Citra IPA recipe feedback

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

Hey guys - I'm going to be doing an extract Citra IPA in about a week and I wanted to post my recipe to see what you guys thought about it. Its the first recipe that I've made on my own so I really would appreciate the help.

2 lbs 40L caramel/crystal (steeping)
6.3 lbs Northern Brewer Super structer Malt blend for IPA
2 lbs Briess golden light DME

1 oz Warrior - 60 min
1 oz Citra - 15 min
1 oz Citra - 2 min
2 oz Citra - dry hop for 1 week

Wyeast 1217-PC West coast IPA yeast with 2 step starter

I will be doing a full boil.

I hear that Citra has some off flavors when used for bittering, like cat pee (yum!), so I thought I'd try Warrior instead. I also have an extra ounce of Citra on my hands so if you think I'd need to add more let me know. Using brewtoad.com its telling me that my OG will be right around 1.073 with 67 IBU's.

I appreciate the feedback guys! Cheers!

 

[ragertom]

I just made the citra bomb ipa last month and have been drinking it up. It's really good. No cat pee flavors at all. Not that I even know what cat pee tastes like. I think it's very similar to zombie dust And I love it. I actually just finished 4 bottles tonight.

This is the ingredients list of the one I did.

 

[dcp27]

hops look great, but 2#s of C40 is way too much for an IPA, especially for an extract batch (light DME already contains carapils). I'd cut it to 0.5-1#.

since you got an extra oz of citra, i'd toss it in at flameout and let it steep for 10-30mins

 

[Calder]

IPAs do not have a lot of crystal, and 2 lbs is way too much; maybe half a pound. That IPA malt syrup already has some in it. Unfortunatly, you don't know how much.

Since the malt is designed for an IPA, you may not want/need any extra.

I would probably add a half pound of plain table sugar to help it dry out a bit. Extracts tend to end with relatively high FGs.

 

[Yooper]

hops look great, but 2#s of C40 is way too much for an IPA, especially for an extract batch (light DME already contains carapils). I'd cut it to 0.5-1#.

since you got an extra oz of citra, i'd toss it in at flameout and let it steep for 10-30mins

I agree. Although I'm not a huge citra fan, if you love it the recipe looks great except for the boatload of crystal malt. I'd cut it to no more than .5 pound total.

 

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm a noob at this so I appreciate the help. I'll cut the crystal malt to .5. I'm thinkin about just pitching 2 wyeast smack packs instead of doing a starter. OG should be 1.068. Think the 2 packs should be enough? should I still add table sugar?

 

[JuGordon]

I'm thinkin about just pitching 2 wyeast smack packs instead of doing a starter. OG should be 1.068. Think the 2 packs should be enough?

If I were you, I'd just use two packs of Safale US-05. It's a great yeast to use for IPAs, it's way cheaper than Wyeast, and you can just sprinkle it in, no starter required.

should I still add table sugar?

You can, it won't hurt. I actually just brewed a quick extract IPA a month ago and it finished higher than I would have liked (1.010-1.012 is my preferred).

 

[bstanko30]

Citra Bomb IPA is awesome!!! I added a pound and a half of mangos and 1/8 of a pound of Habaneros in secondary. Next time I'm adding more mango and less Habaneros. Still a great drinkable beer! Your recipe looks good though!

 

[cottagebrews]

I use Warrior as the bittering hop for my IPA, then use a blend of Centennial and Simcoe for flavor and aroma. It's always turned out well. 1 oz. of it is plenty.

Add a bit of gypsum to your boil if you want to accentuate the hop flavors.

You definitely won't need much in the way of specialty grains if you're using a prepared malt blend for IPAs. Either do the crystal malt and Carapils yourself or trust what they've put into their syrup.

This is a matter of taste, but I'd skip the sugar addition. I find that too many IPAs are dry and thin, without enough malt flavor to back up the hops. If you're worried about a high FG, pay for the good yeast, do a starter, and keep the fermentation temperature at about 65º F. I've routinely taken my IPA from 1.072 to 1.008 with WYeast 1056. No regrets yet with that investment.

 

[Calder]

I've routinely taken my IPA from 1.072 to 1.008 with WYeast 1056. No regrets yet with that investment.

With extract, speciality grains, and no sugar addition? Maybe, if that is your experience, but I seriously doubt it. You are talking about a 90% attenuation with extract wort, with a yeast advertized to reach 75%.

