First All Grain IPA

[smAllGrain]

Looking for input. plugged info into Brewers Friend

7.5# 2 Row
.5# honey malt
.5# flaked wheat

Mash 154°F 60 min

.5 oz centennial FWH
.5 oz tettenager FWH (left over from last batch)
.5 oz cascade 20 min
.5 oz cascade 10 min
.5 oz centennial 10 min
1 oz cascade whirlpool
1 oz centennial whirlpool

tear it apart
Cheers

 

[ASantiago]

Assuming your target is an American IPA, they tend to be on the drier, attenuated side. I would lower the mash temp to 149 or so.

 

[AlmostWitty]

I agree with lowering the mash temp. It creates more of the easily fermentable sugars because of the enzymatic activity at those temps (a fascinating bit of science to study for the purposes of beer making if you've got the time). If you're aiming for mouthfeel, the wheat should help with that some, bump it up if you're worried.

I like at least a little color in my pale ales, so I'd find some sort of medium color specialty malt to add, but I suppose that's a personal preference, so I won't tell you what to do. Enjoy!

 

[smAllGrain]

Hey thanks for the input. I will def mash at 149. If I was going to add some special malts what would u suggest?

Hop schedule was what I was most worried about. but that looks good as well?

 

[AlmostWitty]

How big is your batch? Looks like 5gal? That will affect hop utilization, but the schedule looks pretty good, though it may not give you a ton of bitterness. I won't go into it too far, but there's some debate as to the level of perceived bitterness that FWH gets you. Do some quick research, do what makes sense to you, and see if you can settle the debate ;-)

Typically added to APAs is some caramel malt in the 10L - 40L range, but one of the joys of homebrew is making things to personal taste.

 

[smAllGrain]

Sorry for the lack of info

Its a 3 Gallon batch. Only have a 5 gallon kettle at the moment and the dream is to invest in more equipment.

According to Brewers Friend

IBU 72.2
OG 1.078
FG 1.022
ABV 7.39

 

[smAllGrain]

BTW... Thinking I will pick up some caramel malts this saturday. Appreciate all the input

 

[WayFrae]

I think you should do either caramel malt or honey malt not both. I prefer my IPAs to not be very sweet and I think having honey and caramel malts would make it too sweet. I don't put any caramel malt in my IPAs anymore and I love it. I use about 92% 2 row pale malt and 8% white wheat malt in my IPAs and it turns out awesome. I feel like the sweet specialty grains don't let the hops shine like they should in an IPA.

 

[AlmostWitty]

I realized the batch size once I started plugging in the numbers to see if I could help any more, but thanks for the confirmation. Taking into account that you're just getting started with the AG side of things, and looking at the numbers, if it were my recipe I'd:

-skip the caramel, and sub out .5lb of the 2 row for another .5lb of the honey malt so that you can really get to know the flavor of it and put that knowledge in your back pocket in case you want to use it in another beer down the road
-Move the 10min Centennial to the beginning of the boil, or maybe just add in a beginning of boil addition. This is where the argument for whether or not FWH bitters differently comes into play. Reference this article for a longer explanation, but I'm calculating a *perception* of about 45IBUs after I move the Centennial addition, which is probably low for what you're looking for in your IPA.

Ultimately, it's up to you, but I try to limit my brews to one new ingredient/process per beer so that I can get an actual idea of what each step is doing so that I can make better beer in the future.

 

[AlmostWitty]

I think you should do either caramel malt or honey malt not both...

And this, friends, is why we refresh before posting. I could have just agreed instead of typing the whole thing out...

 

[smAllGrain]

Brewers Friend is showing that moving my 10 minute Centennial addition to 60 minutes I will get 100 IBU. The app also has an option for FWH which I have selected. Guess I won't really know until I try it. I have heard that FWH will raise bitterness but it is a "Smooth" bitterness. Got that from listening to John Palmer, Denny Conn, & Gordon Strong on the Beer Smith Podcast 29.

I will def skip the crystal, have also heard that 1/2# of honey malt is plenty. (again will need to try for myself to know)

I really appreciate you taking time to help me and I really like the idea of try a new technique\ingredient each time. I may be trying to do too much at once. Just want to have a nice IPA for after running in the Tough Mudder. Thats why I wanted a little higher ABV as well

Guess I will just have to give it a try. Worse case scenario I have beer

Any other input is def welcome. Have a lot to learn. Only been brewing since March of this year

 

[ASantiago]

Brewers Friend is showing that moving my 10 minute Centennial addition to 60 minutes I will get 100 IBU.

