Recipe critique: Ft George Inspired IPA

[kcinpdx]

Hi all - I'm working on an IPA inspired by Ft. George in Astoria, OR. They brew wonderful beers and some of the best IPA's I've ever had. While this is not meant to be a clone, I am hoping to get into the ballpark. And if you've never had Ft. George, no worries. I'm up for any insight.



American IPA (21 A)

Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 12.50 gal

20 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 77%

4 lbs Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) 15%

1 lbs Crystal 15, 2-Row, (Great Western) (15.0 SRM) 4%

1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) 4%


2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min 33.2 IBUs

0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 4.6 IBUs

0.50 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Boil 20.0 min 5.6 IBUs

2.00 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Steep/Whirlpoo...Hop 14.2 IBUs

London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968)

3.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop

3.00 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Dry Hop

2.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0


Est Original Gravity: 1.062 SG Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.8 % Bitterness: 57.7 IBUs

Est Color: 4.7 SRM

 

[Pappers_]

That looks interesting. I've never used or had an IPA with flaked corn, I think - that is unusual and should be an interesting experiement.

Your hop schedule is also interesting. Did you consider moving some of your 20 minute and/or steep whirlpool hops to 15, 10 and 5 minutes?

 

[thehaze]

Definitely don't use 2 oz hops at 60 minutes. Try just 0.5 oz and add a bit more hops in the last 15 minutes of boil and whirlpool. Or better yet, if you want to bitter at 60 minutes, use a cheaper, high AA% hop, like Magnum, Polaris, Warrior, Bravo, etc.

Using more hops late in the boil and whirlpool will add more flavour to the beer and less bitterness.

I see your recipe includes 4% Crystal and 4% Vienna malt, which is a base malt. I would remove the Crystal malt and just go 8% Vienna or even more. Vienna, in higher amounts, will add colour and some malt presence in your beer. So the Crystal is not required and could interfere with the hops. You'll most probably get an even crisper, drier, better tasting IPA by skipping the Crystal malt altogether.

1968 is a great yeast choicet, but by no means as attenuative as American Ale yeast, so maybe mash low and/or add a bit of sugar, to dry it out.

The hops look great. Very fruit-forward, with a bit of floral twist from Centennial.

Cheers!

 

[kcinpdx]

I thought the corn was interesting as well and would not have considered it until I spoke with the brewer at ft George. After that I realized that what I perceived as hops was actually the corn flake lending some flavor.

What do you think moving the WP hops up in the schedule would do?

 

[Pappers_]

Generally, for hoppy American beers, I do 20, 15, 10, 5 and flameout hop additions, on the theory that the multiple additions will give more complexity and depth to the hop flavors. And because Jamil told me to ; )

 

[Desertbrewer]

I drank a good amount of Fort George beers last summer as my wife and I were in Portland for 3 months... great brewery. Did the brewer tell you they used the Fullers yeast strain for their normal IPAs? A lot of the ipa I drank in Oregon had more malt sweetness than what I’m accustomed to here in Southern California, and I enjoyed it.

I feel like that yeast will get you a lot of character compared to Chico... Hop choice seems tasty, schedule looks good to me, you don’t want it to be too ‘West Coast’ bitter from what I recall about their beers.

Report back with how it was!

 

[kcinpdx]

They used to use NW ale (1332) bit I’m fairly certain they moved to 1968 as the house strain. And that’s exactly what I’m going for: a slightly maltier IPA without loosing hop character. I’ll keep you posted.