American IPA Drowning Hops - IPA (AG, Bridgeport IPA Clone w/ First Wort Hopping)

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BierMuncher

...My Junk is Ugly...
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
12,440
Reaction score
952
Location
St. Louis, MO
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale - 05
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.059
Final Gravity
1.014
Boiling Time (Minutes)
80
IBU
52.3
Color
8.6
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 Days at 66 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Racked to Keg for Cold conditioning, 2 weeks
Not long ago and rather spontaneously, I picked up a six pack of Bridgeport IPA on the way home from work. Now I’m not a huge hop head, but lately I’ve been growing in my appreciation of a good (not overly bitter) hop flavored beer. Bridgeport is reputed to be the oldest craft brewery in Oregon so I figured they ought to have things figured out by now.

This was a fantastic beer. That “whoosh” of hops was almost sweet in its floral flavor. The malt was just right and not overdone. There aren’t too many commercial beers that I have a craving for, but Bridgeport IPA is now one of them. But at $7.99 a sixer…I think it’s time to try and come up with my own version.

This recipe is slightly modified from a “Beer Captured” clone. I’ve added Melanoiden and CaraPils to increase the malt profile. I’ve also replaced the Chinook with Phoenix and moved from a bittering addition to just First Wort Hop (FWH) and aroma hops. (Here’s a good read on First Wort Hopping)

This is my first go at FWH so if it turns out that this recipe is a bust…I’ll remove it. I doubt that’s going to be the case though ;)


Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 8.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 52.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 80 Minutes


GRAINS
10.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)

FIRST WORT HOPS
0.50 oz Phoenix [12.00%] (80 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (80 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz Williamette [5.20%] (80 min) (First Wort Hop)
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [3.70%] (80 min) (First Wort Hop)

First Wort Hops addition involves adding the hops to the kettle as it is being filled with wort from the mash tun. This process is demonstrated to provide a smoother, more uniform bitterness to the beer, and lock in more of the flavor and aroma than simply adding at a normal bittering interval.

AROMA HOPS
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [3.70%] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)
0.50 oz Williamette [5.20%] (1 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)

DRY HOP
1.00 oz Cascade [7.80%] (Dry Hop 7 days)

1 Pkgs Hydrated SafAle Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 12.00 lb
----------------------------
Mash at 156 for 75 minutes
 
This will be my second AG, tomorrow. Small Changes, LHBS didn't have Phoenix so I went back to the Chinook. And I thought I had Mt. Hood's in the freezer but don't so I'm using Hallertau.
 
Another benefit of FWH is a little boil-over protection, right from the start. I FWH any beer that is supposed to have even a hint of hop flavor.
 
Recipe v- hops in stock (Amarillo, Fuggles, Willamette, Hallertau), I think I am going to sub

replace Phoenix with Willamette
replace Cascade with Amarillo
replace Willamette with Fuggles
replace Mount Hood with Hallertau.

Yes I have a scale, I will replace HBU for HBU. If this hop substitution seems odd ball please speak up, I am thinking it will head towards spicy away from floral and end up OK to pretty darn good, depending on the tasters floral preference.

I am into a Fuggles/ Challenger/ coarse ground black pepper Roggenbier right now that is really tripping my trigger.

I do have 0.5oz of 12.6% Chinook left that I would think about using dry if the hydro sample is tasty.

Is the 20 minute baseline time frame for FWH add to 170°F wort in the floor of the kettle to full wort boil 20 minutes? Has anyone tried 30 or 45 minutes?

TIA, I'll be brewing on 02-09-08 and shooting for a 30 minute soak unless the consensus is my hops subs are gonna suck.

EDIT: I may not get this brewed today, but it is going to be "next". I found the Shipyard local. I liked the hops, the grain didn't do it for me, so I'll be Franken-brewing Biermuncher's hops on EdWorts grain bill as described over here, last paragraph: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=550033&postcount=272

FWIW my best guess (I ran the FHW as (60) and then multiplied by 1.2) brings this in at ~44.5 Tensith IBUs. The Tensith table I use doesn't give up any IBUs for dry hopping, I got the 44.5 just from the (FWH) and the (1)
 
Wow, minus the phoenix, I have a nice little stockpile of all these hops. I've never done any first wort hopping, but I am very interested in trying it out. This looks like a good brew to try in march, I'd love to enjoy this just as the weather begins to turn.

I will be watching this thread to see how it turns out for you. Thanks :)
 
Poindexter said:
...
replace Phoenix with Willamette
replace Cascade with Amarillo
replace Willamette with Fuggles
replace Mount Hood with Hallertau.
...

Is the 20 minute baseline time frame for FWH add to 170°F wort in the floor of the kettle to full wort boil 20 minutes? Has anyone tried 30 or 45 minutes?
...

