thoughts on a nuts and bolts IPA

[Truble]

Recently racked this to secondary-not much to the recipe. So far so good. Nice aroma, nice taste. Curious to see what everyone thinks, as I have not used this combination of hops before- it was rather an impulse recipe/brew:

6# extra light DME
2# american 2 row
.75# light crystal
60 minutes@ 155*F/sparge to make 3G partial boil
5gal batch
hops:
1oz Nugget@60
1oz Nugget@45
1/4oz Cascade 1/4oz Challenger @30
1/4oz Cascade 1/4oz Challenger @22
1/4oz Cascade 1/4oz Challenger @14
1/4oz Cascade 1/4oz Challenger @6

1oz Cascade in Secondary

 

[HCNate]

I'm not overly familiar with a Nugget hop in an IPA. But, nothing wrong with that. Looks like you're going to get the classic NW style to your beer. I always like the Cascade as a dry hop.

I just recently concocted an IPA using mostly Cascades, East Kents and Challengers and Columbus hops. I dig the citrus-y thing. Quite frankly, I am terrified about how it is going to taste!

 

[david_42]

I've used Nugget in IPA's and it works. Most often I use Columbus, I like the bite.

 

[Spyk'd]

I've never brewed an IPA, but I am heading in that direction. Check me on this, but the recipe looks about 2lbs shy on the DME or about 2.5-3lbs short on the grain, assuming a mini mash.



Anyone?

 

[Walker]

Check me on this, but the recipe looks about 2lbs shy on the DME or about 2.5-3lbs short on the grain, assuming a mini mash.



Anyone?

The recipe looks fine to me. Are you suspecting that it will be too thin?

Style guidelines for IPA say the OG should be between 1.050 and 1.070 (quite a range there), and this one is going to be about 1.060 just from the extract alone. Probably in the 1.065 to 1.070 range with the grain's contribution.

-walker

 

[Brewsmith]

Looks good to me. Let us know how the flavor and aroma comes out.

 

[Truble]

not sure about the 2# short. I ran it through recipator, and it lands right in the low middle range for the style. You could definitely brew this with more and get more of a kick from it, but as most of the beers I have done have been higher alcohol brews, I wanted to pull it back a bit and make something a little lighter and lower, with some good citrusy hops. I get this organic whole cascade from an herb dealer that my wife uses, and it is great, and I wanted to make a brew that emphasized it.

 

[Dude]

Sorry, but when I read this topic I thought you were going to make a recipe that had the ingrdients for "nuts and bolts" in it (nuts and bolts is another name for home-made chex mix where I come from). It's funny because in my brew club, a guy made a KILLER IPA with chex mix cereal as an adjunct.

Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[Glibbidy]

I like your combo of Cascade and Challenger. I think these two hops work great in tandem as middle, and late addition hops.

Nothing beats dry hopping with Cascade!

 

[myersn024]

Your recipe looks like a SNPA clone that I brewed a few weeks ago minus the challenger hops. Should be tasty.

 

[Truble]

interesting. I have had SNPA, and I liked it, but did not have that in mind when I made this up. To be honest, the challenger was a decision that I made on the way to the brew shop. I knew that I wanted something in that AA range, and I was leaning toward challenger as I have used it before with good results. The Nugget and Cascade were definites as I like the potency of Nugget and the overall character of Cascade.

I am encouraged by the feedback, despite the simplicity of the recipe.

 

[Spyk'd]

not sure about the 2# short. I ran it through recipator, and it lands right in the low middle range for the style. You could definitely brew this with more and get more of a kick from it, but as most of the beers I have done have been higher alcohol brews, I wanted to pull it back a bit and make something a little lighter and lower, with some good citrusy hops. I get this organic whole cascade from an herb dealer that my wife uses, and it is great, and I wanted to make a brew that emphasized it.

Okay, my inkling was correct, this is on the low to mid range. I suppose I got stuck on the whole "IPA's have to kick your butt" bandwagon that seemed so prevalant for awhile. All of my research implied this as well, I'm only now getting into the 'nuts and bolts' of it all!


And yeah Walker, that's a hell of a range. I didn't realize it went to such a low gravity. More research...


I'm still getting my recipe together, thanks for the input!

 

[Brewpastor]

Sometimes simple is best. My last IIPA was simply 2-row and a little crystal, with a lot of hops but all of the same variety.

 

[Truble]

So, I am just about ready to go to AG, and will have everything all built out for this weekend. I have a batch of IPA that is going to bottle this weekend from the recipe that I started this thread with. My plan is to convert the recipe to AG so that I will have a comparision. Basically, I am going to sub the 6# of XL DME for 10# of 2 Row. My question is for the crystal. Should I bump it up a little to cover the change in color from extract to AG, or would you recommend going with the original .75# to do a complete 1 for 1 comparision?

My full version of promash should be available to me shortly, so I will be able to post my session particulars-I am only running on the trial right now.

thx in advance!

 

[magno]

I wouldnt worry about the color, and try for a one-to-one comparison.

Just my opinion though.

- magno