What is your favorite IPA extract you've made so far. ..

As the title says what's your favorite? Looking to get some ideas for my second batch (stil waiting for equipment to come in the mail to attempt my first batch) Thanks Larry

 

Im also a newbie, but I'll chime in since I'm curious about that as well.

 

For me hands down, the Pliney the Elder clone from morebeer. I let out an audible moan when the keg poofed. My son asked me what was wrong.... Liquid heaven, gone.

 

I hear the Pliny is good, never had it... I'll check out their website

 

Northern Brewer Dead Ringer

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/dead-ringer-ipa-extract-kit.html

Easy Peasy and oh so delicious.

'da Kid

 

I have always had great luck with Morebeer's Rouge IIPA. It taste very similar to Dogfish Head 90min.

http://morebeer.com/products/rogues-i2pa-extract-beer-kit.html

 

the Dead Ringer is pretty foolproof - my daughter has made it a couple of times (not that she's a fool)

 

I ordered the DEPTHCHARGE-IPA kit which is a Sierra Nevada Torpedo clone. Can't wait to brew it

 

Dead Ringer for sure.

 

Pliny clone from NB. Best feedback of all my brews.

 

I've done NB's extract kits exclusively since I started brewing almost a year ago.

My favorites so far are :

• "Plinian Legacy" (Pliny clone)
  
• "Jamil's Evil Twin" (dark-orange hued IPA. Need to add 2-4oz of dry hops to recipe, IMO, but the malt & hops in the boil are fantastic)
  
• "Anarchy in the UK" (more of a balanced IPA. The British malt in the recipe is fantastic)
  
• "Ace of Spades" (black IPA. Add an extra ounce or two of hops to the boil and another ounce or two of hops to the dry hop to make it really great)

 

What hops did you use for dry hop for the evil twin?

 

NB is getting a lot of love here This is another of theirs that my daughter has brewed - Tongue Splitter - http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/tongue-splitter-extract-kit.html

I liked it.

 

Smash Pale Ale from NB is really good - especially if you let it bottle condition for several months. I had one just yesterday that I brewed back in September and it was quite a bit better than it was on Halloween (and it was good then)... Also loved the Ace of Spades Black IPA.

 

So far, the Pliny from Morebeer, but will definetely try these others as well

 

Both Pliny, and dead ringer are too notch kits from nb!

 

These have all been mentioned, but I'll mention them again:

Dead Ringer from NB (I've got a kit arriving in the mail today:rockin
Ace of Spades from NB
Pliny from MoreBeer

I've also done the 1 gallon Black IPA from NB and it was really good too.

 

I used 1oz of Citra and 1oz of Cascade in a large muslin bag for 6 days. I was surprised how much aroma I got out of just 2oz, but next time I'll look into doing 3-4oz's, just cause I'm hop-fanatical.

I did a 4 week primary and 3 week bottle conditioning on that one. I'd call it more of a dark orange than red color. Full boil.

 

Glad to hear you liked it. I'm gonna do a few batches of "session IPA"'s for Summer, and this one was on my list.

 

Id like to make a sessions IPA with a lot of hoppiness. My fiances father let me borrow one of his carboys so I may try to get two batches going soon

 

NB Kama Citra is another good one.

 

Don't care much for HopHead from midwest. No distinct flavor, more like a mashup of vague, hop-like flavors.
Brewing Heady Nugs IIPA from LHBS in 2 or 3 hours. It has a good reputation. I'll report back...

 

The Pliney clone from Morebeer is awesome. Was actually put together in collaboration with Russian River Brewing. Lots of hop additions throughout the process on this one. Well worth the effort.

 

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/blood-moon-ipa-471019/

Blood Moon IPA has turned out great the two times I have made it. Not super dry-hopped. Not super bitter. Just great flavor and good times. Made it twice last year, including for my wedding (one of the three homebrews offered)

 

Not necessarily a full on IPA, but NB's Smash Ale is good, and I really like their Dead Ringer kit too.

In fact, this is my second time brewing the Smash. Single Malt, Single Hop, super easy.

 

I just dry hopped the same Smash yesterday and will be kegging it next weekend. Looking forward to trying it

 

I second NB Kama Citra. It was gone very fast, a few friends of friends asked me if they could buy some but I couldn't part with what little I had left!

 

I tried this about 3 batches ago, my favorite I've made so far. Turn out like a light bodied black ipa. Was really more dark brown and tasted/smelled like chocolate grapefruit, surprisingly good.

7 lbs dme golden light
8 oz pale chocolate malt, steeped

1 oz chinook @60
.5 oz chinook @20
.5 oz chinook + .5 oz cascade @ 15
1 oz chinook @ 5
.5 oz chinook + .5 oz cascade @ 0 flame out

dry hop 2 oz chinook + 1 oz simcoe

yeast american ale II

ferment @ 66f

 

If you understand your own palate and how the typical IPA is designed, then a simple thought up recipe works better, and costs less, than any kit.

You also have more control over the quality, freshness, and amount of ingredients, e.g. new crop hops, Light DME only, Crystal 20 perhaps, corn sugar, and a specific type of yeast other than what they throw in.