I like ths subs. Like you say, make sure to recalculate your IBU's. With the Willamette subbing for the Phoneix, you'll really pick up some additional aroma.

I don't know if the effects of FWH are influenced by a longer "steep" or not. I'm usually in that 30-40 minute area, only because I take a while to get my second sparges completed (and sometimes I'm just distracted...).

My gut tells me that as little as 10-15 minutes steeping in 150-160 wort is enough time to lock in the effect of FWH.
 
You don't have a lid for your keggle do you Biermuncher?

I got my FWH into my wort and steeped it covered for ten minutes, then I pulled the lid and turned the burner on. Smells great.

Total I had the ten minute steep lidded and 18:xx unlidded and heating for 28 minutes and a few seconds total from FWH into the first runnings to boiling wort.

I also ran all my hops through a citrus squeezer to get at more hop juice.

EDIT: 05MAR2008. I got it bottled today. That isn't worth bumping the thread, but I have had to taste this one last on the days I collect hydrometer samples. The hop flavor in this one, well, it is more and it is different. Like 15 minutes later I still have hop flavor onmy tongue. 21 days at 70°F. 21 days at 70°F. 21 days at 70°F.
 
Poindexter said:
You don't have a lid for your keggle do you Biermuncher?

No lid, but the keggle keeps things plenty hot and my sparging is a bit longer process so the hops steeping gets plenty of time.

I just moved this batch to the kegerator and gave it a sampling. It’s been sitting in the keg in my 40 degree garage for about 4 weeks.

I am firmly convinced that the combination of First Wort Hopping and late (very late) additions for hops aroma/flavor is the way to go.

This beer (flat and still pretty young) tastes absolutely fantastic. The bitterness that exists is balanced and spot-on servable right now. There is no back of the throat "sting" I usually get from highly hopped beers that are less than 2-3 months old. The hop flavor/aroma is very rich. Very flavorful. And not hidden by a high bitterness.

This is a 1.055 OG over a 54-IBU brew. That would normally (in my book) require a lengthy mellow time. But this beer will be ready as soon as it’s carb’d and cleared.

So from now on…for me…my hops go in at first wort drain, and/or with less than 10 minutes left in the boil. No more 60, 40, 30 or 20 minute additions.
 
I did this recipe yesterday and it fermenting wonderfully. My OG was 1.057, this was my time dry wort hopping and I can tell that it will be fantastic and am very excited to drink the final product!

Will post after I rack-chill-keg...
 
Mine was bottled 14 days ago and it is really, really good already. I am going to have a hard time letting this one get any age on it once day 21 gets here.

I am curious to know how long y'all have your late hops in the wort, thinking I can/ should go longer.

Generally on say a (1) hopping, those hops would be in for one minute of boil, maybe five of transferring, 15 in the whirlpool, so ~21 minutes total.

Is that about what you folks are doing or should I slow down a little bit?
 
Sadly, I tapped this keg today and I am NOT happy with the results. There's a faint hop aroma, but there is no hop flavor/taste. Rather sweet and malty. It's not a bad beer, just not what I was hoping for. I think I may have used some really old hops (need to go back to my notes) and I didn't get anything out of them. Oh well.
 
Poindexter said:
...I am curious to know how long y'all have your late hops in the wort, thinking I can/ should go longer.

Generally on say a (1) hopping, those hops would be in for one minute of boil, maybe five of transferring, 15 in the whirlpool, so ~21 minutes total.

Is that about what you folks are doing or should I slow down a little bit?

One trick I’ve found (thanks to niquejim) to lock in the flavor/aroma is to add the hops for the one minute boil. Kill the flame and drop in the (sanitized) chiller and drop the temp to 180 and hold it there for 10-15 minutes. Then continue to chill as normal.
 
Kilted Brewer said:
Sadly, I tapped this keg today and I am NOT happy with the results. There's a faint hop aroma, but there is no hop flavor/taste. Rather sweet and malty. It's not a bad beer, just not what I was hoping for. I think I may have used some really old hops (need to go back to my notes) and I didn't get anything out of them. Oh well.

Been waiting. I have a fair amount of Amarillo hops (high in beta acids) out oxidizing in big bowls at room temp on purpose. I am _planning_ to brew with a huge amount of low alpha hops to get the betas into the keg.

How old were your hops? What was their "as new/frozen" AA rating, and how many ounces did you use?

I am about to use 2007 harvest never sealed in Nitrogen 9.8% AA Amarillos, but I am counting that as 6% AA right now....

I have a feeling this technique is going to work very well with high beta acid hops as long as the AA IBUs stay reasonable. I'll send you one of mine in the next few weeks if you PM me an adress, I have to get my RIS out first....
 
I'm talking about a 2000 crop of Homegrown hops that I got about 8 months ago. Some where in sealed bags, but full of air. Who knows how they were handled before I got them.

