Help me make my IPA better

[JJDMusic]

Just like the title says...Help me make my IPA better! I have been brewing the same recipe for a few years now and I like the way it tastes but, I know it can be better.

Just for reference, I am not saying my beer taste like any of these but here are a few IPAs I enjoy: Any Stone Brewery IPA, Weyerbacher's Double Simcoe IPA, and even some hoppier Pale Ales like Oskar Blues' Dale's Pale Ale and Sierra Neveda's Pale Ale.

Okay here is my recipe...

Mash in at 154 degrees for 60 minutes
9 lbs. 2-Row
2 lbs. 2-Row toasted in the oven two weeks prior to brewing
1 lb. Carapils
.5 lb. 40L
.25 lb. 60L
.25 lb. Biscuit
Mash out at 168 degrees for 10 minutes
Drain and Batch Sparge at 168 degrees for 10 minutes

Boil for 90 minutes

Hops
.25 oz. Simcoe at 90 min
.25 oz. Simcoe at 60 min
.25 oz. Simcoe at 45 min
.25 oz. Simcoe at 30 min
.50 oz. Chinook at 25 min
.50 oz. Chinook at 10 min

Chill, Airate, and Pitch
London Ale III Wyeast 1318
Primary two weeks
Secondary dry hop 1 oz. Fuggle two weeks
Keg force carb. set and forget

I'm open to brewing process suggestions but I am really looking for recipe suggestions. I will answer any questions. Thanks.

 

[bdupree]

It's hard to say what you need to do to make it better. If you like it, then it's right on. If it were my IPA, I would add lots more bittering hops and more dry hops. Even with a 90 minute boil and continuous hop additions, that's not really much. I keep the grain bill pretty simple with my IPA's.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I think your grain bill is a little complicated. I would cut out everything but the Two Row & 40l. Depending on how dry you want it, you could add some Corn Sugar or just mash really low, like 148ish. I personally like to do all of my Hop additions starting at 60 minutes, and I would say bring a couple more varieties into the mix, like Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial maybe even Citra. Maybe something like this....

Chinook @ 60
Simcoe @ 20
Amarillo @ 15
Simcoe @ 10
Centennial @ 5
Combo of Simcoe/Amarillo @ FO, and let it steep for 20 mins before chilling
Dry Hop with some combination of those hops(2-3oz) total.
I like to shoot for a BU:GU of at least 1 if not a little higher.

I'm not sure about your yeast as I've never used it before, but you want something that Attenuates well & has a pretty clean profile. Any of the American Ale yeasts are always a good choice, I hear of people using WLP007 Dry English Ale on their Stone Clones. Wyeast 1098 would be the equivelent to that. Those are things I like to do in an IPA, all pretty typical American IPA type things. Hope you find that helpful

 

[ian-atx]

The fuggles dry hop is a bit odd, especially after all of the more american ipa style hop additions during the brew.

Is there anything that you are looking for? A flavor that is lacking or something you don't want to taste?

If it were me, I would simplify the grainbill...like someone else said, just the 2 row with some c40 or c60 depending on what color you are going for. You could also try using maris otter as your base malt, and that might get you more malty/bready flavors without all the crystal/biscuit and toasting of malt. As far as mash temp/sugar addition goes, sometimes I like a nice malty IPA with some sweetness to go with the citrus or piney hops...other times I do like a nice and dry IPA where the hops are all up in your business.

As far as the hops go, I like more flavor and aroma. I really like the methods described here:
http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.htm

Basically put most of your hop charges towards the end (or after the end) of your boil.

Of course, if you really like it the way it is, then don't change it. Maybe start from scratch with a new recipe and concentrate on making a dry, lots of late additions, hop bombs

 

[BendBrewer]

I use twice that amount of hops in my APAs. 3 times the amount for an IPA.

It also seems to me that you are using the bittering hops as aroma and flavor hops and vice versa.

And I would use an American Ale yeast based on the commercial ales that you listed.

 

[Calder]

Add more hops. Shoot for an IBU around 60 to 80, and up the finishing hops too.

Mash lower.

And did I say add more hops! I normally go for somewhere around 8 ozs or more in an IPA. I used 10 ozs in my last one, only 1 oz dry hop. Still waiting to bottle it.

 

[Yooper]

I use twice that amount of hops in my APAs. 3 times the amount for an IPA.

It also seems to me that you are using the bittering hops as aroma and flavor hops and vice versa.

And I would use an American Ale yeast based on the commercial ales that you listed.

I agree. Also, too much crystal. Ditch some of it, or at least all of the carapils. If you're using crystal, you don't need the additional crystal malt (carapils is a crystal malt). Also, you should have plenty of body and head retention with the grainbill and the hops. You may have too much body in that recipe if you're mashing that at 154.

A typical grainbill for my American IPAs:

12 pounds two row
.5 pound crystal, or victory malt, or aromatic malt or something that goes with what I want to do.

For the hopping, adding hops at 45 minutes and 30 minutes are bittering additions- you will get very little hops flavor or aroma from them. I like to add more hops late in the boil, and use 60 minutes as my bittering addition.

