How to make IPA stronger and more hoppy

[lastmandown]

Hi, I'm new here. Hello!

I recently made an IPA from a kit, and I boiled the extract and some hops in a muslin bag for 15 minutes before making up the brew. However, the taste is still not hoppy enough for me. I'm a big fan of strong double IPAs that literally punch you in the face with hoppy aroma and bitterness. I'm not looking for subtle.

What can I do to make the beer stronger (I'd like it to be at least 5%, but 6% would be perfect - the kit I have gets me about 3.5% ABV) Do I just put less water in? Is there a calculation I can do to determine how much water I should use to get 6% ABV? More sugar? Hardier yeast?

Also, how can I make it more hoppy? Just add more hops? Boil it longer? Add dry hops to the fermenter as well? I put mine in a muslin bag, pushed them down the bottom of the bag, and tied them up. They formed a ball of about 5-6 inches across (I didnt weigh them) and boiled them with the extract for 15 mins. Would I be better having them more loosely tied in the bag to extract maximum flavour? Any tips are welcome!

Thanks in advance for your answers

 

[brycelarson]

Well, first of all, coming here to ask is a great start. There are a bunch of really great brewers here who will help you out.

Second, you have a lot to learn (this is a good thing). Most recipes call for a boil of 60 minutes. When you add the hops and sugars depends on the recipe - but in general hops added at the start of the boil are for bittering and those added late in the boil are for aroma and flavor. As for the ABV% - that's all about how much sugar the yeast has to eat. Yes, you can can mix the same amount of sugar with less water - or add more sugars to the same volume. If you post up your recipe we can help you determine how to adjust it to reach your goals.

I would suggest starting here: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

You can certainly come here to the forums along the way. It's a lot of reading - but I think you need to get a quick version of the basics under your belt first - then we can help with the fine tuning.

Happy Brewing!

 

[Yooper]

Instead of a kit, the easiest way to do this is to buy the unhopped extract (either liquid or dry), some grain and a grain bag, and buy the hops and yeast.

A good recipe would be something like this:

.5 pound of medium crystal malt
8 pounds of light dry extract
1 oz challenger hops (60 minutes)
1 oz East Kent Goldings (15 minutes)
1 oz Goldings (5 minutes)
1 oz Goldings (0 minutes)

I'd steep the crystal in 1 gallon of water at 155 degrees for 20 minutes, then lift out and discard the grains. Add another gallon of water, and bring to a boil. Stir in 3 pounds of the extract, and bring back to a boil. Set the timer for 60 minutes and add the challenger hops. In 45 minutes, when the timer has 15 minutes on it, add the first goldings hops. Boil 10 more minutes and add the second goldings hops. Boil 5 more minutes, add the last golding hops. Turn off the flame and add the rest of the extract, whisking well. Cool to 80 degrees, then add to the fermenter along with 3-3.5 gallons of cool water to get to 5 gallons.

That should get you a decent English IPA.

 

[Glynn]

If your brew is still in the primary fermenter you can try adding a pound of sugar boiled in water with some hops and cooled. that should kick off the process again and add some bitterness. for flavor dry hop it in a secondary fermenter with 4 oz of hops over 2 week 2 oz first week 2 more in the second week

 

[fishersfirst]

Hi,

About the ABV, you simply need your wort to be a higher gravity when you start fermentation. Eg:
OG 1.060 and FG 1.015 will give you about 5.5%
If you're using extract, you'll need more DME and/or LME to the same volume of water as you've used before to reach this OG.

About the 'Hoppyness', adding hop early in you're boil (eg 60 mins) will give you your bitterness, but not much hop flavor and aroma.
If you simply add the hop late on the boil, the aroma might be there but not the underlying bitterness you need.
Best to combine a 60 min boil hop addition with another at say 30 mins, then 15 mins, and even one at 5 mins to go.
Dry hopping will work well in a stocking in your secondary fermentor.

Hope this helps

Ps get an app called Brew Pal, very useful !

 

[arnoldk2]

There are a few things you can do to up the abv. I haven't done an extract kit in years but I believe they are designed for 5 gallon batches. That being said you could use less water to up the abv but who wants to sacrifice quantity for higher abv? If I were you I would add more LME or DME to your boil. This will up your sugar content and in turn up your potential alcohol content. If you are a math nerd like I am you can figure out how much additional extract is required to get what you want or you can do what I did when I first started brewing and do the trial and error method. Calculations that are required can be found on the net or in the book "designing great beers." I highly recommend this book if you want to start developing your own beer recipes.

