How do design a hop combination for an IPA?

[Miles_1111]

I wonder how to select hops for combination when you design a IPA recipe. I assume there are some certain hops goes well other certain ones, but someone does not go well with other certain hops. For example, I plan to have Sabro, Idaho 7 and Strata hops all in my new IPA. Do they go well? I expect to have a west coast IPA but not too much tropical cloying, also not very traditional so I did not choose casdade, centinniel, amarillo, simcoe, etc. Any advices?

 

[AlexKay]

When I started making IPAs, I only used a single hop. (Well, actually, Magnum at 60 and then a single hop for flavor/aroma.) Then I started increasing the number of varieties. After a few dozen IPAs, I’m up to two.

 

[Kickass]

Restraint is the key. Do not try to get every nuisance out of every fancy hop.

Here’s how I approach IPA’s. First I decided what overarching flavor theme I want.

Pine/dank/resinous
Citrus
Tropical
Stone fruit/berry
Floral
Other

Sometimes I want components of multiple. Here I reminded myself “restraint”. A dominant theme with support from a second is ok, just don’t over do it.

Next, I begin selecting my hops. Again, I remind myself “restraint”. I normally do 2 or 3 hops. Which I’ll add at 3-2-1 ratios. I want a main profile with support in the background. Here’s an example of my next IPA I’m planning: I want pine/dank/resinous with a touch of fruit to give it depth.

1oz Mosaic
2oz CTZ
3oz Simcoe
Or some proportion of this throughout the boil, whirlpool and dry hop.

This is very incomplete and only scratching the surface but it might be helpful.

Also, this is a great tool to compare different hops

https://beermaverick.com/hops/hop-comparison-tool/

 

[Red over White]

I recommend the new ipa book. It will help you make some of these decisions. Not so much about the exact combinations, but more about why you like certain ones already.

 

[hotbeer]

Single hop IPA's are a great way to see what different hops bring to the party. But honestly, I don't think I'd be great at imagining what amounts of each to combine to make a unique brew all my own that I'd want to drink. So I tend to look for clone recipes of beers that I have tasted and like or those that seem interesting.

For most any beer you can google up a clone recipe where somebody tried to imitate it. Quite a few here on Brewer's Friend you can browse. Just hit the Brewing Software tab at the top of most any page on this site. Some good some not so good. Always interesting to compare clones created by two different people and see how they sometimes use different malts or hops.

Quite a few breweries even publish the basic recipes for their beers on their own website already scaled down to 5 or 10 gallons. And I've seen them published on Brewer's friend too.

 

[11thStBrewing]

There's a cool tool here that you can compare hops with:

https://beermaverick.com/hops/hop-comparison-tool/
I think there's a big difference in the hops everyone's getting, though. The lot, how they're stored, etc. Your mileage may vary. I got a pound of bad Idaho 7. Straight up onion/garlic. Won't even use it. Surely brewries that are selecting their own hops are getting better stuff than that.

I've bought Mosaic twice now and the first bag was very pungent. Second not so much.

Also, I've mixed Citra I have in equal parts with El Dorado and Mosaic in an IPA. Just tasted like citrus. Brewed a SMaSH with those Citra hops and the hop character was almost identical. I think the ratio also matters, as one hop could overpower the others. I'm a noob, though.

I'm doing single hop beers for awhile to get a feel for them. For the bags of hops I have, anyways. I'm excited. I got a bunch more the other day, too.

Cheers! Let us know how it goes.

 

[DonT]

All the advice given above is good stuff...
I like to study other recipes to get an idea of what, how much and when. Brewing a series of SMASH beers is a great way to test drive a hop.
And just trust your gut and brew.

 

[Kickass]

I think there's a big difference in the hops everyone's getting, though

Very good point. Hops are an agricultural product affected by climate, terraria, harvest, storage and many other factors. I too agree, there can be considerable variance experienced in a hop based on the previously mentioned variables.

Use accepted flavor and aroma descriptors as a guide, smell your hops to form your own opinion, try as many beers as you can that have limited varieties of hops and begin to build your own flavor dictionary.

And use restraint!