Like this:
1 ounce magnum or chinook 60 minutes

1 ounce cascade 15 minutes
1 ounce amarillo 5 minutes
1 ounce cascade 0 minutes

Dryhop with amarillo, cascade, simcoe, centennial, other American hops. Actually, the hops I listed are just an example- you could use any American hops there, particularly the c-hops or simcoe.

As far as the IBUs, for a good balance for an IPA, I like to have a SG/IBU ratio of .800-1.000. For an OG of 1.060, I'd like to see IBUs of 50-65. A firm bitterness, but lots of flavor from late hopping, with enough malt to provide support is all that's needed for a great IPA.

 

[foltster]

If you have brewed it many times you must like grain bill so I would not modify that much. Maybe drop the biscuit and combine the carapils/crystals a bit, but personally I like that crystal sweetness in an IPA, especiialy IPA's that use chinook hops. The best SN Celebration recipe I have uses 1.75LBs of crystal 60, so don't be too afraid of sweetness.

I would move more of the hops later to times later in the boil, with flameout and dry hop additions in the neighborhood of 2oz each, or even 3oz if you are big aroma fan.

So if it was me, and I already brewed and liked the recipe you listed, I would probably try making changes that look something like:

Mash in at 154 degrees for 60 minutes
9 lbs. 2-Row
2 lbs. 2-Row toasted in the oven two weeks prior to brewing
1 lb. Carapils
.75 lb. 60L (or 40L)

Mash out at 168 degrees for 10 minutes
Drain and Batch Sparge at 168 degrees for 10 minutes

Boil for 60 minutes

Hops
.75 oz. Simcoe at 60 min
.50 oz. Simcoe at 20 min
.50 oz. Chinook at 15 min
.50 oz. Chinook at 5 min
.50 oz. Simcoe at Flameout
.50 oz. Chinook at Flameout

I would also add a teaspoon of yeast nutrient to the boil.

Chill, Airate, and Pitch
London Ale III Wyeast 1318
Primary two weeks
Secondary dry hop 2 oz. Fuggle two weeks
Keg force carb. set and forget

 

[JeremyHB]

My personal opinion is that chinook hops are a better addition right at the beginning of the boil. In most of my IPA's I use the chinooks to add bitterness (at the start) and the others as necessary throughout the boil. In my experience that works better. Also I would just choose one type of crystal malt and maybe tweak the amount to get the bight balance of that toffee type risidual sweetness and color. Really no reason to have multiple types of crystal as the sugars therein are unfermentable for the most part.

 

[heywatchthis]

My personal opinion is that chinook hops are a better addition right at the beginning of the boil. In most of my IPA's I use the chinooks to add bitterness (at the start) and the others as necessary throughout the boil. In my experience that works better. Also I would just choose one type of crystal malt and maybe tweak the amount to get the bight balance of that toffee type risidual sweetness and color. Really no reason to have multiple types of crystal as the sugars therein are unfermentable for the most part.

While I'm not a big fan of a lot of crystal in an IPA, the different types of crystal yield DRAMATICALLY different flavors, even in an IPA. Darker ones are more fruity (dates and prunes) and lighter ones tend to be more toffee/caramel centered. It is important to pick which one/s you use based on what flavor you like in your IPA.

If you like the malt bill you have, go for it...you just need more finishing hops for a solid, aromatic, American IPA.

 

[JJDMusic]

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone.

I agree my grain bill is a little complicated and needs to be toned down. I will tone it back a bit. However, I do like crystal malts in a IPA.

I may try a SMaSH beer with Maris Otter to get a feel for what that malt is like(thinking of ian-atx's suggestion to make up for the biscuit and some crystal).

Consensus says....I need more hops.

 

[Paramecium]

I agree with the others on this one. The Chinook would be much better as the bittering hop and you could get away with a lot more hops in this as an IPA. Try throwing an ounce or so of Chinook in as a first wort hop then another couple ounces at 90. Like this assuming you like your malt profile.

Mash in at 152 degrees for 60 minutes (finish a little drier) 154 for an IPA seems a bit high, you want the hops to shine.
9 lbs. 2-Row
2 lbs. 2-Row toasted in the oven two weeks prior to brewing
1 lb. Carapils
.5 lb. 40L
.25 lb. 60L
.25 lb. Biscuit
Mash out at 168 degrees for 10 minutes
Drain and Batch Sparge at 168 degrees for 10 minutes

Boil for 90 minutes

Hops
.2 oz. Chinook First Wort Hop
.2 oz. Chinook at 90 min
.1 oz. Simcoe at 30 min
.1 oz. Simcoe at 10 min
.1 oz Simcoe Flame out
2 oz Simcoe dry hop at 14 days.

Chill, Aerate, and Pitch
London Ale III Wyeast 1318 (I like 1056 or another American Ale yeast for IPA's)
Primary two weeks
Secondary dry hop 2 oz. Simcoe two weeks
Keg force carb. set and forget

This is assuming you want to keep it simple with just the two hops which actually may be really good. Some great IPA's I've had are 1 or 2 hops.

So in short, swap the hops and mash lower, the rest is just recommendation.