Zero Pointe IPA

[statseeker]

I have a recipe that I want to formulate for an IPA with the name above. Maybe it's been tried before but I have created this recipe for your parusal.

6 gallons

12lbs Pale malt
1lb Crystal 15
.5lb Crystal 45
.5lb Honey Malt
.5lb Carapils

1 oz Amarillo 60 mins
.5 oz Willamette 45 mins
.5 oz Amarillo 45 mins
1 oz East Kent Goldings 30 mins
1 oz Cascade 15 mins
.5 oz Amarillo at flame out

65.3 IBU

Mash at 152 60 mins
Fly sparge with 180 degree water

1 pkg Safale-05 yeast

 

[jlpred55]

What kind of IPA are you going for? You want malty/sweet? Dry/hoppy? Citrus/Pine? Earthy/Flowery? I have a hard time sometimes with feedback on recipes without knowing what you want to aim for flavor/profile wise. I would change lots to this recipe if it were for me, but it is not. So please elaborate and we can take a shot at it for you.

 

[statseeker]

Well, here's the story.

I like IPAs, they are good, refreshing and hoppy. What I dont like about them is that there's an edge to them that makes them good for certain meals but not really as a daily drinker. In other words, their bitterness is, in my mind, reserved for something you're eating.

I want a well-rounded citrusy IPA with a good malty back-flavor, strong mouthfeel, and light amber color. I know the Amarillo and Cascade are good citrus hops. I know the Willamette is good for finishing or smoothing hop bite so I'm using it in the location in the boil that I am. The East Kent Goldings are pretty easy-going flavor-wise and can balance the floral character of the Cascade. I might switch around the EKG and the Cascade. That would be the only thing I would change right now.

 

[dcp27]

if you dont like the bitterness, you got your hop schedule loaded wrong. almost all of it is for bitterness and not flavor/aroma. get rid of the 45 and 30min adds, they do nothing for you. move some to 60 to make up the lost bitterness, but keep the rest 20mins and under. you can try to FWH to ease the hop bite.

also, thats waaay too much crystal for an IPA. cut it to 1lb max and make up the rest with vienna/munich for the malty backbone.

 

[statseeker]

What I might do is to move the hop additions around a little bit. Maybe go all late boil in bigger amounts or use the Amarillo or Cascade as the FWH like you were saying. I like bitterness but not such sharp bitterness that it turns me off to it. I was reading Palmer's instructions on hop bittering and it's looking like only a few small tweaks to the times and addition levels and I'll have a good IPA.

I wanted that amount of Crystal for color and caramely sweetness to balance the hoppiness.

 

[dcp27]

understandable, but you got more than enough to do that. the max crystal recommended is 20% in any beer, and usually you don't go anywhere near that in IPAs. plus, crystal clashes with citrusy hops.

here's some tips from vinnie of russian river on creating better hoppy beers: http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/Better_Hoppy_Beers.pdf

 

[jlpred55]

It sounds like you are set on brewing this as is. But know that there are things in there that recipe that is going to either not make a difference or be over the top.

For instance, your addition of Williamette at 45 is going to do nothing for this beer. It is not enough in quantity or a substantial enough hop to make any difference in the recipe. You can move it closer to the end if you want to. I also second the opinion on using more late hops to help get the citrusy flavor without the hop bite. I think your 60 min additon on Amarillo is good. It is a smooth bittering hop in that amount. Also, the carapils is a waste. It is very close to the crystal 15L you are already using and you should be able to manipulate body of all grain beers without using carapils, esp in an IPA. I also think the crystal is over the top. It is going to give you sweetnees but not much maltiness in those colors. If you want more malt or caramel use crystal 40L-60L. I'd recommend using a touch of 60L (.25lbs or so) mixed with some 15L-20L. No more than ,75-1lbs total crystal.

If you want a carmelly hoppy beer, brew a west coast style amber/red ale. I love those! Or you could brew it, love it and make us look like fools!

