Recipe Help

[Thedagem]

Ok, so this is the first time I've ever written a recipe. My friend and I are pretty broke and we really want to brew an 11 gallon batch this Sunday. We have a lot of stuff and figure we could whip up an IPA and get some of the inventory down. We have a pound of cascade 1 oz willamette and 1 oz chinook, but I was thinking about doing an all cascade IPA just so I can really learn the flavor of Cascade because I grow my own and next year plan to be using a lot of cascade because of it. We also have... About 10 pounds of 6 row. a pound of munich 10l and a pound of honey malt, and I believe we have some chocolate malt as well. And plenty of Marris Otter. I'll pitch on top of a US-05 yeast cake.

Here's what I wrote so far...

22 lbs Marris Otter
1lb honey malt
.8oz Crystal 60
.8oz Crystal 80

6 oz Cascade at 60
4 oz Cascade at 15
4 oz Cascade at 5
2 oz Cascade Dry hop

Mash at 154 for 90 min
90 minute boil

If this sounds ok I'm gonna give it a go, if it sounds terrible then let me know why and how to fix it. As Joe Dirt said... "I'm new I don't know what to do!"

Thanks guys!

 

[Calder]

Hey, it is your beer, not mine, so feel free to ignore my advice.

Ditch the Honey malt. I think that will screw up anything you want to gain from the cascade experiment. ...... and 1 lb is way too much anyway. I'd go with zero.

An 11 gallon batch is going to be about 1.060. I like dryer finishes, I would mash at 150/152. 154 seems a little high for an IPA.

For the hops, I think I would try to go 3 @ 15, 3 @ 8, and 3 @ 0 (with 30 minute steep).

Don't pitch on the whole cake. If the cake is from a 10 gallon batch, pitch on a quarter of it, if it is from a 5 gallon batch, pitch on half of it. Pitching on whole cakes reduces the amount of reproduction, leaving the 'old' yeast to complete fermentation. Reducing the amount pitched (to close to what is recommended) allows the yeast to reproduce giving lots of young yeast to the brew.

 

[JesperX]

I second ditching the honey malt. It could easily stand out in a bad way. I would drop the crystal 80 too if it were me. You could throw that Munich in instead of the honey if you were so inclined but using MO you certainly don't need it.

I would also take the mash temp to 152 and yea, pitching on a whole cake is mega overpitching.

 

[Thedagem]

Alright, so mash temp down to 152 and no honey malt. Calder, so you would not do a 60 minute hop addition? Sounds interesting. Why is that?

 

[Calder]

Alright, so mash temp down to 152 and no honey malt. Calder, so you would not do a 60 minute hop addition? Sounds interesting. Why is that?

Keep the 60 minute addition; you need to get the IBUs. I was suggesting adding a flame out addition would be good.

 

[Thedagem]

Good idea. Do you really think 1/2 lb 60 and 1/2 lb 80 is enough in the specialty grain department? I mean, with that little amount it seems that I may as well just do a SMASH.

 

[chickypad]

Good idea. Do you really think 1/2 lb 60 and 1/2 lb 80 is enough in the specialty grain department? I mean, with that little amount it seems that I may as well just do a SMASH.

That's the ratio I typically use for crystal/caramel in an IPA - not more than 5%. As was suggested you could throw in a pound or two of your munich if you want some more malt character.

 

[inhousebrew]

5% crystal should be about right. I'd toss the munich in if I had it just to clean up shop. It won't add much but it certainly won't hurt.