Maybe I'm missing something... 1 oz of Centennial at 60 minutes yielding 100 IBUs? What's the %AA on those hops?

 

[smAllGrain]

.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA FWH
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 60 minutes
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool

This would be the updated hop schedule and according to the software I would get 100.62 IBU

Changing the .5 Centennial back to 10 minutes gives me 80.81

 

[Bramstoker17]

Not sure if anyone else suggested this and I missed it, but I'd save the Tettnanger hops for another batch. With all the Centennial and Cascade hops you've got, their bolder flavors will pretty much overwhelm anything you get out of the Tettnager. Grain bill looks pretty good! Good luck!

 

[smAllGrain]

Should I skip the whirlpool (which I planned on doing at 180 for about 20 minutes), and just consider these 0 minute or Flame out additions? Really looking for Aroma with these additions

 

[smAllGrain]

Tettnanger is left over from a Hefe and I am not sure when I would use them again. Would rather add them in then let them go bad from sitting around for too long.

 

[ASantiago]

The numbers look high to me. I ran them (quick and dirty) through BeerSmith and still didn't get 100 IBUs (got 77 instead with whirlpool of 10 minutes). Maybe it has something to do with whirlpool time (which you don't indicate above)?

 

[smAllGrain]

180 F for 30 minutes assuming 5% utilazation(wasn't sure what to put for that) so you are prob correct.

 

[Bramstoker17]

Should I skip the whirlpool (which I planned on doing at 180 for about 20 minutes), and just consider these 0 minute or Flame out additions? Really looking for Aroma with these additions

I would do a whirlpool, I love the flavor and aroma that comes from this. If you're concerned about adding IBUs, drop the wort to around 180 before you add the hops, then steep/whirlpool for however long you want. I usually do a half hour or so.

 

[Bramstoker17]

180 F for 30 minutes assuming 5% utilazation(wasn't sure what to put for that) so you are prob correct.

Looks like you've got it! Should be a good brew!

 

[WayFrae]

.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA FWH
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 60 minutes
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool

This would be the updated hop schedule and according to the software I would get 100.62 IBU

Changing the .5 Centennial back to 10 minutes gives me 80.81

.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA FWH
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 60 minutes
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool

This would be the updated hop schedule and according to the software I would get 100.62 IBU

Changing the .5 Centennial back to 10 minutes gives me 80.81[/QUOTE]

If you are doing FWH you don't really need the 60 min addition. If I were you, I would do:

0.5 oz Centennial FWH
0.5 oz Tettnanger 20 min
0.5 oz Centennial 15 min
0.5 oz Cascade 10 min
1 oz each Cascade and Centennial 30 min hop stand @ 180°F

 

[smAllGrain]

Sorry now I see where I am getting the different IBU Calculations.
I missed the 20 min Cascade addition I had... so this is what it would actually be

.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA FWH
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 20 minute
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 10 minute
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)

How does this look now? Would you still suggest the Tettnanger @ 20 minutes?

Again I apologize for missing that 20 minute addition

 

[WayFrae]

Sorry now I see where I am getting the different IBU Calculations.
I missed the 20 min Cascade addition I had... so this is what it would actually be

.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA FWH
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 20 minute
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 10 minute
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)

How does this look now? Would you still suggest the Tettnanger @ 20 minutes?

Again I apologize for missing that 20 minute addition

In that case I would probably throw the tettnanger in at 15 min.
Or maybe do something like this:
.5 oz Centennial 10AA FWH
.5 oz Tettnanger 4.5AA 20 minute
.5 oz Centennial 10AA 15 minute
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 10 minute
.5 oz Cascade 7AA 5 minute
1 oz Cascade 7AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)
1 oz Centennial 10AA Whirlpool (30 Minute @ 180 F)

I prefer a staggered hop schedule like that for my IPAs. I think it gives great flavor and aroma while keeping the bitterness in check. This should still give you a nicely bitter IPA with great hop flavor and aroma.