Critique my Southern Hemisphere IPA recipe

[Ruckusz28]

Hey all, I sampled this beer at bottling and found good bitterness and good aroma (although its young). It appears to be lacking some body, however. I'm hoping you can review and critique my recipe should I choose to revisit it.

Method: Extract
Style: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons

OG 1.061
FG 1.013

8lb Liquid LME (light)

Grains steeped at 156F for 20 minutes
12 oz Carapils
12 oz Caramel / Crystal 20L
4 oz Golden Promise
4 oz Honey Malt

1.5 oz Magnum 60 min
2 oz rakau 5 min
2 oz wakatu 0 min (20 minute hopstand)
0.5 oz Galaxy 0 min (20 minute hopstand)
1 oz rakau Dry Hop 7 days
2 oz wakatu Dry Hop 7 days
0.5 oz Galaxy Dry Hop 7 days

White Labs - California Ale V Yeast WLP051

Fermentation Temperature was about 66 degrees F. Ambient room temperature.

Bottled with 4oz Dextrose

Thanks all, I appreciate constructive assistance.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Bump

 

[Ruckusz28]

Anybody have any advice?

 

[mrgrimm101]

This is all going to be based on personal preference/experience, but I would have gone with a Crystal 40 or 60 and dropped down to maybe 1/2 lb. You will get a more prominent caramelly sweetness from 40/60 than you will with 20. I've never used Golden Promise or Honey Malt in an extract IPA, so I probably wouldn't have included those either. I like your hop choices, but my taste would be to increase the Galaxy at flameout and dry hop, and maybe bump down one or both of the others by a half ounce or so. For added body, I've steeped Melanoiden with a little base 2 row to help convert. I've found that Melanoiden adds to body and malt flavor, which is how I like my IPAs. You could have added a little wheat DME for some added mouthfeel.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't used Melanoiden before, but I'll do some research.

 

[secondbase]

That's a lot of crystal malts for the recipe. It seems a little busy with the carapils, c20 and honey malt. I'd go with one of them and keep it to under 1/2 pound personally.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Thanks for the feedback! I haven't used Melanoiden before, but I'll do some research.

It worked for me. There are other malts you could use to add some more body and malt presence.

 

[Ruckusz28]

That's a lot of crystal malts for the recipe. It seems a little busy with the carapils, c20 and honey malt. I'd go with one of them and keep it to under 1/2 pound personally.

Thanks! I was shooting for a more residual sweetness. I've been obsessed with Deschutes fresh squeezed lately and was trying to mimic that to an extent. To me, I find that to be on the sweeter side of the spectrum.

 

[mrgrimm101]

This is an all grain Fresh Squeezed clone that was posted from the American Homebrewer Association website. They use 0.75lb of a darker (75L) crystal as well as 1.75lb of Munich..which to me explains where this malty sweetness comes from. You won't be able to steep the Munich, that has to be mashed. But if you add a small amount of pale 2 row, it can help it convert and you can do basically a mini or partial mash.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/deschutes-fresh-squeezed-ipa-clone/

You can convert the 11lb of base 2 row to LME or DME (whichever your preference is). Should be about 8.25lb of LME or 6.6lb of DME

 

[Ruckusz28]

Thanks for passing the recipe along. Next time I'll change it up and go a little darker. Lesson learned.

This batch isn't bad, but there is always room for improvement.

 

[mrgrimm101]

This batch isn't bad, but there is always room for improvement.

This is the best attitude when it comes to homebrewing.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Well it looks like I jumped the gun on this one!

Last night I popped a bottle after 1 week conditioning. Carbonation is about halfway there. EXCELLENT floral aroma. Sweet residual taste (may be due to priming charge not fully fermenting out). Complex malt background, but too much at this time. I wanted a sweeter profile, but this may be too much.

The bittering charge seems appropriate for the style at this time. No flavors from the hops really peak out, but you can find lime, coconut, citrus, and melon if you look deep. I have a good feeling about this one. I will revisit on a weekly basis and attach some photos.

Cheers!

 

[mrgrimm101]

Give it another week or 2. IPAs are best fresh, but they still need time to condition. The hops you chose may not give the flavors you were looking for. That's why my recommendation was to drop the rakau and wakatu slightly and increase the galaxy by a couple ounces here and there, but again this would just be my preference. Also, I often try to hop burst my IPAs by spreading out the late addition hops more. So take some of those 2 oz additions and spread them out so there are more 0.5oz or 1oz additions at about 10 min, 5 min, and 0 min.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Give it another week or 2. IPAs are best fresh, but they still need time to condition. The hops you chose may not give the flavors you were looking for. That's why my recommendation was to drop the rakau and wakatu slightly and increase the galaxy by a couple ounces here and there, but again this would just be my preference. Also, I often try to hop burst my IPAs by spreading out the late addition hops more. So take some of those 2 oz additions and spread them out so there are more 0.5oz or 1oz additions at about 10 min, 5 min, and 0 min.

Thanks Again!