homespun recipe 1.5

[brewdude76]

This is the fourth batch I have ever brewed; the first two were recipes and the third was a disastrous oatmeal stout recipe that my cousin and I formulated. With how much of an epic failure it was, I wish I could say we we're drunk when we constructed and brewed it. Since both of us are big IPA fans and high quality hops are finally available to us, I came up with this. We're looking for a really bitter, flavorful IPA that would make a Buttgeyser drinker cry. I want it to be malty but with tones of nutty sweetness and to finish with a citrusy, earthy bitterness. But most of all, I do not want it to be undrinkable and than grow fungus. I got ideas from clone recipes of some of my favorite IPAs and original recipes I have seen online.

5 gallons
target OG 1.074
target FG 1.016ish
IBUS 73.5

yeast starter from Wyyeast American Ale 2 1272

Grain bill
4lbs light DME
3.3lbs Pale LME
2lbs corn sugar
steeping 3lbs 6 row pale malt, (1lb toasted)
1lb Caravienne
.5lb 40L crystal (considering wheat in place of this)
.5lb cara-pils

Hop schedule
1 oz Warrior [15.8] 60 min
.5oz Simcoe [11.9] 35 min
1 oz Amarillo [8.6] 30 min
.5 oz Simcoe [11.9] 15 min
1 oz amarillo [8.6] 5 min

dry hop with glacier and cascade

 

[brewdude76]

just realized I should have put this in extract brewing..sorry

 

[Bob]

No worries. You're asking for comments on the recipe, and this is [checks sign on door] the Recipes section.

To business.

This is an ambitious project, but it'll only take a few tweaks to get it into shape.

First, there is no point to steeping pale malts, regardless of type. Pale malts must be mashed for anything useful to be extracted. Same with the wheat malt. Don't use these grains if you're not prepared to conduct a mini-mash.

CaraVienne is a good choice, as is 40L Crystal.

I don't know what calculator you used to figure your numbers, but there's something waaaaaaaay off in your OG and IBU figures. Even without the 3 pounds of 6-row, I'm getting 1.085 OG and 113 IBU (ProMash).

Me, I'd cut the corn sugar entirely. It will only serve to thin the body, and you definitely need some body to back up such an audacious hops schedule. Further, most pale extracts will ferment quite dry. If you add to that with corn sugar, you'll end up with extremely bitter, hops-flavored rocket fuel.

Not, I should think, your intent.

According to my calculations, if we toss the 6-row and the sugar, we end up with around 80% pale extract and 20% crystal/caramel malts of some type, OG 1.067. That's a good start. From there, I'd add in a half-pound of Special Roast or Victory malt to emphasize nutty, biscuity, malty flavors - that's what you were after with the toasted pale malt. If you wish to boost the gravity, add another pound of DME; that'll take you to OG 1.075.

Hops I have no definitive answer; I'm not an expert on huge IPAs. For what it's worth, here's how I'd approach it: I'd keep the BU:GU ratio at about 1:1, or 65-75 IBU, in one bittering charge at 60 minutes. The Warrior alone will provide ~69 IBU, and I think that's plenty. Then I'd load up on a mix of Cascades and Willamette for the "citrusy, earthy" notes you're looking for, added late in increments. Like an ounce at fifteen, an ounce at flame-out, and two ounces dry-hopped. That will provide a HUGE hops flavor/aroma profile; just mix the pellets together in a ZipLoc bag and shake it up to mix. I suggest Willamette because I think it's a better ingredient to provide the flavor/aroma you want, it won't be overpowered by the Cascades, and I know from personal experience it blends extremely well with Cascades.

Anyway, good luck!

Bob

 

[brewdude76]

I am getting rid of the sugar and adding the pound of LME and half pound Victory. I used Beersmith for the measurements. As for the hops, I want to stick with Amarillo because it is considered to be super charged cascade and is in many of my favorite IPAs. I think I am going to just use the .5 ounce of Simcoe at 15 and add an ounce of Willamette at 5. Beersmith lists the Warrior contributing 37 IBUS at the 60 min mark and my total being 65.6. I still have 2 weeks to tweak this recipe. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Bob]

Check your settings in Beersmith, because that's flatly impossible. Double-check using one of the online calculators or something.

Unless - are you doing a concentrated boil, like 2 gallons with all the extract added at the beginning?

Bob

 

[brewdude76]

Now I am very confused. Beersmith lists the boil volume at 4.08 because my equipment is set for a 5 gallon brew pot. My setup, which is really my cousins, is a turkey deep frying kit: a propane burner and a large pot. He likes to start with 7.5 gallons of water so that he has 5 gallons of wort when all is said and done. I have no idea what the boil volume should be set as. I have a feeling that I will be using less of all my hops. I am also confused on why the IBUs go up as the water volume of the boil goes up.

 

[CHansen6]

I don't know that it neccesarily goes up, but utilization is known to increase to a point with decreasing gravity (ie more water). It will go up to some point, and then start to decrease as it gets dilluted.

I too get around 112 IBU with the original recipe at 7 gallon boil. At 4 gallons its around 133. If I moved the first simcoe and amarillo additions both to 20 minutes, and the second get to 5 minutes, and drop the warrior to .5oz I got 67 IBU with a 7 gallon boil without compromising your recipe too much. I think you will need some other hops in the flavor/aroma time frame to get a balance between earthy and citrus.

I tend to get most of my bitterness from the 60/90 minute addition, and load up in the last 20 minutes with other hops to really promote the aroma and flavor.