First Imperial IPA recipe: advice and comments

[MrHadack]

Hi everyone,

Some friends of mine have requested I brew a strong IPA. I don't drink a lot of IPA or Imperial IPA, and I have never brewed one, so my experience is limited. IPAs I have tried and liked are Wachusett's Larry, Pliny the Elder, and Ithaca Flower Power.

I know you want to keep the malt bill relatively simple, but it needs to be strong enough to stand up and support the powerful hop character. With that in mind, here's the recipe I came up with. If anyone could lend advice or offer commentary on changes they'd make (or general IPA brewing tips) I'd be most grateful.

6 Gallon Batch
2-Row (13#)
White wheat (2#)
Light Crystal (2#)
Mash @ 155

90 minute Boil:
Corn Sugar (2#)
Bravo Hops, 17.3%, 1.5oz 90min
Sterling Hops, 9.3%, 1oz 45min
Crystal Hops, 3.3%, 1oz Post Boil (hopback)

California Ale Yeast, White Labs 001

Dry Hopping in Secondary:
2oz Sterling
2oz Bravo

Some other notes:
I have 3lbs of fresh leaf hops to use (1 pound each Bravo, Sterling, and Crystal) and from what I have read I figure this would work well. I could be wayyyy off base because of my lack of hop experience. I plugged this recipe into software and it APPEARS to look ok. But I prefer real world advice to software any day.

Thanks!

 

[hot_carl]

Are those measures in the hops schedule for fresh leaf hops? It looks like a schedule for dried/pellet hops. If they are wet (you said fresh, but Ive seen dry whole leaf hops called 'fresh') you want to use something like ~6oz wet hops for ever 1oz of dried/pellet hops called for. Other than that it looks like a stellar recipe. I have found that brown sugar works well in my IPA recipes to bump up the ABV.

 

[MrHadack]

Sorry, more specifically they are dry whole leaf hops.

 

[hot_carl]

Yeah, that recipe looks pretty on point. I've never used Bravo before...I usually use Warrior hops for my main bittering, but as long as you get the IBU's up there and have a nice floral hoppy aroma it works. The more I look at it, you probably dont need all 4 oz of hops for dry hopping...1oz of each should do the trick and leave more for the next brew. Cheers

 

[MrHadack]

Perfect-- thanks for the input. I'll cut the dry hopping as recommended and see how it works.

 

[WhenInMinnesota]

You might also consider dropping the mash temp, for an IPA I try and mash around 149, I like to have a drier IPA once it finishes.

 

[bottlebomber]

Do not use 2 whole pounds of crystal! IPAs are much more enjoyable when a little crisp and dry. Also, I really like what a pound of munich malt brings to an IPA. I would cut back the crystal to 8 ounces and add a pound of munich

 

[asterix404]

Also I don't see a flavor hop addition. I don't know if that was intentional or not but I figured I would point it out since most IPAs have a hop flavor component.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

Personally I would up the 2-row and do away with the corn sugar, but that's just me. I've only used brown sugar once and didn't like the results. I have no personal experience with corn sugar, but I haven't heard good things.

 

[Piratwolf]

I've had no probs with corn sugar in the boil. 100% fermentable and supposedly dries the beer a bit, which I like in a medium IPA.

"All your home brew are belong to us!"

 

[MrHadack]

Okay, recipe modified. I added some commentary as well so people can correct any misconceptions I have with the process.

6 Gallon Batch
American 2-Row (15#) (Raised base malt and got rid of corn sugar)
White wheat (2#) (Head retention)
Munich malt (1#) (As recommended, I assume this is to add complexity)
Crystal 40L (.5#) (To get color up)
Mash @ 151 (I know lower temps are typical, but I want a little more body)

Boil Hop Additions:
Bravo Hops, 17.3%, 1oz 90min
Sterling Hops, 9.3%, 1oz 60min
Crystal Hops, 3.3%, 1oz 30min

Secondary:
2oz Sterling
2oz Bravo
(I read 2oz is good for a moderate aroma... I want this to have a real pop to it.)

Yeast: WLP 001 (California Ale)

Thoughts?

 

[MrHadack]

The numbers (based on 75% efficiency, 80% attenuation which is usually where I end up on previous beers I have done.)

OG: 1.079
TG: 1.016
SRM: 10.69
ABV: 8.31%
IBU: 90.3

 

[bottlebomber]

Looks good!

 

[Stankonia]

4oz of dry hops is a lot..why not make that 2 oz and actually add some later/flavor hop additions with the other 2oz? All your hop additions are bittering.

