Good Grain Bill Combos for IPA

[LilLostCoveBrewer]

New to the forum and first post, but have used this site to answer lots of questions.

Anyway, I've got some left over grains and hops from my last batch (ESB) and I'm looking to get rid of them by brewing with what I got left. Only brewing 1 gallon and will be using the BIAB method with a pour over sparge at the end of 60 min mash. I've put my grains into Brew Target and tried to match a style with my remaining grains/hops and this is what I came up with.

2.5 lbs of 2 row pale malt
3.7 oz of Caramel 20L

The plan is to boil for 60 min with hop bittering additions of Willamette at 60 min, flavor additions of Willamette at 25 min and finish additions of EK Goldings at 5 min.

How do you think this beer will turn out taste wise? Brew Target has the ABV at 6.6%, IBU at 45.6, and color of 6.8. I'm new to brewing, so haven't fully grasped what flavors I will get out of each grain.

 

[charliehorse]

First of all, welcome to the obsession, I mean hobby. If your local brew shop will allow you (and IIRC, the one on 70, west of West End BBQ, will), taste the grains. All of them. That said, 2.5 lb of 2 row with nearly a 1/4 of a pound of C20 seems like the ratio is off. IMHO, an IPA should start with a good grain bill and once you have that down, you can change up the hop schedule are you desire. For instance, for a 5 gallon batch, I use this grain bill for an IPA, every time:
11 lb Maris Otter (64.7%)
4.5 lb Munich (26.5%)
1 lb of C20 (5.9%)
.5 lb Carapils (2.9%)

This grain bill gives me an OG of 1.087 (and an ABV of 8.5%).

As far as the hops go (one of the great things about this obsession, I mean hobby, is that we can choose this stuff), you'll find Williamette to be rather mild and uninteresting (hint: that's what Bud uses). It has a fairly low Alpha Acid, so you won't be getting the bitterness that is characteristic of an IPA. The EKG is also a pretty basic hop. If I were there teaching you, I would recommend using something like Citra at 30 (or 25) minutes and 5 minutes. This particular hop with give you some of the floral and fruity notes that you might b e more familiar with.

 

[pshankstar]

Subscribing to this thread b/c I am looking into BIAB grain bill ideas for IPAs too. Welcome to the obsession/hobby! Cheers!

 

[charliehorse]

Subscribing to this thread b/c I am looking into BIAB grain bill ideas for IPAs too. Welcome to the obsession/hobby! Cheers!

Contrary to many opinions, an (good or great) IPA is a lot more than the hop schedule. Remember what an IPA is. It's effectively a super hopped Pale Ale (you can add "imperial" or "double" or "triple" in front of it, but it still is a pale ale in it's heart). Knowing this, the backbone of any beer is the malt bill. My recommendation to new brewers is to get the APA (or EPA) down solid... malt bill, mash temps, mash times, etc, then hop it into IBU range (software will help with this).

What does all that mean? I use exactly the grain bill that I showed in the previous post for APAs and for IPAs. For APAs, I add an ounce of bittering at 60 and some flavoring at 15. For an IPA, hops are added at 60, 30, 15, 5 and dry.

One more thing that I tell new brewers... if you keep everything post boil sanitized correctly, the worst thing that'll happen is that you end up with beer.

 

[LilLostCoveBrewer]

Ended up finding some Vienna left over and added that to the recipe as well. The only reason I used this grain bill and hop selection was just due to what I had left over from my last batch. Ratios of grain came out:

2 Row - 75%
Car 20L - 16%
Vienna - 9%

With the BIAB I didn't get but 60% effeciency , but have gotten way higher before. Not sure what happened, temp seemed to stay high during mash after strike water so that could have been the issue. Anyway, hopped with .5 oz of Willamette at 60 min and a .5 oz of Ek Goldings at 5 min. I plan to dry hop with Cascades (0.5-1 oz) with 5-7 days left in fermentation to give it that nose. Hopefully this will be a nice blend of American and English IPA. OG came out at 1.061 with an expected abv of 5.9 %, so not too crazy. Hopefully it will be a nice somewhat hoppy sessionable IPA.

I'm a huge stickler about sanitation, so hopefully I'll at least end up with some drinkable with this "kitchen sink" brew.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[specharka]

Thieving from Braufessor, but IMO

45% 2-row
45% Maris Otter / Golden Promise
4% Flaked barley
4% Flaked oats
2% Honey malt / Victory

...it's a good way to go.

 

[skepace]

A

 

[marshallb]

double post, not sure how I did that.