Hoppiness can be attacked a couple different ways. I won't talk about water chemistry as it sounds like you are new to brewing. The way I would attack it is use hops that have a high alpha acid percentage and us them at your 60 minute boil. The less time you give them in the boil the less time that alpha acid has time to get into your beer. I was never a fan of putting hops in muslin bags because it reduces the hops efficiency. Some people will disagree with me here or prefer the ease of removing hops vs hop effeciency. This is your brew and your technique and either way will be fine. Dry hopping doesn't give you bitterness. It will give you aroma. So thinking dry hopping will give you a more hoppiness flavor in the beer is incorrect. Hopefully this helps a little.

 

[gwdraper4]

Check this thread out: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/pursuit-perfect-ipa-340928/
It cranked out one awesome IPA!!!

 

[lastmandown]

Instead of a kit, the easiest way to do this is to buy the unhopped extract (either liquid or dry), some grain and a grain bag, and buy the hops and yeast.

A good recipe would be something like this:

.5 pound of medium crystal malt
8 pounds of light dry extract
1 oz challenger hops (60 minutes)
1 oz East Kent Goldings (15 minutes)
1 oz Goldings (5 minutes)
1 oz Goldings (0 minutes)

I'd steep the crystal in 1 gallon of water at 155 degrees for 20 minutes, then lift out and discard the grains. Add another gallon of water, and bring to a boil. Stir in 3 pounds of the extract, and bring back to a boil. Set the timer for 60 minutes and add the challenger hops. In 45 minutes, when the timer has 15 minutes on it, add the first goldings hops. Boil 10 more minutes and add the second goldings hops. Boil 5 more minutes, add the last golding hops. Turn off the flame and add the rest of the extract, whisking well. Cool to 80 degrees, then add to the fermenter along with 3-3.5 gallons of cool water to get to 5 gallons.

That should get you a decent English IPA.

Thanks for the replies! Could I do this with a kit and malt extract instead up using the grain? I've only done half a dozen kits before and don't want to get into partial/full mash brewing yet (it scares me). How important are the temperatures/timings? Do I leave the hops in during the ferment or strain/syphon without them?

 

[Darwin18]

Thanks for the replies! Could I do this with a kit and malt extract instead up using the grain? I've only done half a dozen kits before and don't want to get into partial/full mash brewing yet (it scares me). How important are the temperatures/timings? Do I leave the hops in during the ferment or strain/syphon without them?

If you can make oatmeal you can handle some steeping grains or even full all grain. There are plenty of videos out there that can walk you through the process.

Temperatures are important and you will want to have a thermometer that is calibrated. Strain the hops after the boil when transferring your wort to the fermentor but don't freak out if some make it through. It won't hurt anything. I would worry much more about fermentation temperatures though. Try to keep it within the posted range for your yeast and you'll be pleased with the results. If you let them go high, then your beer will not be very good.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Thanks for the replies! Could I do this with a kit and malt extract instead up using the grain? I've only done half a dozen kits before and don't want to get into partial/full mash brewing yet (it scares me). How important are the temperatures/timings? Do I leave the hops in during the ferment or strain/syphon without them?

Don't let it scare you. After 4-5 kits I jumped in to all grain biab, and now I'd tell anyone interested to jump straight to all grain if they can support it. Even if it's a scaled down smaller batch for smaller stock pots and stove tops.

It's so bloody easy, 10 times more tasty, and you can get as complicated and controlled as you want later on if you chose.

 

[gr8shandini]

Thanks for the replies! Could I do this with a kit and malt extract instead up using the grain? I've only done half a dozen kits before and don't want to get into partial/full mash brewing yet (it scares me). How important are the temperatures/timings? Do I leave the hops in during the ferment or strain/syphon without them?

Don't fear adding specialty grain to your bag of tricks. The recipe she gave was for an extract batch with steeping grains. The starch in the crystal malt has already been converted to sugar, so all you're not mashing, just rinsing it out to get some improved color and flavor over straight extract. As long as you keep the temperature under 170*F, you have absolutely nothing to fear. Even if it ventures above that, you're likely OK.

Once you discard the grains, you don't have to worry about temperature anymore, but the timing of the hop additions will affect the character of the beer. Early additions will add bitterness, and not much else. The 15 minute additions will add a little bitterness and more hop flavor, while the late additions won't make it more bitter, but will greatly increase the hop aroma. That said, you don't have to keep a stopwatch on it. If you're within a minute or two, you'll be in the ballpark.

The only thing I'd advise against is some of the advice posted above with suggestions to "save" this batch. If you brewed the kit well, it may not be the beer you were looking for, but it'll be good beer. If you turn it into a science experiment, you might end up with 5 gallons of swill. Better to brew the recipe you want next time while drinking this batch.

 

[lastmandown]

Ok. Time to do some more research!

I'm nearly half way down the barrel so it can't be that bad!