I'd love to swap though. I can bottle up a few of mine and send them your way. PM's on the way.
 
Kilted Brewer said:
I'm talking about a 2000 crop of Homegrown hops that I got about 8 months ago. Some where in sealed bags, but full of air. Who knows how they were handled before I got them.

Times are tough when we're dragging out 8 year home grown hops. :(

Maybe you can get some fresh hops, boil up a hop tea and add it to the beer.
 
BierMuncher said:
Times are tough when we're dragging out 8 year home grown hops. :(

Maybe you can get some fresh hops, boil up a hop tea and add it to the beer.

Yeah....you do what you can! :D I just couldn't live with throwing them away. I work for a winery and still feel bad for dumping wine after a tasting.

Don't get me wrong fellas...this, to me, is a good beer. The hops I was hoping for just aren't there. Not enough to call it an IPA in my mind. And that's on my end, not the recipe!
 
Kilted Brewer said:
Yeah....you do what you can! :D I just couldn't live with throwing them away. I work for a winery and still feel bad for dumping wine after a tasting.

Don't get me wrong fellas...this, to me, is a good beer. The hops I was hoping for just aren't there. Not enough to call it an IPA in my mind. And that's on my end, not the recipe!

Mine has been bottled 20 days today and I am starting another batch. With fresh hops this came out great. I am pushing the envelope a little this time, a friend is loaning me space in the engine room of his boat to age a keg of IPA.

After primary I am going to rack it to a keg with priming sugar and dry hops. I'll give it a couple weeks to carb up before it goes on the boat, then I will taste the first sample in December 2008. The boat is a 45 foot something with two bedrooms and twin diesels. (Not mine.)

For grains I am mashing 2# of marris Otter with 0.5# Melanoiden, and .25# each CaraPils and Crystal 40. I did (60) at 93°F, doing (20) at 126°F, and will do (60) at 152°.

While heating from 126 to 150 I am going to add 6 HBUs of mashing hops. For FWH I'll use another 18 HBUs, then 8-10HBUs at (1) and I'll dryhop with another 8-10.

I am using up a stash of Amarillo that never was under nitrogen and is going stale. I pulled it out to a big mixing bowl in my bedroom a couple weeks ago, I am counting the current AA around 6%. Going for lots of beta acids this time.

I think this beer is going to go great with Indian food this winter. Palak Paneer. dal. ghee. And so on.

I'll PM you a tracking number when the time comes Kilted, I am very happy with this technique.

EDIT: I also have 4# pale LME for (0), 1# of wheat LME for (0) and I have some cornsugar in reserve I am thinking about. I'll be checking the gravity of my minimash and so on, I want to mash high for malt flavor and low for fermentables, so I bought some extra cornsugar last weekend...shooting for 1.050 to 1.060 or so.
 
I'm sippin on a Bridgeport IPA right now and I gotta say it's pretty tasty! This is gonna go on the "to brew" list.

One thing though, I'm not sure I'd call it an IPA....maybe back in '84 it was the hoppiest of the hoppy but to me it's almost falling into the pale ale category.....just my $0.02 remember. I'm saying this also bc it might not be the uber hoppy brew you were expecting Kilted Brewer

Thanks again BM!
 
You are right.SWMBO and I went to Bridgeport for lunch yesterday and they had the IPA on cask. It was much lighter than mine but the taste was very similar. It's not a very hippy beer.
 
So I put one of these in the freezer for 22 minutes and this thing came up and I got called away and it ended up being three hours.

I certainly wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the feds for intentionally concentrating alcohol, but I rather enjoyed accidently having concentrated the hops flavor.

All I am saying is if you to get paged and your FWH brew looks part frozen when you finally get back home you probably have a tasty treat waiting for you.
 
And I got one bottle of biermuncher's original recipe DH in the RIS swap, from biermuncher.

I have to go all grain, not negotiable. Partial Mash is good beer, but now I know better.

Just mind boggling. If I had used that much Crystal in a PM batch my beer would be much darker, and now I think I know what extract twang is.

This one bottle of "free" beer is going to cost me several hundred dollars.
 
Poindexter said:
And I got one bottle of biermuncher's original recipe DH in the RIS swap, from biermuncher.

I have to go all grain, not negotiable. Partial Mash is good beer, but now I know better.

Just mind boggling. If I had used that much Crystal in a PM batch my beer would be much darker, and now I think I know what extract twang is.

This one bottle of "free" beer is going to cost me several hundred dollars.
And we bring yet another to the dark side of all grain brewing... ;)
 
That “whoosh” of hops was almost sweet in its floral flavor.