 

[marshallb]

How do you feel about this grain bill? I need a critique on it. It fits your leftovers.
You could throw your crystal into this and not even know it was there.
74% 2 Row Pale
18% 6 Row
3.7% Carapils
1.3% SpecialB
3% Candi Sugar/Clear
Adjust accordingly for your crystal addition for a DIPA at 5 gallons.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks of how this might work out.

 

[specharka]

How do you feel about this grain bill? I need a critique on it. It fits your leftovers.
You could throw your crystal into this and not even know it was there.
74% 2 Row Pale
18% 6 Row
3.7% Carapils
1.3% SpecialB
3% Candi Sugar/Clear
Adjust accordingly for your crystal addition for a DIPA at 5 gallons.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks of how this might work out.

What is the point of using 6-row barley? There's plenty of diastatic power in there to convert all of the starches without issue. I've never seen 6-row used outside of Bud Light clones where the majority is adjunct.

I would scrap the Special B malt for something lighter on the Lovibond spectrum, too -- seems a little heavy handed for an IPA. Just a thought.

 

[marshallb]

What is the point of using 6-row barley? There's plenty of diastatic power in there to convert all of the starches without issue. I've never seen 6-row used outside of Bud Light clones where the majority is adjunct.

I would scrap the Special B malt for something lighter on the Lovibond spectrum, too -- seems a little heavy handed for an IPA. Just a thought.

Thanks for the feedback. The 6 row was in hopes that the extra proteins might stay suspended keeping a full bodied, non-clear finished product. How off am I on that? Also since it has a little more flavor, that would compliment the flavorless sugars that will ferment away.
The Special B was to bring the color into the SRM range I was looking for while adding some complexity to the malt flavors of the beer.
This is my first time building a grain bill completely from scratch. My beers this year have been turning out really well so I'm trying to come up with something unique.

 

[specharka]

Thanks for the feedback. The 6 row was in hopes that the extra proteins might stay suspended keeping a full bodied, non-clear finished product. How off am I on that? Also since it has a little more flavor, that would compliment the flavorless sugars that will ferment away.

The Special B was to bring the color into the SRM range I was looking for while adding some complexity to the malt flavors of the beer.

This is my first time building a grain bill completely from scratch. My beers this year have been turning out really well so I'm trying to come up with something unique.

Well, I've never heard of 6-row being used for that purpose. That being said, I have zero experience with 6-row so I have no idea what effect it might have. I routinely add flaked wheat, barley and oats to beers to boost mouthfeel and head retention, and they usually finish fairly hazy. Anywhere between 5-20% flaked grains will have a positive impact on body and haziness. And yeast -- you want a low-flocculant variety like WY1318 or Conan.

I will suggest that if you're looking for some complementary maltiness, you might want to use a larger proportion of something lighter, say 2-5% Victory malt. But I've always been a fan of extra pale IPAs -- my last batch had 2% C60 and I honestly think I may have overdone it. To each his own.

 

[marshallb]

Well, I've never heard of 6-row being used for that purpose. That being said, I have zero experience with 6-row so I have no idea what effect it might have. I routinely add flaked wheat, barley and oats to beers to boost mouthfeel and head retention, and they usually finish fairly hazy. Anywhere between 5-20% flaked grains will have a positive impact on body and haziness. And yeast -- you want a low-flocculant variety like WY1318 or Conan.

I will suggest that if you're looking for some complementary maltiness, you might want to use a larger proportion of something lighter, say 2-5% Victory malt. But I've always been a fan of extra pale IPAs -- my last batch had 2% C60 and I honestly think I may have overdone it. To each his own.

Ha there's so much to learn. I'm trying to stay away from wheat and oats in this particular recipe for very little reason other than taking the road less traveled. I plan to use CalAle yeast but am not married to it.
Typically I like a pale ipa as well, but I'm hopping on the east coast craze bandwagon this year. I'd like to end up with a fuller bodied, easy drinking ipa with some color.
On the same end of the spectrum but other side of the country is Soul Style. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's the easiest drinking ipa I've ever had. Its quaffability was truly impressive.
I just wish there was an easier way to taste a grain bill than brewing experimental batches. Thats the beauty of this whole thing though right?

 

[jwalk4]

Here's a fun little site that I use when I am curious about different grain bills:
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/10/ahanhc-gold-medal-winning-recipes-for.html

This guy hand enters or links to different NHC gold medal recipes. If you want good grain combos, maybe start there?

Edit: I am not the original poster of this site on here. Someone else found it.