 

[MrHadack]

Stankonia,
Thanks for the suggestion. I think I will make the following change:

Boil Hop Additions:
Bravo Hops, 17.3%, 1oz 90min
Sterling Hops, 9.3%, 1oz 60min
Crystal Hops, 3.3%, 1oz 5min
Sterling Hops, 9.3%, 1oz 5min


Secondary:
1oz Sterling
1oz Bravo

 

[Yooper]

Do not use 2 whole pounds of crystal! IPAs are much more enjoyable when a little crisp and dry. Also, I really like what a pound of munich malt brings to an IPA. I would cut back the crystal to 8 ounces and add a pound of munich

This! Even .5 pound of crystal may be a bit much but would be alright.

Sterling and crystal hops have very little "hoppy flavor" and are clean finishing hops like you'd use for German lagers. The recipe you have posted is a bitter beer with no hoppy flavor or aroma, but a "clean" flavor due to the hops.

I'd totally redo, as I'd change the grainbill to two-row, .5 pound wheat (or carapils for head retention), and a pound of corn sugar to get your OG to 1.080. Then I'd hop with 50 IBUs at 60 minutes, and add hops at 15/5/0/dryhop. I'd use either American varieties of hops like centennial, citra, amarillo, cascade OR English varieties like fuggles and EKG. Even willamette would be better than sterling and crystal.

If you like Pliny, you will NOT like the recipe you posted. Check out the Pliny recipe here on the forum, or other IIPA recipes for some great suggestions!

 

[Carter5112]

If you like Pliny then that beer has sugar added at boil. I did a pound in my clone attempt and it turned out great.

I would only have one bittering hop addition. I like to boil for 90 min but not add my first bittering addition until 60. That way I can check how my boil off is going and adjust if necessary. I think you need a good 1.5 oz or so at 15 min. Possibly another 1 oz at flameout. Dry hops looks good.

 

[cladinshadows]

This! Even .5 pound of crystal may be a bit much but would be alright.

Sterling and crystal hops have very little "hoppy flavor" and are clean finishing hops like you'd use for German lagers. The recipe you have posted is a bitter beer with no hoppy flavor or aroma, but a "clean" flavor due to the hops.

I'd totally redo, as I'd change the grainbill to two-row, .5 pound wheat (or carapils for head retention), and a pound of corn sugar to get your OG to 1.080. Then I'd hop with 50 IBUs at 60 minutes, and add hops at 15/5/0/dryhop. I'd use either American varieties of hops like centennial, citra, amarillo, cascade OR English varieties like fuggles and EKG. Even willamette would be better than sterling and crystal.

If you like Pliny, you will NOT like the recipe you posted. Check out the Pliny recipe here on the forum, or other IIPA recipes for some great suggestions!

ALL OF THAT.

Your recipe does appear to have the right amount of IBUs for the style, but the literal IBU count is not what American-style IPAs and IIPAs are all about. What matters is plenty of late hopping with the right varieties of citrusy, resinous, evergreen American hops.

Here's a description from the internet of crystal hops: "Aroma: Mild, Floral". The term "mild" has no place in the description of hop character for an IIPA. Here's a description of Centennial: "Aroma: Pungent. Citrus-Like. Floral but not as floral as Cascade. More bitter than Cascade though. " That's more like it.

As far as the malt bill goes, I agree that the crystal malt needs to be drastically reduced. Do not be afraid that there won't be enough balancing malt character, you're putting plenty of malt in to get to that gravity and it will be noticeable. Besides, balance is not what these beers are about. The malt needs to get out of the way so the hops can shine. For example, with my IIPA I mash very low and include about 5% of a low lovibond crystal malt.

Here's a PDF that was purportedly created by Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River (brewer of Pliny the Elder). Hopefully it can provide some inspiration.

http://beerdujour.com/recipes/1pliny the elder clone pdf.pdf

Good luck! Once you start brewing these you may never go back...

 

[MrHadack]

Okay, that does it. I have three 1 pound bags of Bravo, Sterling, and Crystal, and I realize now I am trying to shoe-horn them in where they don't belong. They're not IIPA hops and I know better than that. Thanks for the reality check.

Let me figure out my new selections and boil schedule and I will post back later today. Thanks everyone!

In the meantime, I just finished learning some stuff about water chemistry. I found a combination of brewer salts and additives that will make my water almost perfectly match Burton-on-Trent's chemistry (higher sulfates, calcium, carbonates) and the Ph comes right on target with a 9 SRM beer. Should I bother to do this, and is there anything I should be warned about?

 

[turkeyjerky214]

Another option is to switch out the Munich for Honey Malt. I did this on my most recent IIPA, and it turned out great.