To do that I think you would need to mash low to get a highly fernentable wort. This is the extract forum.

 

[logan3825]

I would change the recipe to the following

0.5 lbs 40L caramel/crystal (steeping)(possibly drop this completely the Northern Brewer super structure looks like they already added some crystal.)

2 lbs Briess golden light DME (60m)
6 lbs Northern Brewer Super structer Malt blend for IPA (flameout)
0.5 lb table sugar or corn sugar(this will dry it out a bit, get you under 1.010)

1 oz Warrior - 60 min
1 oz Citra - 15 min
1 oz Citra - 2 min
2 oz Citra - dry hop for 1 week

US-05 would work pretty well for this

 

[cottagebrews]

This is the extract forum.

I'm an extract brewer. I have no idea how I get my FG that low, but I do. And I've done the recipe twice, so it isn't a fluke.

Apart from keeping it cool, the only thing I can think may help it along is doing a yeast starter with an OG of about 1.060. That gets the yeast acclimated to the higher sugar levels by the time I pitch into my wort and may help them power through to 1.008.

 

[Calder]

I'm an extract brewer. I have no idea how I get my FG that low, but I do. And I've done the recipe twice, so it isn't a fluke.

Apart from keeping it cool, the only thing I can think may help it along is doing a yeast starter with an OG of about 1.060. That gets the yeast acclimated to the higher sugar levels by the time I pitch into my wort and may help them power through to 1.008.

Do you use a refractometer to take gravity readings?

 

[cottagebrews]

No, hydrometer.

 

[Calder]

No, hydrometer.

Then, l'm impressed. I occasionally do all-extract batches, and never end below 1.010 when I do them. I'll usually end up with around the standard 75% attenuation.

I do like all my beers to end dry; 1.008, or lower. To achieve that, I partial mash (about half my sugars), mash low to increase fermenability, use high attenuating yeasts, pitch proper amounts of yeast at the lower end of temp range, aerate well, and raise temps late in fermentation.

 

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

So the yeast thats I got in the mail came halfway smacked two days ago. I made a starter with it to see if it was still alive and well. The starter kind of looked a little strange to me and the yeast is very much solid. Does this look ok to you guys? I've only made on starter in my "career" so far but it didn't look like this one. Also, I forgot to take a hydrometer reading when I made it but I took one today and its down to 1.017 so it appears as if it worked fine, its just the coloring and the solidness thats got me worried.

 

[Calder]

Looks likevyou have a lot of healthy yeast there.

 

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

First of all, thanks for everybody's help. I brewed this one on January 7th, the final recipe looked like this:

.5 lb 40L Crystal steeped for about 20 minutes
2 lb Golden light DME
6 lb NB Super structure LME (late boil, 15 min)
.5 lb table sugar

1 oz Warrior - 60 min
1 oz Citra - 15 min
1 oz Citra - 5 min
1 oz Citra - flameout

2 oz Citra - dry hop (7-10 days)

2 step West Coast IPA yeast AND an extra West Coast IPA pack (used yeastcalc.com to figure out how much I needed)

OG turned out to be 1.063 but I think that was because I didn't get as much evaporation as I expected.

Fermentation was pretty vigorous for the first 4 days, used a blowoff. It was still bubbling a little after 6-7 days. I took a reading on the 8th day and got 1.015 and I'll be testing it again today (10th day) to see if its done and I can rack to secondary with the dry hops.

I tasted it after the reading and it was pretty delicious, I know its got some more time and dry hops but it was already really good so I'm really excited about the final product!

Any recommendations on how long to dry hop? I know it may be personal taste, but any thoughts would be appreciated !

 

[PraetorBen]

The last time I dry hopped I did two additions, four days apart in my bright tank after primary had finished out. One ounce each time. I just dropped the pellets in and swirled ever so slightly. I then let the hops and yeast settle for about two weeks, racked, and bottled. It was pretty good for my first IPA try.

 

[hellawaits77]

Looks like a good recipe, I might try something similar for my Citra DIPA, since you said this turned out pretty good.

I made a Citra APA which turned out excellent. I added the dry hops towards the end of primary fermentation. Some say that adding the dry hops during fermentation isn't optimal, as the CO2 can "rub off" some the hop aroma. That might be true, but in my case it worked. If I can make a suggestion, I'd bump to dry hop up to 2.5 oz (or more, depending how much hop aroma you're after)and keep them in for 7-10 days. I used 2 oz for 7 days in my Pale Ale, and since this is an IPA, you might want to do more.