For the recipe that was posted before are fermentation and secondary fermentation similar timescales to your standard off-the-shelf kits? I.e. five days to a week for primary, 2-4 weeks for secondary (in pressure barrel)? What's the best way to control fermentation temperature?

 

[Dan]

The best way to control fermentation temperature is probably with a temperature controlled fermentation chamber. But you can do it with a large bucket, some ice and water. Of course this is to keep the fermenting wort cool, if you want to warm it there are threads around here about that as well. You can even buy a heating belt made just for that purpose.

Temperature control is very important in the making of good beer. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-swamp-cooler-input-needed-144488/

As far as primary and secondary. I'm not touching that one.

 

[gr8shandini]

Ok. Time to do some more research!

I'm nearly half way down the barrel so it can't be that bad!

For the recipe that was posted before are fermentation and secondary fermentation similar timescales to your standard off-the-shelf kits? I.e. five days to a week for primary, 2-4 weeks for secondary (in pressure barrel)? What's the best way to control fermentation temperature?

Whew. You don't know it yet, but you're opening a can of worms with that time question. See the discussion below:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/

If you want the short story, there are a very vocal group of brewers here that will tell you that any beer needs to spend at least a month in primary - the longer the better. The more accepted wisdom is that you should let the beer tell you when it's ready. How do you do that? Ensure that you have reached a stable FG (hydrometer readings steady for at least 3 days), and give it a taste. If it tastes like warm, flat beer, it's time to package. If you have an off-flavor, more time may or may not improve it. But that's a whole other discussion.

What almost everyone agrees on, however, is that a secondary is unnecessary for most beers. It's a carryover from commercial practices that only helps you out if you want to re-use the yeast right away. The exceptions are if you're adding fruit or dryhopping, and some will tell you that it's not even required then.

As for temperature control, the best way is to use an old refrigerator with an external temperature controller. Being that you're in the UK, however, you can probably find a corner of your house (such as in the basement) that stays at an acceptable temperature all year round. If it's a little warm, you can always use the "swamp cooler" method. Do a search for it on the forum and you should find plenty of examples.

 

[lastmandown]

Ok, so there's no secondary at all? I just stick it in the barrel, and give it enough time to clear? Do I need to use with CO2 in the barrel then?

 

[Yooper]

Ok, so there's no secondary at all? I just stick it in the barrel, and give it enough time to clear? Do I need to use with CO2 in the barrel then?

Most of us hanging around here are in the US and the pressure barrel isn't that common so I'm not sure how that works. Most of us bottle (or keg) our beers.

Do you have a picture of your barrel and how it works, so we can see how it is and then give you advice?

 

[lastmandown]

This is like my barrel:
http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/acatalog/Large/img765.jpg

With one of these for the lid (with valve for inserting CO2):
http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/acatalog/Large/img1806.jpg

 

[Poobah58]

I guess the big question is are you doing a full or partial boil. If you boil hops for 60 minutes in 3 gallons of water then top off to 5 gallons in the fermenter, you will get lousy hop utilization. If you boil the full 5 gallons with the hops, the bitterness greatly increases. The short answer to your OP is to add more sugar/DME/LME and do a full boil. This will increase the ABV and the bitterness.

 

[ludomonster]

What can I do to make the beer stronger (I'd like it to be at least 5%, but 6% would be perfect - the kit I have gets me about 3.5% ABV) Do I just put less water in? Is there a calculation I can do to determine how much water I should use to get 6% ABV? More sugar? Hardier yeast?

3.5% ABV is a very low number for an IPA. Generally, kits tend to be tried and true reciepes according to styles. Are you sure you measured the gravity correctly?

 

[lastmandown]

I lost the tube for my hygrometer so I just threw it in the fermenter at the start and left it in there. Started at 1026. Finished at 1002. 3.2% ABV. Plus a little extra during secondary. About 3.5% approx.

 

[gr8shandini]

1.026 is pretty low for just about anything. What was the recipe? I'm wondering if it was one of those "kit and a kilo" deals where they expect you to add sugar.

As for the barrel, I think most of us Yanks are still a little confused. What kind of pressure are you adding with the CO2? Is it the 12 psi or so that you would have in a keg, or is it just a way to displace the air like a cask breather? Either way, being under pressure won't hurt the beer once primary is over. If you're going to let it sit for a while in there, you might as well get the carbonation started and save yourself a little time.

 

[lastmandown]

The CO2 is just for carbonation purposes and the beer being removed from the barrel depends on the pressure inside, otherwise air gets sucked back up the tap. If you don't use CO2, then you rely on the gas produced by secondary fermentation. But by the time you get half way down the barrel you have to open the top to equalise the pressure and you get air inside and the beer can spoil if you don't drink it quickly. Thanks for all the advice but do you guys think I'd be better off posting to a British forum?