 

[dcp27]

4oz of dry hops is a lot

not for an IIPA

Okay, that does it. I have three 1 pound bags of Bravo, Sterling, and Crystal, and I realize now I am trying to shoe-horn them in where they don't belong. They're not IIPA hops and I know better than that. Thanks for the reality check.

the bravo would be ok, its just not typical. id prolly just bitter with the bravo and stick to more typical hops noted for your late adds tho.

 

[Yooper]

Okay, that does it. I have three 1 pound bags of Bravo, Sterling, and Crystal, and I realize now I am trying to shoe-horn them in where they don't belong. They're not IIPA hops and I know better than that. Thanks for the reality check.

Let me figure out my new selections and boil schedule and I will post back later today. Thanks everyone!

In the meantime, I just finished learning some stuff about water chemistry. I found a combination of brewer salts and additives that will make my water almost perfectly match Burton-on-Trent's chemistry (higher sulfates, calcium, carbonates) and the Ph comes right on target with a 9 SRM beer. Should I bother to do this, and is there anything I should be warned about?

The problem with trying to "hit" that water is that it's probably not doable.

 

[MrHadack]

The problem with trying to "hit" that water is that it's probably not doable.

Out of curiosity, why not? I have a copy of my water report with the levels of Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfates, and so on. The water in my area is really soft with almost no minerals or salts; it's like working with a blank slate. By adding a gram of Gypsum, a gram of baking soda and a couple other things I can get a gallon of water to have around the same ppm of each of the main features of the Burton water (I don't have the numbers with me, but can post when I get home. Perhaps I don't understand fully how it works, which I would certainly believe.)

Regardless, here's a recipe update. I just purchased 8oz each of the following: Chinook, Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra. I modified the grains as well. Here's the new recipe:

6 Gallon Batch
American 2-Row (18#)
White wheat (.5#)
Munich malt (1#) (honey malt, biscuit malt, or whatever)
Crystal Malt (.25#)
Mash @ 150

Boil Hop Additions:
Bravo, 17.3%, 1oz 60min (Might as well use these for bittering!)
Simcoe, 13%, 1oz 15min
Chinook, 13%, 1oz 5min
Amarillo, 12%, 1oz 0min

Dry Hop Secondary:
2oz Citra
2oz Amarillo

Do I owe everyone a bottle when it is done for all this help?

 

[RyanDe680]

What about dry hopping some Amarillo? Nice citrus flavor and aroma.

 

[MrHadack]

What about dry hopping some Amarillo? Nice citrus flavor and aroma.

It's listed there in the latest recipe edit. 2oz of it along with Citra.

 

[Stankonia]

not for an IIPA

Well with around 5.5gallons in a carboy, 4oz of leaf hops would take up quite a bit of space, and my point was that some of those 4oz would be better utilized in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.

 

[MrHadack]

Well with around 5.5gallons in a carboy, 4oz of leaf hops would take up quite a bit of space, and my point was that some of those 4oz would be better utilized in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.

That's a consideration, too. I'll give it some thought.

 

[MrHadack]

Back to water fora minute. Here are the specifics about my water chemistry:

• Alkalinity 42.0 ppm
• Calcium 4.5 ppm
• Magnesium 0.9 ppm
• Bicarbonate 51.2 ppm
• Sulfate 6.9 ppm
• Sodium 33.4 ppm
• Chlorine 2.5 ppm

If I add 1g calcium carbonate, 4g gypsum, 1g Epsom salt, and 0.6g sodium bicarbonate per gallon of water, I end up with the following totals (compared with Burton-on-Trent water chemistry in parenthesis):

• Alkalinity 266 (262)
• Calcium 360 (352)
• Magnesium 38 (24)
• Bicarbonate 325 (320)
• Sulfate 740 (820)
• Sodium 78 (54)
• Chlorine 3 (16)

Is it that straight-forward or am I missing something?

 

[Yooper]

Out of curiosity, why not? I have a copy of my water report with the levels of Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfates, and so on. The water in my area is really soft with almost no minerals or salts; it's like working with a blank slate. By adding a gram of Gypsum, a gram of baking soda and a couple other things I can get a gallon of water to have around the same ppm of each of the main features of the Burton water (I don't have the numbers with me, but can post when I get home. Perhaps I don't understand fully how it works, which I would certainly believe.)

I'm not good at explaining water chemistry (barely can understand it enough myself, let alone explain anything!) but it has to do with alkalinity. Here's a thread that talks about it from a water expert (AJ Delange), but it's not exactly what I was looking for at this moment: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/burtonizing-246782/

 

[MrHadack]

Thanks, Yooper.

Generally, do experienced home brewers adjust their water beyond the Ph to emphasize certain minerals? Is there any tangible benefit (i.e. raising the sulfate levels produces a better IPA)?