 

[Red over White]

I wonder how to select hops for combination when you design a IPA recipe. I assume there are some certain hops goes well other certain ones, but someone does not go well with other certain hops. For example, I plan to have Sabro, Idaho 7 and Strata hops all in my new IPA. Do they go well? I expect to have a west coast IPA but not too much tropical cloying, also not very traditional so I did not choose casdade, centinniel, amarillo, simcoe, etc. Any advices?

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder and I don't make ipas or dry hop, so take this with a grain of salt. I have a handful of beers I consistently brew and there are a couple things that I have found to work well. Layering hops, using some/all of the main hop I want to have focus at first wort and in the whirlpool. This approach shines the best for me on my gear vs a neutral FWH and the focus hop in the whirlpool. Pressure fermentation also helps me retain some flavor that is lost in a traditional ferment, this can however come at the expense of yeast expression with some strains. Wort pH can affect AA utilization, I adjust my wort pH to 5.1 with 10 mins left in the boil, so my late additions or whirlpool hops don't contribute as much bitterness, so I take that in account elsewhere in the recipe. I stay simple with only up to 3 hops in my beers and I like when things aren't too noisy, again this is just what I personally like.

I use the above mentioned beer maverick hop comparison tool when using different hop combinations and look at the different levels of certain oils that contribute specific flavors the most for when that hop is being used through the boil. This helps me know a little bit more about what the end result will be when using a new hop. I'm not sure if any of this helps, but I consider these things as I build new recipes or use a new hop. I start with what I want in the glass and work backwards to the grain bill, I hit my targets better in that fashion.
Cheers!

 

[TBA]

I spend a lot of time on the

 

[TBA]

I spend a lot of time on the Beer maverick site looking at hops. Have the new IPA book too. Still lost on how to come up with great NEW combinations. One thought I had was to add up the “points” from beer maverick site for each hop of a combination. Multiply by the number of ounces and try to determine if that combined score would indeed have a certain flavor profile. Has anyone seen something like this done before?

 

[mashpaddled]

A lot of IPA recipe development is what already works plus what's new we can add to create a "new" beer. Build a few IPA recipes you like that showcase different flavors you like and then swap out one or two of the existing hops with something new to create different beers. There's not a lot of reinventing the wheel with these beers. A lot of hops have similar flavors so flavor combinations that worked with one group of hops usually works with different hops.

Back in the days of west coast IPAs you had a lot of this base recipe alterations but some of the top IPAs at the time were more carefully dialed in because the hops were more subtle and grassy/vegetal. I'm not saying you can't spend time dialing in each new blend but if you're inspired by commercial breweries, most of them are doing what I suggest. There's no way to dial in a new IPA every week or two. If you want to focus on perfecting hop blends, then take a base recipe you like and start out swapping one hop at a time until you find a mix you like and then tweak the volumes.

 

[mschoeffler]

I agree with the above recommendations and would add one more step. When quantifying a blend, look at the actual oil percentages (myrcene/farnesene, whatever you are targeting) and balance the blend based upon those numbers (not the weight). That way milder hops won’t get overwhelmed by stronger hops.
Just my 2c

 

[Spivey24]

I usually just open my drawer and pick what I’m in the mood for. Lol. I know the hops pretty well so I can kind of guess what it will do. Some combos have been better than others, but never really had a bad one. So experiment and make sure you write down the hops, the times, and amounts.

 

[UdonPete]

Are there any IPA recepies out there that do not require dry hopping ?

 

[hotbeer]

Are there any IPA recepies out there that do not require dry hopping ?

Yes there are. But wouldn't that be better discussed in your own thread?

 

[UdonPete]

Yes there are. But wouldn't that be better discussed in your own thread?

Will do

 

[CornKing]

A lot of good thoughts here. I found this analysis helpful- Its a survey of the most popular 2, 3, and 4- hop combos from the 2018 craft beer scene. I can't imagine its exhaustive, but the author surveyed a pretty wide selection of IPAs and lists the most common pairings and combinations.

 

[kevin58]

For me its: English IPA's = East Kent Goldings and American IPA's = Centennial.