That's what I'm looking for! Bridgeport is the only beer that smells like roses and lychees. The commercial description on Ratebeer lists Cascade, Chinook, Goldings, Crystal and Ahtanum. Any idea which one brings that lychee?

Maybe I'll just have to make a fruit beer with actual lychees....
 
Cracked open a bottle of Bridgeport and poured a pint of this clone. Pretty damn close! I think another month of aging and it will be spot on.
 
I'm planning on making a couple more batchs in the next few weeks. I haven't been able to find Phoenix hops anywhere, at my LHBS, or online.
Last batch I substituted Columbus hops. What is everyone else doing? Have you guys been able to get Phoenix hops?
 
This thread is what caused me to join this forum. I'm going to go buy all the ingredients, and give this one a go. Bridgeport IPA has been my staple beer for years, and now after some extract batches, I want to go all grain. Thanks a million. Will do proper introduction later when I have more time.
 
This thread is what caused me to join this forum. I'm going to go buy all the ingredients, and give this one a go. Bridgeport IPA has been my staple beer for years, and now after some extract batches, I want to go all grain. Thanks a million. Will do proper introduction later when I have more time.

Yeah for one new recruit. :rockin:
 
Here's what I have; I have all the right ingredients, except the supplier doesn't carry Phoenix hops, instead recommended Kent Goldugs (?), but suggested doubling up on it. So I bought that.

I'm thinking of doubling the recipe, or close to, because I have a ten gallon fermentor, then kegging it in two five gallon soda kegs. As soon as I think I have it right, I'll do the same thing again, while enjoying the first batch. I had to buy 55 lbs. of the Maris so the next batch should be much cheaper.

Pretty excited to do my first batch of all grain. Cheers, here's to not messing it up.
 
I have a question. I want to brew 10 gallons, but as this recipe is for 5.5, I can't simply double it can I? I have a ten gallon fermentor.
 
I have a question. I want to brew 10 gallons, but as this recipe is for 5.5, I can't simply double it can I? I have a ten gallon fermentor.

Doubling (in general) is fine. If you have BeerSmith, I'd advise plugging it in and being sure. BS has a nice conversion tool for scaling recipes up or (God forbid) down. :D
 
Doubling (in general) is fine. If you have BeerSmith, I'd advise plugging it in and being sure. BS has a nice conversion tool for scaling recipes up or (God forbid) down. :D

Thanks, I just doubled the recipe. Took me about 6 hours, not too bad. I thought my first all grain was going to take a lot longer. I need to build a good three tier system for the next batch, but I got it done and it's bubbling away this morning. I added a table spoon of Irish moss, too, about a tablespoon for the last minute.
 
It's been a while, quite a while since I finished this batch. Sadly I messed something up. I just haven't had time to try again. It came out flat and sweet. I couldn't get a swallow down.
 
After seeing this last night at my local bottlo and buying a bottle to try, this is one of the best IPA's Ive ever tried. I'm keen to brew this and Im going with the recipe at the start of this thread.
But after reading the blog on KSWbeer about this IPA Im thnking of making a few changes.

http://www.kswbeer.com/2011/04/bridgeport-ipa.html


Im using the hops the brewery uses except Ahtanum as I cant get any, so will sub this with Williamette. Im also adding a small addition of wheat malt.

Here is my recipe, suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Bridgeport IPA clone

Batch Size: 25.00 l
Style: American IPA ()
Boil Size: 31.08 l
Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 16.0 EBC
Equipment: Troys 4V System
Bitterness: 53.5 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.059 (14.4° P)
Mash Profile: Troys Temperature Mash, 2 Step, Full Body
Est FG: 1.014 SG (3.6° P)
ABV: 5.9% Taste Rating: 30.0


5.30 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1
530.4 g Melanoiden Malt (39.4 EBC) Grain 2
265.2 g Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 3
259.3 g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 4
377.7 g Wheat Malt, Bel (3.9 EBC) Grain 5
25.1 g Chinook [13.0%] - First Wort Hops 6
25.1 g Cascade [5.5%] - First Wort Hops 7
25.1 g Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - First Wort Hops 8
25.1 g Crystal [3.5%] - First Wort Hops 9
25.1 g Willamette [5.5%] - First Wort Hops 10
25.1 g Crystal [3.5%] - Boil 1 min Hops 11
25.1 g Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 1 min Hops 12
25.1 g Cascade [5.5%] - Boil 1 min Hops 13
25.1 g Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 1 min Hops 14
25.1 g Willamette [5.5%] - Boil 1 min Hops 15
1 pkgs Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 16
 
Ive added the wheat because of what they say over on the blog at KSWbeer.

All of their grains are from Great Western, and they use a small addition of wheat.
 
Just got my AG set up off CL. When I get off in a week , I'm hoping to do this as my 1st AG. Bridgeport IPA is about my favorite commercial beer.
Cheers,
Tom
 
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