 

[statseeker]

Like I said, I'm open to different interpretations of how this IPA should go. I'm thinking about cutting the amount of malt down to make a lower gravity. I'm also open to the idea of saving money, which is exactly what cutting the specialty malts down or subbing them out would do.

I could also do both the original recipe 5 gallons and another one with all the suggestions incorporated 5 gallons and see which version comes out as the better beer. I've gotta figure out how changes in malts, hop additions, times, and types change the overall taste of the beer. What better way right? I mean, it's one thing to read about it, it's another to have it right in front of you and to be able to taste the nuances in your beers. Most of you guys have probably done a few nuance homebrew comparisons yourselves.

My whole idea is to come up with original recipes that I believe no one else has done, or if they have, I cant find it. I want to be reasonably confident no one has tried this iteration of whatever style I'm working with.

Ok, so I've got this changed brew recipe. I still might do both but here it is:

11.75lbs pale malt
.75lbs Caravienne malt
.5lbs Honey Malt

1tsp Irish moss to settle everything out.

1oz Amarillo (9.1% AA) Hops 60 mins -or- FWH
.5 oz Amarillo (9.1% AA) Hops 45 mins
1oz EKG (5.3% AA) at 30 mins
1oz Cascade (6.8% AA) at 15 mins
2 oz Amarillo (9.1% AA) at Flame-out, maybe 2-3 mins from flame out

Total IBU: 64.35 (1 IBU off the original, nailed it!)

 

[statseeker]

Brewed this guy up last week. Yeast was US-05 and took off like a shot. Fermented in 5 days, letting it clean up a bit till next weekend when I'll keg it and taste test it. Mashed between 147 and 149. Fly sparged at 190. This is going to be a dry IPA, which I dont have a problem with at all.

LHBS didnt have the caravienne so I subbed 1lb crystal 15 and 1/2lb of amber and used 12lbs pale malt. Total, 14lbs. 5 gallons after boil off.

Was short on the amount of Amarillo I needed so I went with:

1oz Amarillo FWH
1oz Willamette at 30 mins
1oz Cascade at 20 mins
1.5 oz EKG at 15 mins
2 oz Amarillo at 1 min

2tsp irish moss at 15 mins.

Pitched at 78-ish
Fermented at 67.

67.83 IBU

 

[statseeker]

January 16, 2011
Zero Pointe India Pale Ale (Beta) 5 gal, Edited recipe.

12lb Pale Malt
1lb Crystal Malt 15L
1/2lb Honey Malt
1/2lb Amber Malt

Single infusion mash at 147-149*F 60mins
Fly Sparged at 190*F

Pre-boil Gravity: 1.046

1oz Amarillo Hops at FWH
1oz Willamette Hops at 30 mins
1oz Cascade Hops at 20 mins
1.5oz EKG Hops at 15 mins
2tsp Irish Moss 15 mins
2oz Amarillo Hops at 1 min/Flameout

Total IBU:67.83

Original Gravity: 1.055

Yeast pitched at 78*F
Fermented at 67*F

FG to be determined.

 

[Poobah58]

Have you sparged at 190°F before? Seems a bit high for fly sparging. Need to keep those tannins down...

 

[statseeker]

I heated the water to that temperature, that was the target, but I highly doubt that it reached the grain at that temperature especially seeing as how it was quite chilly out. I wanted to compensate well for the temperature drops in the HLT and in the grain bed during the time the mash tun had to be open for sparging. Even though I preheated both the HLT and the mash tun, I lost heat in both during the mash and the sparge. I have to doubt that any tannin extraction happened because I measured the grain temp post sparging and it was 154. We'll have to see though, I could very well be wrong in every way.

 

[statseeker]

I know this is probably like resurrecting a dead monkey but I just wanted to give everyone an update on how the beer was. A-freaking-mazing (In hindsight I should have bottled it for competition, but that is hindsight). Thank you all for your advice on the beer. It helped immensely. I kicked the keg a month or so ago and now am looking forward to brewing it again. If you all want to try it I highly suggest it. I'll have to post my tasting notes soon.