil is turned off.

You only have 4 ounces of Chinook, otherwise I'd recommend both replacing the 5 minute addition with them, plus adding 2-4 ounces after the boil. Maybe you could just use Centennial to bitter, then split up the Chinook for the late/post boil additions to get some pine flavor.

It'll be good though - I'm just trying to help you get some more pine flavor out of what you have.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

hmm how about i throw in the other 2oz of chinook that i will have at flame out?

 

[eltorrente]

hmm how about i throw in the other 2oz of chinook that i will have at flame out?

Sound good to me..

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

grain bill and yeast look ok? thanks again

 

[eltorrente]

grain bill and yeast look ok? thanks again

Yup, grains look fine to me and that yeast is pretty good, too. I think it will come out tasting pretty good.

 

[stpug]

IMO, you have too much crystal malts in there. I would cut the crystals in half, and add a pound extra of base to make up for it. This way the beer will come across more dry which will allow the hops to really shine through. Too sweet and the hops will be subdued. You could even do a straight grainbill of base (96%) and some C40 (4%) to keep it really simple.

Your beer is going to finish at about 1.015 or lower so don't trust those numbers. You'll be sitting at about a 7%+ IPA.

Your IBUs are actually lower than you might want. Generally speaking, an assertively bitter IPA will have an IBU/SG ratio of 1.0 or higher.

If you want more pine then move your cascade to 15 and mix your centennial and chinook and split between 5 and FO. Some chinook in the dry hop will increase the foresty, dank aspect of the beer as well.

There are several little tweaks I would make but in the grand scheme of things, this will make a tasty IPA.

Edit: Oh yeah. On an IPA like this I would make your bittering addition a FWH addition. It'll bump your IBUs a little and give a less astringent bitter bite.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

ok made some changes see what you think .. thanks

 

[eltorrente]

ok made some changes see what you think .. thanks

You didn't really *need* to change the crystal addition. Before you had crystal 60 and crystal 10 or 20, and that isn't going to make your beer too sweet - with 2 lbs total for a 10 gallon batch. It's slightly more than I would use - but not really so bad.

I typically keep my crystal to 1/2 lb for a 5 gallon batch, and sometimes go to .75 or 1lb if I'm using light crystal. So, sometimes I use 1/2lb crystal 60 and a 1/4 lb crystal 20 - or maybe .75lbs crystal 40 or whatever. I also generally add carapils and make the carapils + crystal = 1 - 1.25lbs total for 5 gallons.

I think what you had before would have been fine and you didn't need to change it.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

ok thanks i changed it back to what i think i had before

 

[stpug]

Like eltorrente said, the beer is fine with either recipe. It's probably subtle differences however you go. I was just giving some suggestions and comments to help to really get those hops to shine. I would drink plenty of any this recipe in any of it's various combinations

I think this link gives some good advice on producing good west coast IPAs using some advice provided by Russian River's brewer Vinny Cilurzo:
http://finnhillbrewing.blogspot.com/2011/01/10-factors-to-making-better-hoppy-beers.html

Cheers and I wished I lived closer so I could swing by for a pint (or three) in a few weeks

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

I really look forward to brewing this, first recipe on my own. Got a good deal on the hops from nikobrew. I will go to my local homebrew shop for the grain and yeast. I am seeing you can go so many different ways with a recipe . I really thank full for all your guys help. Oh I just joined AHA also

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Like eltorrente said, the beer is fine with either recipe. It's probably subtle differences however you go. I was just giving some suggestions and comments to help to really get those hops to shine. I would drink plenty of any this recipe in any of it's various combinations I think this link gives some good advice on producing good west coast IPAs using some advice provided by Russian River's brewer Vinny Cilurzo: http://finnhillbrewing.blogspot.com/2011/01/10-factors-to-making-better-hoppy-beers.html Cheers and I wished I lived closer so I could swing by for a pint (or three) in a few weeks

I wish you could stop by for a few also!!

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Hmm nikobrew gave me free 2oz of CTZ hops I wonder if I should throw them I'm somewhere. Or dry hop half the batch with them

 

[stpug]

Those are great all-around hops in an IPA. Bitter, let, dry - it's all good and would go with your current selection perfectly.

Good job Niko!!