Union Jack-esque IIPA

[cpa4ny]

Dear all,

I put together a recipe inspired by FW's Union Jack (it's not meant to be a clone).

I'd be delighted to hear from you what you think about the recipe in general and the hop addition sequencing in particular.

Many thanks and cheers!


1.076 OG
1.018 FG
70 IBU
7.6% ABV
9 SRM
0.93 IBU/OG

Fermentable Amount Use PPG Color
Pale Ale (DE) 5.2 kg 83% Mash 39 2 °L
Munich Dark (DE) 0.4 kg 6% Mash 37 15 °L
CaraMunich II (DE) 0.3 kg 4% Mash 34 46 °L
Sucrose (Table Sugar) 0.2 kg 3% Late Boil 46 0 °L
Bairds British Amber 0.1 kg 1% Mash 30 60 °L
Hops Boil time: 60 min

Hop Amount Time Use Form AA
Columbus (US) 28.0 g 60 min Boil Pellet 15.0%
Centennial (US) 28.0 g 20 min Boil Pellet 10.5%
Mosaic (US) 28.0 g 10 min Boil Pellet 12.5%
Simcoe (US) 28.0 g 5 days Dry Hop Pellet 13.0%
Chinook (US) 28.0 g 5 days Dry Hop Pellet 12.0%
Cascade (US) 28.0 g 3 days Dry Hop Pellet 7.0%
Citra (US) 28.0 g 3 days Dry Hop Pellet 13.7%

Yeasts
Name Lab/Product Average Attenuation
British Ale Wyeast 1098 76.5%

 

[Bensiff]

IMO that is a pretty busy grist that I would be worried would get in the way of the hops. Now, I could be completely wrong, those grains may seamlessly come together and be amazing...just my preference in my IPA's to let the grains play second fiddle to the hops as I much prefer the west coast style. I can say one of the only clones I ever made was a Union Jack clone and the recipe is dead on for the hops right down to that weird soapiness it seems to have.

Here is what I would do...Kick the pale up to around 90%, pick either the amber malt or munich and use that more for color than anything, 5% sugar (by percentage of fermentables not weight) to lighten the body, and the caramunich is great IMO, I would just use Caramunich I instead of II as the II imparts some toastiness which I wouldn't want getting in the way of the hops. As far as hops, I'm not on the Citra band wagon and can't comment on Mosiac as I have not tried them. Otherwise, IIRC that looks similar to Union Jack which, as I mentioned has a soapy character to me so adding something like the Mosiac or Citra might be a nice way to knock the edge off...or a nice way to make it taste like scented soap...who knows. For the yeast, I am not a fan of British yeasts for American IPA's, particularly 1968, it just doesn't work for me and I keep those yeasts with British IPA's. Anyway, I'd go with the American Ale Yeast II (can't remember the number) as that has a little more of an estery character than the 1056. So, those are my thoughts if you wanted the red ink pen version of what I would do based off what I know I like.

 

[cpa4ny]

Hi Bensiff - thanks very much for kindly taking the time to share your thoughts on the recipe - I really appreciate it!

Will incorporate your suggestions into the final version of the recipe.

 

[Conestoga]

To be inspired by a hoppy FSW ale, to me ... means a light bittering charge and a big hop stand. Not necessarily a bittering hop stand, maybe at sub-isomerization temps (or both).

Then a multi-stage dry hop to mimic the information Matt Brynildson released some time ago.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/multi-stage-dry-hop-worth-379238/index3.html#post4785573

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=668593):

 

[cpa4ny]

Hi Conestoga - terrific links, many thanks for sharing!