First time hop stand and IPA recipe advice?

[Pelican521]

Hi all, In my quest to brew the perfect IPA, I wanted to try my hand at doing a hop stand for an IPA recipe. I sort of loosely formulated after checking out some Heady Topper as well as other recipes. I know it won't taste anything like Heady, but wanted to see what you think of this partial mash recipe:

4 lb...................2-Row
1 lb..................Vienna
.25 lb.............Honey Malt
.25 lb.............Crystal 40
.25 lb.............Wheat Malt
4.5 lb.............Extra light DME

.5 oz.............Columbus @ 60
1 oz.............Simcoe @ 10
.5 oz............Nugget @ 10
1 oz.............Columbus 20 min steep
1 oz.............Simcoe 20 min steep
.5 oz.............Chinook 20 min steep
.5 oz.............Centennial 20 min steep
.5 oz.............Columbus Dry Hop 5 Days
1 oz.............Centennial Dry Hop 5 Days
.5 oz.............Chinook Dry Hop 5 Days
1 oz.............Simcoe Dry Hop 5 Days

Wyeast 1056

I like IPAs with a lot of pine/dankness but I'm a little nervous as Beersmith calculated 101 IBUs for this. I originally had the steep additions set on Beersmith to boil @ 0 min and it didn't calculate any IBUs. When I switched it to the "Steep" option, it added the IBUs. The Approx ABV is 6.86%

Anyone have any comments or advice on this recipe?

Thanks in advance!

 

[NedStackey]

Are you using the DME to gain more alcohol without using more 2 Row? Personally I would ditch the DME and add more 2 Row. I made a Double IPA recently and used 13lbs of 2 Row so maybe use like 8 or 9 lbs? Just a personal thing I guess for me to not use DME.

I would also add a little more to the beginning of your boil. 1/2 an oz of Columbus really isn't going to cut it. Again, for the double IPA I put in 3 oz (1 oz of cascade, 1 oz columbus, 1 oz of centennial) at the start of boil and that worked pretty well.

Really though, the recipe looks straight forward. I say brew it, take notes and brew it again, and again, and again. I too am working on my "ideal" IPA/Double IPA and I've tweaked the recipe 4 times now. Good luck.

 

[Pelican521]

Hey Ned, I do a partial mash and my tun can only hold 5.75 lbs of grain, so that's why I have the DME.

This is my 5 or so attempt at my perfect IPA. Up till now, they all suffered from horrible oxidation and by the time they've carbed up in the bottle they were on their way downhill

What was strange is the IBUs in Beersmith went from 64 (or so) to 101 when I switched the input from "boil - 0 min" to the whirlpool/steep selection.

Why would that be when the temp would be lower at a hopstand vs at knockout and would extract less bitterness properties from the hops?

 

[ong]

Beersmith seems to assume your hopstand doesn't start at 212 degrees. I generally cool quickly down to 185 or so, then turn off the cooler, wrap a blanket around the kettle, and add the whirlpool hops, stirring as often as I get around to it.

 

[Singletrack]

I would also add a little more to the beginning of your boil. 1/2 an oz of Columbus really isn't going to cut it.

+1

Also, I don't think you get as much bitterness from the hop stand as BS says. Anyway, what's wrong with 101 IBU for an IPA?

And I agree with ong about chilling a bit before the hop stand. I start at <180 F. In theory, less of the delicious and aromatic volatile compounds will escape at lower temperatures.

 

[ong]

Oh, sorry, I kind of misread your question. The IBUs go up because you're holding it at temp for quite awhile, rather than rapidly cooling down. With a typical flameout addition,you dump in the hops and then immediately start chilling.

 

[PHDrunk]

Personally, I would ignore IBU contributions from any hops that spend less than 30 min in the boil. In my experience, these late additions don't add much in the way of bitterness, only flavor. IBU is kind of a poor indicator in that regard. Use your 60 min addition to balance the beer, then use the late additions to flavor it.


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[losMythos]

IBU's can be gained in the 30 min or less mark but the amount obviously increases. I'm planning on doing an IPA with hop additions at 30 min or less only. IMO from drinking a lot of Hill Farmstead IPA's the smooth bitterness is from late bittering hop additions. I'm not a fan of the astringent sharp bitterness of a 60 or 90 min hop addition. I have not tried this before but I am looking forward to trying the results. Trying to get that chewy/juicy character.

 

[Pelican521]

Ok, I thought it was odd with it bumping up the IBUs... I tweaked the recipe slightly and moved the steep additions back to "boil -0min" (for my own peace of mind) and upped the 60 min Columbus to .75 oz. this brought it back to 69 IBUs.

I find an ipa with just a strong upfront bitterness is one dimensional and masks any other hop flavors and why I was doing a light bittering charge.

Right now I have 2.5 oz going into the hop stand, think that's enough to get some great flavor?

 

[pegasus_brew]

IBU's can be gained in the 30 min or less mark but the amount obviously increases. I'm planning on doing an IPA with hop additions at 30 min or less only. IMO from drinking a lot of Hill Farmstead IPA's the smooth bitterness is from late bittering hop additions. I'm not a fan of the astringent sharp bitterness of a 60 or 90 min hop addition. I have not tried this before but I am looking forward to trying the results. Trying to get that chewy/juicy character.

I just did this for the first time and it's my favorite hoppy beer I've ever brewed. Juicy is the best possible word to describe it. Highly recommended.

 

[ong]

I find an ipa with just a strong upfront bitterness is one dimensional and masks any other hop flavors and why I was doing a light bittering charge.

Right now I have 2.5 oz going into the hop stand, think that's enough to get some great flavor?

Definitely enough to get some flavor. I have the same take on IPA (want to get bowled over by flavor, not just bitterness), and so I usually target about 60% of my IBUs to come late in the boil or during the steep.