Help pick my 1st IPA recipe

[Tommydee]

I'm approaching all grain batch #5, and doing an IPA. im leaning towards a Pliny the elder or zombie dust clone, since I hear they are awesome beers, but I can't find them to drink. Or, maybe I'll go with a dogfish head 60 or bells 2 hearted here in the forums, since I love both of these...or is there another favorite?

Since I ponied up and paid my HBT dues yesterday, help me pick my next recipe!

 

[Enemygod]

Not sure if this is your thing, but I just made this coconut milk DIPA and it's amazing. Cant wait to get home and grab myself another pint or 2. The recipe is on page 2. There is also a youtube video review on page 3.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=586243

 

[Steveruch]

I'm approaching all grain batch #5, and doing an IPA. im leaning towards a Pliny the elder or zombie dust clone, since I hear they are awesome beers, but I can't find them to drink. Or, maybe I'll go with a dogfish head 60 or bells 2 hearted here in the forums, since I love both of these...or is there another favorite?

Which hops are your favorites?
I'd go that way instead of trying to replicate a beer you've never had. Or a beer that you've actually tried, and like.

 

[Bauzer]

What is the spectrum of IPA you enjoy? fruity? Floral? Spicy? Piney?

If you love the smell and juicy taste, I strongly recommend lots of late hop additions to the boil, and strongly suggest dry hopping.

 

[Tommydee]

I like piney and spicy, a bit of fruit. Love cascade, but used on my last pale ale, so want to try something else. My palate is prett amateur, so I'm still learning what I like to be honest. For example, just tried a local NJ Beer Co LBIPA, and loved the hop combination....wrote them an email to see if they'd help a local, but no response...

 

[Wildcat_Brewing]

You can't go wrong with pliney, it is more traditional and dank, less tropical; you may want to buy the hops in bulk or it can get expensive (farmhouse brewing supply sells a pliney hop kit for $16). The bells 2 hearted is simple and economical because it only uses centennial. pliney is very west coast IPA and the ones you seem to prefer are east coast IPA with more caramel malt. The LBIPA uses Columbus, cenntenial and Amarillo with falconer flight dry hop and is kind of malty (maybe some Munich malt)

 

[griffi]

+1 for bells 2 hearted. Easy recipe, fantastic single hop beer and at batch number 5 I think it's a good one to get your technique dialed in. Are you tweaking your water, doing yeast starters, and controlling ferm temps?

 

[Tommydee]

You can't go wrong with pliney, it is more traditional and dank, less tropical; you may want to buy the hops in bulk or it can get expensive (farmhouse brewing supply sells a pliney hop kit for $16). The bells 2 hearted is simple and economical because it only uses centennial. pliney is very west coast IPA and the ones you seem to prefer are east coast IPA with more caramel malt. The LBIPA uses Columbus, cenntenial and Amarillo with falconer flight dry hop and is kind of malty (maybe some Munich malt)

Thanks!

 

[PADave]

2 Hearted is simple, as well as a Zombie dust clone, but completely different brews. The DFH 60 min and the Pliny could be considered a little more complicated. Find a hop, or hop combo that you like, figure out the malts and go for it.

 

[Tommydee]

+1 for bells 2 hearted. Easy recipe, fantastic single hop beer and at batch number 5 I think it's a good one to get your technique dialed in. Are you tweaking your water, doing yeast starters, and controlling ferm temps?

Yes, yes, and yes, and I'm also a believer in pure O2 oxygenation.

Maybe I'll go zombie dust, if I can get citra hops.

 

[frozengator]

3floyd's zombie dust is good, but I prefer their Gumball head. Amarillo is one of my favorite hops

 

[Tommydee]

So I cheated on my LHBS, took advantage of the farmhouse 10% off sale and bought hops for zombie dust and Pliny hop kit. Why decide? Got a bunch of German stuff in the kegs, may go down a pale ale IPA worm hole. Toughest decision is to do the Pliny next week, or try to squeeze a Belgian in. I think I'll do the Pliny as a slightly bigger beer, and save the Belgian for summer, so it's ready in the fall.

 

[Bauzer]

So I cheated on my LHBS, took advantage of the farmhouse 10% off sale and bought hops for zombie dust and Pliny hop kit. Why decide? Got a bunch of German stuff in the kegs, may go down a pale ale IPA worm hole. Toughest decision is to do the Pliny next week, or try to squeeze a Belgian in. I think I'll do the Pliny as a slightly bigger beer, and save the Belgian for summer, so it's ready in the fall.

I'd do the IPA first. IPA's are best fresh, and it will be something you'll want to want to drink as the weather begins to get nicer I suspect. Since the Belgian would just sit for an extended period of time, you might as well do it second.

Now if you have LOTS of beer already, then do the reverse so you can chip away at your stock.

 

[skoodog]

+1 for doing a simple recipe. Pliny clones cost a ton due to high variants and amount of hops.

As a guy who's done a number of IPAa, grain bill and mash temps are extremely key. Water chemistry tweaking (or build from distilled) can help a lot too. I also suggest going with a high quality barley like Golden Promise as your base malt and then experiment with hop bills from your favorite professional brews.

 

[BrewStump]

And I've brewed this a couple times, it came out delicious. I love Pliny the Elder . Living in N. California, I've been fortunate to go to the brewery and taste this gem. Honestly, my homebrew clone tasted as good as the original, I was THE proud brewer.

Good luck!

 

[kable]

I know you said you like more piney/dank, but if you want to explore something more tropical this has been my favorite so far.

Kern River Citra DIPA
Clone Recipe Adapted from Can You Brew It with Jamil featuring Kyle from Kern River
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=343603

Could scale it back to just an IPA and reduce some of the dry hop schedules to simplify.
Warning: this keg/bottles will be gone quick, don't share w/ friends and family ;>)

 

[Oh_Papi]

I did a NEPA based on this article a 3 weeks ago. https://www.fivebladesbrewing.com/totes-mcoats-new-england-pale-ale/

It was my first brew and first using the Grainfather. The galaxy and mosaic hops were awsome and everyone enjoyed it. Now i am a brewing prodigy (thanks to the galaxy & mosaic).

 

[redpipe67]

Try this, it's probably my favourite IPA to brew, I always have this in one of my kegs

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=471019

 

[Yooper]

I really love the Pliny recipe- you can't go wrong there.

I like all IPAs as a rule, and sometimes I like the fruity and other times I like the dank/pine ones, but I always come back to the "old standards" time and time again.

I like a variation on the DFH clone- still using amarillo and simcoe hops, but more towards the hoppy side with more of them. Amarillo/simcoe is probably my favorite combination but you can't go wrong with any of the US "C" hops either- cascade, chinook, centennial, columbus.

 

[Tommydee]

Thanks Yoop! You should know my first good all grain is your pale ale with all Cascade, keg is about to kick. Big favorite with neighbors, so I might even squeeze in a batch before the IPA series, it will be ready sooner than a Pliny.