Extract IPA

Making an IPA this weekend, and I decided to tweak my recipe a little bit.

Tell me what you think...

EDIT: Changed Recipe
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8 lbs Pale LME
1/2 lb. Crystal 40L
1/2 lb. Crystal 60L
1/2 lb. Crystal 90L


Hops
1 oz. Centennial hops (60 min boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial hops (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial (15 min)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 Min Boil)
1 oz. Kent Golding hops (5 min late boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (end of boil)
1 oz each Chinook and Cascade hops (dryhopped)

Yeast
White Labs WLP002 or Safale-05

With the amber DME, I think that's WAY too much crystal. I'm not sure about the roasted barley (I only use it in stouts), so I have to ask why the roasted barley?

Are you doing a full 5 gallon boil?

Why the EKG hops? I like 'em, but am concerned they'll get "lost" in there!

I also have a half oz. each of Challenger and Goldings I might add.
Suggestions?

YooperBrew said:

With the amber DME, I think that's WAY too much crystal. I'm not sure about the roasted barley (I only use it in stouts), so I have to ask why the roasted barley?

Are you doing a full 5 gallon boil?

Why the EKG hops? I like 'em, but am concerned they'll get "lost" in there!

Click to expand...

For the Amber, it's LME not DME, and my previous recipe was 8 lbs of amber with the same amount of Crystal. Changing part of the LME to Light I added the Roasted, mainly because I like it. One of my favorites was an old Red ale I made with a lot of Roasted.

Not a full boil, and the EKG was in my original recipe. Should I toss it? Or add more?

EDIT: It was 8 lbs of Pale LME originally. Not sure why I changed it to amber.

Doesn't sound very "pale".

Maybe I should change the Amber to Pale.

dunnright00 said:

Maybe I should change the Amber to Pale.

Click to expand...

I'd have to put it into Beersmith to run the numbers, but off the top of my head, I see a dark, sweet, beer. Not really an IPA.

Needs less crystal, no amber LME (or DME), and more hops. If you're thinking pale LME instead of the amber, I can add it to Beersmith and see what kind of IBUs you'll have. What size boil is it? That'll help with the running in the software.

Ok, I changed the recipe.

Changed to all Pale LME, and got rid of the Roasted.

Where do you think I should add more hops? In the boil? Maybe a 45 minute or 20 minute addition, or add more at the times I already have?

My boil is 3 gallons.

Brewtarget gives it IBU=37.1 and SRM=15.7, My Beersmith trial has expired.

Ok, Here's my revised recipe. I'm calling it 3-C IPA. The 3-C thing is kind of an inside joke, along with the three C's of hops.

6 lbs Pale
2 lbs Light
1/4 lb. Crystal 40L
1/4 lb. Crystal 60L
1/4 lb. Roasted

Hops
1 oz. Centennial hops (60 min boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial hops (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial (15 min)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 Min Boil)
1 oz. Chinook hops (5 min late boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (end of boil)
1 oz each Chinook and Cascade hops (dryhopped)


White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001

Opinions?

Sounds pretty good after the changes. Still seems like it will be a little too dark, especially with the addition of the roasted barley (from my experience this can add quite a bit of color).

Personally I would suggest eliminating the roasted and 60 and add more of the 40 crystal. Also I would boil the Irish moss a little longer...it wouldn't hurt either way.

Yep, it's still going to be dark for an IPA and you're still light on the Hops.

Final Version. Can I call this an Amber IPA? Dark IPA?
Brewtarget gives it SRM-15.3, and IBUs-43.6

------------------

8 lbs Pale LME
1/4 lb. Crystal 40L
1/4 lb. Roasted

Hops
1 oz. Centennial hops (60 min boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial hops (30 min boil)
1/2 oz. Centennial (15 min)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 Min Boil)
1 oz. Chinook hops (5 min late boil)
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (end of boil)
1 oz each Chinook and Cascade hops (dryhopped)


White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001

Maybe add a little bit of wheat to the steeping grains to get some more head retention?

Don't feel pinned-in by the SRMs. There are tons of really dark IPAs out there.

I agree with alexgrate about the wheat. Now your beer is shaping up to be somethin' awfully tasty!

Well, I brewed this weekend as the above recipe. I know it's going to be good, so I'll probably try this again and maybe add some wheat.
I'll post back here on it's progress.

The only reason I was posting the estimated SRMs was because of the comments that it would be too dark to be an IPA.

BJCP Style guidelines say that an American IPA should have an SRM between 6 - 15, and this was coming up at 15.3.
Not (IMHO) too much of a difference.
But, I'll call it an Amber IPA just for the hey...

BTW, I measured the SG of this before I pitched, and I'm sure the temp was down to about 75F. I forgot to write it down because it was late and SWMBO was getting mad.

I'm pretty sure I read it at 1.078. That seems pretty high! I'm not that concerned with getting it right, I'm just curious if that's even possible.

OK, I just transferred to secondary and took a hydrometer reading before I threw in the 2oz. of hops for dryhopping.

Whoa! Very tasty but VERY hoppy! And this was before I added the dry hops.
I kinda hope it mellows out a bit with aging, but even if it doesn't it will still be good.

I'm kind of second guessing the addition of the roasted, but we'll see.

Ok!! Tried it last night (not quite 3 weeks, but I couldn't wait!) and this is mighty tasty!!

Sorry for the crappy picture, I really need to get a better camera.



I think I need to call this a Cascadian Dark Ale. Definitely falls in the category.

So, over a month later and I thought I'd report back here.

This was definitely an "experimental" batch. Drinkable, but not quite right.

It can go two ways.
1.) Lose the roasted, and maybe add VERY little bit of chocolate, or a higher lovebond crystal. Or
2.) Scale down the hops and make a brown ale with some hoppy character.

Not sure yet...