Basic Extract American IPA

1.065-1.067 OG / 1.014-1.016 FG

8 oz. total hops, most of which are used late
65-70 IBUs

6 Gallon Boil / 5 Gallon Batch

7.00 lbs. Briess Golden Light DME or Muntons Extra Light DME (half added at boil start, half added at flameout)
0.50 lb. Crystal 20L, or Crystal 40L (crushed & steeped separately at 155 F for 30 mins, then added to main wort volume)
0.50 lb. Corn Sugar, or Table Sugar (added at flameout)

Boil 60 mins, 0.75 oz. High-alpha % American pellet hops like Columbus, Magnum, Horizon
Boil 15 mins, 0.75 oz. High-alpha % American pellet hops like Columbus, Magnum, Horizon
Boil 5 mins, 1.50 oz. Aromatic American pellet hops like Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra, Nugget, Centennial, Cascade
Post-boil hopstand, 30 mins at 140-170 F, 2.50 oz. Aromatic American pellet hops like Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra, Nugget, Centennial, Cascade
Dryhop 5-7 days, 2.50 oz. Aromatic American pellet hops (included during primary time)

Safale US-05 dry yeast, fermented at 66-68 F

Primary fermentation: 3.5 to 4 weeks, add dryhop during the last week.

Bottle with priming sugar using a priming calculator like this one - http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Wait for it to carbonate at room temp. Refrigerate. Drink.


^This is very simple and moldable recipe. It won't be too sweet or too bitter. It won't be dark either. Nothing has to be mashed. The malt profile will be subtle, but present. It will not interfere with the hops. You can swap the hops, use different hops, or switch up the hop timing. If you want a drier beer, you can replace a portion of DME for slightly more corn sugar. You can also reduce the Crystal Malt from 6% total fermentables down to 4%.

 

true, true, I started out with something like this and tweak here and there.

Question about the late addition nugget hops, have you tried that, how'd it go, what did you pair them with? I've got 1 lbs in the freezer awaiting some "experiments"

 

Brewers best falconers flight....... Freakin awesome!

That's a buzz beer if ever there was a kit, a little pricey, but worth every dime in my opinion.

 

Im partial to my first AG attempt, just because I liked the way all the hops played together. My grain base has since changed for ipas, and I'm thinking of rebrewing with my new base.

10 LB 2 Row
2 lb munich
8oz melanoiden
8oz carapils

1oz warrior @ 60
0.25 oz each of Cascade, Simcoe, Zythos, Centennial @ 10, 5, 0.
0.25 oz each of Cascade, Simcoe, Zythos, and Centennial @ Dry hop.

I've liked my single hop IPAs with my homegrown hops too, but that could also be personal bias. The last keg of Zeus IPA kicked in 8 days though, which was lightning speed.

I liked NBs Dead Ringer kit as well.

 

Just brewed NB's Off the Topper extract kit. Outstanding.

 

How much hops were in that brew?

 

Can someone explain the procedure for the crystal malt addition, please?

Do I steep separately and add it to the boil at 30 mins? Normally i steep specialty grains prior to boil and just use this solution from the start of the boil.

 

Aside the 10 ml Hopshot, in ounces: 5 Simcoe, 2 Columbus, 2 Amarillo, 1.5 Centennial and 1.5 Apollo.

 

Thanks for this thorough summary. It's good to know (remember) that it's not difficult to break away from kit beers. I do mostly all grain but once or twice a year I will do an extract IPA and your summary is a great guide to follow, especially for beginners just looking to beach out and try their own recipes. Cheers!

 

For #1, can you explain what this means. Do I steep separately from the boil and add the malt tea to the boil at 30 minute mark.

For #2, hop stand between 140 and 180.... What will a lower temp achieve vs a higher temp? Any Preferences?


For # 3, what kind of math are we talking here to achieve a drier beer? How much DME is dropped and how much dextrose would replace it. What would be the most DME to remove front the recipe?

 

Bobrews can of course provide his own answers but I'll chime in here with my own thoughts. Take them as you like.

1. You CAN steep separate from the boil, just as you suggest. You can also steep those grains in the same water you'll mix your extract in to, which is how many kits explain to do it. I'd guess that there will be a very subtle difference between the two methods that many people wouldn't even perceive.

2. I'm not sure, you may need to experiment to get the answer you're looking for. But I'd say a good starting point is start your hopstand at 180 and let it got from there for 20-30 minutes. The temp will probably have dropped by then to around 140-150.

3. Again, you must experiment on your own to get your preference. But a good start would be to not use simple sugar for more than 10% of your fermentables. You may need to refer to some brewing software to lean on to figure out that math. If you don't know what that means then a good start is John Palmers book How To Brew.

 

I'll be brewing this tomorrow.

I'll be substituting carahell in for the crystal.

60 Minute Addition 0.75 oz. Warrior Hops
15 Minute addition 0.75 oz. Warrior Hops
05 Minute addition 0.75 oz. Columbus Hops
05 Minute addition 0.75 oz. Simcoe Hops

Post Boil (140-180F) 30 minute hop stand
0.75 oz. Amarillo
0.75 oz. Centennial
1.00 oz. Citra

Dry Hop for 5-7 days
0.25 oz. of Columbus, Simcoe, Amarillo Centennial

If anyone has any refinements they'd make based on experience, please chime in. I'm going a bit light on dry hop compared to the recipe currently.