Recipe Critique: 3-Way IPA

Was hoping to get some feedback/advice on an IPA recipe I put together using 3 types of grain and 3 types of hops. I was wanting to do something with Galaxy and Simcoe, but I can't get enough Nelson hops in my IPAs, so I wanted to use that as well, and I figured they'd all play nicely together.

Any comments/suggestions welcome!

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: 3-Way IPA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.049
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.069
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 7.16%
IBU (tinseth): 50.46
SRM (morey): 7.24

FERMENTABLES:
12.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (94.3%)
0.5 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (3.8%)
0.25 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (1.9%)

HOPS:
0.75 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 14.82
0.75 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 13.04
0.75 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 8.15
0.75 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.17
0.75 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.29
0.5 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Aroma for 0 min
0.5 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 0 min
0.5 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Boil for 0 min
1 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 20 qt, Single Infusion @ 154
2) Sparge, Temp: 168 F, Time: 15 min, Vorlauf, Batch Sparge (volume depends on first runnings)
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 10 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
GigaYeast - Vermont IPA Yeast
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 80%
Flocculation: Med-Low
Optimum Temp: 62 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 75
Mg2: 5
Na: 10
Cl: 50
SO4: 150
HCO3: 0
Water Notes:

NOTES:
Ferment at 65 degrees for 2 weeks prior to taking SG reading.

Once FG is reached dry hop @ 65 degrees for 5 days.

Then cold crash @ 39 degrees for 2 days prior to bottling.

Interesting. I'm relatively new to brewing and only have a few under my belt currently. But out of curiosity, where are there no buttering hops?

Bittering hops. Not butter.

HailSagan666 said:

Interesting. I'm relatively new to brewing and only have a few under my belt currently. But out of curiosity, where are there no buttering hops?

Click to expand...

Looks like he's doing a hopburst... flavor/aroma additions in the boil do add some bitterness, just not as much as a 60 min addition.

The idea is smoother bitterness and getting more flavor out of the hops that go into the boil.

Yep, you got it. I was looking to avoid an overly bitter IPA and really wanted the fruity, floral notes of the hops to shine through.

That's the main reason for the simple malt bill too - bring the focus to the hops.

Which is also why I went with the Vermont IPA yeast - I thought it would add an extra bit of fruitiness as well.

And yeah, trying to avoid buttering all together

That's a great idea. I've been racking my brain lately how to design my next session IPA. I'll end up trying something similar. Again, I've only had 3 brews under my belt so I haven't heard of hopbursting yet. Cheers.

This seems like it may be lacking a bit of bitterness (maybe 10-20 add'l IBUs) to compliment the malt sweetness associated with a mid-150s mash and the perceived sweetness of the fruit-forward hops. But if you have enjoyed similar recipes, looks good to me. Check back in once you have it bottled to let us know how you like the hop combo.

i did a very similiar red recently but i used .5oz of nugget at 20 and a variety of flavor & aroma hops from there on out. after 3 weeks primary and 2 weeks in the keg, its really good. i think you need a bit of a bite that you may not get with 10 min additions.

Hey everyone, thank you very much for your comments and feedback.

After thinking it over a bit, and doing a bit more research on the yeast I want to use for this one (first time using the "Conan" strain), I decided to make the following changes...

Use a lower mash temp both to cut back on the malt sweetness a bit and help out the yeast.

Add just a touch of hops at the 15 minute mark to slightly raise the IBUs and add a little more bitterness. I really wanted to avoid a hop addition at the start of the boil as I was shooting for all late edition hops with this one.

Lastly I changed the fermentation temp/schedule to be more in line with what the yeast seems to like to get proper attenuation.

Here's what it looks like now. Any further comments/suggestions are welcome, and I'm thinking about brewing this one next weekend.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: 3-Way IPA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.049
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.069
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 7.39%
IBU (tinseth): 63.17
SRM (morey): 7.24

FERMENTABLES:
12.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (94.3%)
0.5 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (3.8%)
0.25 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (1.9%)

HOPS:
0.25 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6.76
0.25 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 5.95
0.75 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 14.82
0.75 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 13.04
0.75 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 8.15
0.75 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.17
0.75 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 7.29
0.5 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Aroma for 0 min
0.5 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Aroma for 0 min
0.5 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Aroma for 0 min
1 oz - Galaxy, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.2, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
1 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 150 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 20 qt, Single Infusion @ 150
2) Sparge, Temp: 168 F, Time: 15 min, Vorlauf, Batch Sparge (volume depends on first runnings)
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 each - Whirlfloc, Time: 10 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
GigaYeast - Vermont IPA Yeast
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 80%
Flocculation: Med-Low
Optimum Temp: 62 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 66 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 75
Mg2: 5
Na: 10
Cl: 50
SO4: 150
HCO3: 0
Water Notes:

NOTES:
Ferment as follows:

Day 1 - 66
Day 2 - 68
Day 3 - 70
Day 4 - 72

Then hold @ 72 for another 10 days (14 days primary fermentation)

Then dry hop @ 65 degrees for 5 days.

Then cold crash @ 35 degrees for 3 days prior to bottling.

Just bottled this yesterday, and the aroma and taste of the sample I took was amazing. I followed the recipe above to a T, I hit all my numbers perfectly. I also used my new CO2 purging system to purge the fermenter after taking samples and adding the dry hops, as well as to purge the bottling bucket after adding the priming sugar and before adding the beer. Now I have to convince myself to wait 3 weeks to crack the first bottle!

In case anyone happens to be watching this thread, I just couldn't wait any longer and had to crack a bottle. It is just outstanding. It's got a very nice peach, citrus, juicy thing going on, and I think the hop profile really plays well with the Conan yeast. So far I think this is the favorite beer I've brewed. I'll definitely be brewing this one again, and I doubt I'll make any changes to the recipe.