You're gonna get a lot of opinions, and none are wrong. I'm just using the above suggestions based on what worked for me!

 

[dcp27]

. I took a reading on the 8th day and got 1.015 and I'll be testing it again today (10th day) to see if its done and I can rack to secondary with the dry hops.

Any recommendations on how long to dry hop? I know it may be personal taste, but any thoughts would be appreciated !

unless you need the primary for another brew or are harvesting the cake, there's no need to rack to secondary just to dry hop or in general (see here if you haven't already: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/ ), just toss em in the primary at least a few days after fermentation has ceased so the yeast have time to settle out. no need to swirl or anything, just toss em in.

as for time, 3-10 days, everyone has their own opinion on it. i usually toss them in for 5-7 days but cold crash the final 1-2 days. just make sure however long u choose is that amount of time before bottling to retain as much character as possible.

 

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

Yeah I've actually never used a secondary before, but a friend gave me a 5 gallon Carboy recently. I also just got the northern brewer surly bender kit that I'll be brewing this week so I do need the fermenter open. I'm going to dry hop for 9 days just to give me an even 3 weeks of fermentation.

Unrelated, but I'm going to be using some pb2 in the boil and secondary to add some peanut butter flavor to the bender, wish me luck!

 

[DeBAD]

You might be a little light on hops for an IPA but you will still be okay. I would have suggested 1 or 2 more ounces during the boil process and I'd bump it to 3 for the dry hop.

Also did you take into account your late extract addition into your IBU calculation? If not don't be surprised if it comes out a little more bitter than you expected. We recently did a citra IPA with a target IBU of 70 but didn't originally take into account our late addition in our brew calculator. When I re-figured the IBU came out around 125! Wow it's bitter but its still dang good!

 

[cottagebrews]

Your hop additions, both during the boil and for dry hopping, look good to me. In full disclosure, however, I think too many IPAs completely wreck your palate, and prefer a more balanced ale. If you want something that knocks you over with hop flavor, you may want to add an extra ounce.

7-14 days for dry hopping is normal. I usually do 10. I've never heard of an IPA going longer than that. The way I think of it is that once you add those hops, the clock is ticking, and you won't want to delay bottling once you hit your target length of time with the hops in secondary. Plan accordingly. And that leads to my last point...

I've never had a bad experience racking a beer to secondary, and the one time I didn't my beer was full of solids. It tasted fine, but looked pretty unappetizing. I recognize there's a lot of dispute about this, but I think the final product ends up clearer when you add the extra step. Moreover, to my mind the best thing about racking an IPA to secondary is you can give the beer a few days to mellow out and let some particles settle before you begin your dry hopping phase. Obviously IPAs get drunk young, but this gives you a short window--5-7 days--to let any off flavors fade.

All of this is just one man's opinion, but it reflects what I've had luck with so far. Follow whatever advice you think is most likely to make the beer taste the way you want it to. Good luck!

 

[logan3825]

I get clear beer with just a primary. If you have gunk out of the primary you are probably not racking carefully enough.

Late extract addition may or may not effect you IBU's. It's debatable with plenty of anecdotal evidence on both sides.

 

[DeBAD]

Trust me Log, my anec is dotal!

 

[DeBAD]

If you don't believe it run a dummy IPA recipe through the Brewers Friend recipe calculator. If you still don't believe it try brewing the same recipe both ways. Then I invite you to check back in. I'm quite sure I know what your anecdote will be.

 

[MatchstickBrewingCo.]

I used Brew Toad for this recipe and made sure that I listed the LME and sugar as a "Late Boil Addition" but they didn't give me the option to log when exactly I'd be adding it. I didn't notice whether it changed the IBU's or not but I did have a Stone Ruination IPA last night with over 100 IBUs and thought it was incredible so the more the better, at least for my tastes! I'll log into brewtoad later tonight to check when I'm on a computer that site works on, unlike my work computer. It seems like all my work computer wants me to do is work... strange.

What do you guys think about the 1.015-1.016ish FG? Normal? a little high?

 

[cottagebrews]

Your FG sounds a little high to me given what you started at. Try to bring up the temperature to about 70º F for a few days just to make sure your yeast has finished everything off. The last thing you want is for that sugar to get processed after you've primed and bottled and then... BOOM!