First All Grain IPA - Need Some Help

[wildeagles87]

I am trying to put together an IPA recipe and this is what I have so far. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mash at 153 F for 60 min
13 # American 2 Row
1 # Caramel 40L
1 # Victory
1 # Cara Pils

.75 oz Magnum (15%) 60 min
.5 oz Magnum (15%) 45 min
.75 oz Mt. Hood (5%) 15 min
.75 oz Mt. Hood (5%) 5 min
1.5 oz East Kent Golding (5%) 5 min

2 smack packs Wyeast American Ale 1056

2 oz Centennial dry hop

OG 1.076
FG 1.015
IBU - 75

 

[dcp27]

Personally, I wouldn't use the Mt hood. Not sure if this is an english/american IPA, but I'd either go with something like fuggles/williamette/EKG or amarillo/centennial instead. I'd also drop the 45min add and just go with 1oz of Magnum at 60.

 

[TheMan]

I agree, the 45 min addition of magnum won't affect flavor or aroma...just do as dcp said and add 1 oz. at 60 mins. I've never used Mt. Hood, but I like cascade and centennial as a late hop addition.

Also, I'd lower the Caramel malt to just a half pound. I find a pound of caramel is more powerful than you think. Other than that it looks good. I especially like your Victory addition, I like to put that in my ipas as well.

But the beauty of this hobby is you can do whatever you like and see how it turns out!

 

[LVBen]

I agree, the 45 min addition of magnum won't affect flavor or aroma...just do as dcp said and add 1 oz. at 60 mins. I've never used Mt. Hood, but I like cascade and centennial as a late hop addition.

But the beauty of this hobby is you can do whatever you like and see how it turns out!

+1 on centennial for late hop addition. That is what they use in Stone IPA for that very delicious citrus flavor!

 

[TheMan]

yeah, I recently did an all centennial SMASH brew. It turned out fantastic and really turned my attention toward centennial.

 

[DavidSteel]

Just wanted to say that you might want to take down the Victory to .5

 

[TheMan]

Just wanted to say that you might want to take down the Victory to .5

And this is why the forums can be difficult to get information lol...I said I liked your victory addition, Davidsteel thinks you should lower it...neither of us is wrong, it's all personal taste. You're going to have to make your own decision on some things.

 

[DavidSteel]

And this is why the forums can be difficult to get information lol...I said I liked your victory addition, Davidsteel thinks you should lower it...neither of us is wrong, it's all personal taste. You're going to have to make your own decision on some things.

Haha, well I don't think a whole lb is necessary and victory tends to dominate the flavor profile, so.. I think it'd just be more balanced if it was lowered.

 

[dcp27]

Haha, well I don't think a whole lb is necessary and victory tends to dominate the flavor profile, so.. I think it'd just be more balanced if it was lowered.

oh damn really? I was planing on doing a recipe using 25% victory/special roast (about 3.5lbs combined), guess I'll have to change that

edit: that ones a porter though, so would that be ok?

 

[TheMan]

oh damn really? I was planing on doing a recipe using 25% victory/special roast (about 3.5lbs combined), guess I'll have to change that

I'd have to agree with Davidsteels opinion in ragrds to your 25% victory/special B recipe...that sounds a bit much to even me, and I like victory. I believe I read somewhere that Victory shouldn't take up more than 10% of a recipe.

 

[DavidSteel]

The 1lb cara-pils is a bit much in the recipe too, especially considering you already have crystal 40 (cara-pils is similar to crystal 10), but if you want some crazy head retention, go ahead and leave it in. It's your recipe man lol. What you got will still turn out amazing, especially if you use english hops, but the only thing that'd bother me would be the victory overpowering it. I'd bring it down to .75-.8 if you really like it lol

 

[dcp27]

I'd have to agree with Davidsteels opinion in ragrds to your 25% victory/special B recipe...that sounds a bit much to even me, and I like victory. I believe I read somewhere that Victory shouldn't take up more than 10% of a recipe.

ya i saw that too, but i just chose to ignore it haha. i think i might still do it eventually, ill just shrink the batch down

sorry to be kinda hijacking the thread, but what happens when you go above the recommended amount of a specialty grain, like 10% for victory or 20% for crystal? does it start to taste bad or does it just mask everything else? Has anyone every tried it? Are those recommendations just old thoughts passed down like only using low AA% hops for finishing? I'm all up for experimenting, its half the fun of homebrewing, but if there's solid reasons not to go above an amount, I'd hate to ruin a batch doing so.

 

[TheMan]

I'm sure it just makes it unbalanced toward the specialty grain of choice. Depending on if you like the malt you might like it though. I'd say experiment all you like as I agree, it is half the fun of homebrewing.

 

[reddskinnfan]

Keep the Victory addition, or raise it to 1.5#. Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, or Simcoe for your flavor/aroma additions. Just my $0.02!

 

[user 22118]

I was thinking the victory was fine in this recipe. Too much Crystal Caramel malts for my liking, maybe half the CaraPils and Crystal 40L so that you have a total of 1lb. That would make you down from 13% to right around the 7% range which is getting towards the top end of my liking (about 10% max for me).

Hops, Mt Hood won't really do too much good for you as mentioned before. Cascade, willamette, EKG or something else could really replace those for a better flavor. Though I agree with everyone about Centennial, keeping the Willamette and EKG IPA is a fine idea. I think you will like it and then you can play with the recipe the next time in order to get a couple other flavors into it.

Either way, whether you take some, all or none of the advise from us, make the beer and you will find yourself enjoying it I am sure! Cheers