Too many specialty malts in an IPA?

[DocFrye]

I am planning on cleaning out my freezer and brewing a grab bag IPA tomorrow. The grain bill is eccentric.

10 lbs Morris Otter (40.7%)
4 lbs Crystal 10 (16.3%)
2 lbs Munich (8.1%)
2 lbs Victory (8.1%)
2 lbs Vienna (8.1%)
2 lbs Cara Pils (8.1%)
1 lb Mild (4.1%)
1 lbs Biscuit (4.1%)
9.6 oz Corn Sugar (2.4%)

I will bitter with 2 oz Galena, and use Cascade for Aroma (1 oz at 15 min, 10 min, and 5 min.) Also, I will use 3 oz of Centennial at flame out and whirlpool.

I am using what I have on hand to clean out the freezer, but does anyone worry about using this many specialty malts in one recipe? Am I making a huge mistake?

I plan on mashing ar 149 to 150 for an hour to decrease the body and malt characteristics some.

Before I start, can anyone give me a good reason to abort this mission?

Thanks.

 

[opiate82]

I would tone down the crystal a lot, maybe 1lb tops. Also that seems like a lot of carapils to me, my last pale ale only used 8oz.

I personally like to keep my IPA grain bills as simple as possible to really let the hops shine through. As an example, Enjoy By, which I think is one of the best IPAs (okay, technically a DIPA) on the market right now uses American Pale (2-Row), English Pale and some corn sugar. That is it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Seems HEAVY on specialty malts in my novice opinion...I'm interested to hear the comments from the more experienced recipe smiths on the board...


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[Beernik]

4lbs of Crystal and 2lbs of Carapils are going to leave it really sweet on the finish.

 

[grathan]

I would drop the crystal malt as well. Otherwise I would love to hear how it turns out. I've been finding lately that the more specialty malts I use, the more interesting the beer turns out.

 

[DocFrye]

I do not have any other grains on hand. I could drop the Crystal completely (which actual suits me fine) and turn it into an American Pale Ale. Cut back on the hops... I really should just run to the HBS and pick up some 2-row.

 

[Cyclman]

The specialties will not allow the hops to shine, which IMO is the point of an IPA.

 

[NathPowe]

Yeah man, seems like way too many specialty malts IMHO. I usually shoot for 93 - 95% base malt for an IPA. You're at 40%, or 56% if you wanna count the munich and vienna. 24% crystal malt is... wow. That's a lot of crystal. Not saying your beer won't be good, but it's gonna be really malty/sweet for an IPA.

Just my two cents though. Cheers and enjoy the brew.

 

[LLBrewer]

I like a malty complex IPA but wow! Yeah, echo everyone elses opinion on the crystal/carapils. Id drop it down to 1 lb between both. Also not sure on the buscuit and victory malts. They are quite similar and usually not in that high % of the total mash.

 

[dcp27]

like everyone has said, way too much crystal, but victory & biscuit are very similar to each other and 3#s combined of that is almost as bad as the crystal overload. in general I would not go over 5% of either crystal or biscuit/victory in an IPA. personally, i'd just go with the MO, mild, vienna, munich & sugar

 

[TheCanisDirus]

This is tricky. I'm a fan of both bone dry and malty sweet IPAs. Both can be done well but yours looks a tad too heavy on the crystal. Id tone that down to 3-8% max IMO.

As far as mash temp goes... you can get away with this mashed high if you hop according. Lagunitas routinely mashes at 158-160... and they (arguably) make some of the tastiest hoppy ales around! It's all about balance. Watch that crystal and id personally suggest a push back on your hop schedule...

If you hop something like... 1oz FWH... 2-3oz 10min... 2-3oz 0-whirlpool... 3-4oz dry hop... you'll be able to match the residual sweetness you'll get from the specialty and extra base grains.

 

[solbes]

The Munich and Vienna would be good in there. 2 lbs of Victory will be a nut bomb IMO, 8 oz max would be my suggestion or delete all together and save for a nut brown. 2 lbs C10, 8 oz Carapils. Biscuit and mild, I have no opinions on those.

 

[tootal]

Basic rule of thumb is at least 70% base malt for all beers but big stouts and they can go 60% base. I tried making a 50% base malt stout and it really sucked! Good thing we had a friend to distill it for us!!

 

[DocFrye]

Thanks for all the comments, folks. I just decided to skip the brew day until I could pick up a lot more Marris Otter and Pale 2-Row. It allowed me to spend the day cleaning the garage and getting ready to build my fermentation chamber. Hopefully, I can finish the fermentation chamber this weekend and brew one of my favorite recipes on Wednesday.

I'm glad I didn't waste all that specialty malt.