Does this recipe look good?

[wshearer9]

Hi, I'm William and I made this recipe on BeerSmith 2 and I was wondering if it looked good! It's an IPA and please tell me if the ingredients are good together or if I should change them!

The recipe

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441408512.884283.jpg

 

[ChelisHubby]

Well I am not into IPAs but if this was mine I would move the 30 minute hop to 15 or twenty and add one or two ounce dry hop of citra or cascade or centennial. The 5 minute hops are fine. The grain end looks nice, but I would reconsider the hops!

 

[Gavin C]

The Vienna needs to be mashed.

Replace it with some DME light. (or mash it)

That's quite a bit of crystal in addition to the extract, many of which will contain a percentage of crystal (amber extract I believe has crystal in it already)

Your a bit shy on hops, particularly late hop additions. I would add a 0 minute addition + dry hop to get that burst of aroma and flavor toward the end of the boil. You do't need to increase the IBU's but you do need something more in the way of a hop PUNCH!. I'm no IPA expert but this is more akin to an APA with a very sweet finish balance by a heavy amount of bittering..

Looks good BTW but not an IPA. That is my view.

 

[Calder]

Without mashing you are wasting your money with the vienna.

The amber extract has about 15% Munich (similar to Vienna), so you already have some in the batch. It is a proprietary blend, so they don't publish the actual figures, but based on SRM, I think it is about 15%.

1 lb of crystal is on the high side for an IPA. I usually go 0.5 lbs max in 5 gallons. Again, the Amber extract already has some C60; about 7.5% by my estimate (again it's a proprietary blend), so you probably don't need to add any.

I am assuming you are using Milliard or Briess (same thing) Amber extract. If it is from another company, my numbers may be very wrong.

Also, extracts tend to finish high, whereas you want an IPA to finish low. I would recommend using a pound of plain table sugar in the mix.

5 lbs of LME + 3 lbs DME is about 1.062, which is higher than the OG you note. I think you have something wrong in your database.

Next note, Hops:

- Simcoe at 60 is just a waste, use some cheap high alpha hop instead and move that closer to the end.

- Add bittering hops at 60, and nothing else until 15 mins or less. A 30 minute addition is mostly a waste of good hops, the flavor has gone, and you have not maximized the bittering. I get that a 30 minute addition can provide a smoother bittering effect, but I don't think that is what you are going for.

- I've never used Summit, but I believe they can give an onion/garlic flavor. Not a hop I want to try.

- 2.5 ozs of hops may make a great beer, but it doesn't make an IPA for me. Need more. Look up hop-stand and try that, and dry hop with some more.


Your recipe may make a great beer, but I wouldn't make it as I think it needs something more. If I were to make this, I think I would do something like:

2 lbs Amber DME added at the start.
5 lbs of Amber LME added at the very end of the boil (flame off)
1 lb of sugar added at the end of the boil.

This will give you an OG of 1.062. Would like to end around 1.010 - 1.012, for about 6.5% abv.

Bittering hops at 60 to give about 60 IBUs (Magnum/ Columbus/ Galena/ ntennial/ etc).

1 ozs hops about 10 minutes
2 ozs after adding LME and sugar and cooling wort to about 175. Leave with lid on for 60 minutes. (actually I'd probably go more than 2 ozs).
2 ozs hops dry hop.

You seem to be looking for an American IPA style. Use any of the C hops (Cascade, Centennial, Citra ... even Columbus and Chinook will work, but will give a different beer), or Simcoe, or Mosaic as the finishing hops. You can mix the hops, but mixing too much tends to loose the inividuality of the hops. Or you could could use one of the blends like Falconers Flight, 7-Cs, or Zythos.

Good luck with the beer.

 

[wshearer9]

Thank you for your advice ChelisHubby, Gavin C, and Calder! It really helped me out and I'm going to change up my recipe to your advice! This was my first recipe I've ever made so it was hard to figure stuff out and you guys helped out a ton!

 

[wshearer9]

Should I just brew without the steeping of the specialty grains?

 

[ChelisHubby]

Question? Did you buy the grains yet? the grains will add flavor even if they don't add much sugars or alcohol. If you have the grains yes I would steep them at 155 degrees if possible. If you don't have the grains yet then be aware that the Veinna won't add much sugar. It should add some flavor though.

 

[Gavin C]

If you have the grains you could do a mini-mash of them. Just get the water to about 155F and steep like you've done before. Just don't tighten the grain bag so much and let it sit there for 45-60 mins untouched.

You'll mash the Vienna that way.

A litte trickier than steeping but not a big deal.

If you don't mash the Vienna all it will add is some minimal color and unconverted starch and haze to the beer.

Think of it as a simple intro to mashing.