IPA question

[dkeller12]

I have brewed about 20 batches of beer, but just switched over to all grain brewing. The first was recipe was an amber ale that was great. The second is a dry stout that is bottle conditioning now but tasted great at bottling and the last, and the reason for this post, was an IPA that I am brewing to give to a friend who's wife just had their first baby.

The recipe is a Northern Brewer Dead Ringer recipe from Beersmith that I scaled down to a 2 gallon recipe.

5lbs 2 Row
8 oz Caramel 40L
.50oz Centennial @ 60 Min
.38oz Centennial @ 20 Min
.50oz Centennial @ 5 Min
.75oz Centennial Dry Hopped (1.5 weeks)
IBU's 56.4 according to Beersmith
Mashed at 152* for 60 minutes and did a 60 minute boil.

I hit all my numbers as expected

Here is the issue, or what I think is an issue. Upon tasting the sample going into bottles, it didn't have as much bitterness as I would have expected. I can taste the hops that I dry hopped with both in the nose and in the mouth, but the bitterness that I was going for is barely there. After you swallow the sample, you get a little bitterness, but not much. Seeing that I have not done many IPA's is this usual before bottling or is the recipe light on bittering hops to make it bitter? Will the carbonation and bottle conditioning bring this out more or is the recipe not hoppy enough? I know water chemistry has something to do with hop bitterness coming through and right now I am not making water adjustments as I haven't had any issues to this point.

Just thought I would see what people think before I start messing too much with water adjustments in future brews. I have looked at my water report and I don't really know what to look at. It also, doesn't seem to have lots of the elements that one would need to know for brewing.

I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Upon tasting the sample going into bottles, it didn't have as much bitterness as I would have expected.

Sometimes beer will taste much different once carbed and chilled. While a sample at bottling can be an indication, I find it hard to evaluate a beer before it's time.

 

[Monkey-BB]

My 2 cents... Give it time and bubbles.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[AnOldUR]

.50oz Centennial @ 60 Min
.38oz Centennial @ 20 Min
.50oz Centennial @ 5 Min
.75oz Centennial Dry Hopped (1.5 weeks)
IBU's 56.4 according to Beersmith

56IBU is low for an IPA with a 1.064 OG.
If the recipe gave hop quantity without regard to AA that could be the problem.

 

[rubiconbrewer]

Are you using hop bags? I've heard that that reduces hop utilization because the hops clump together and can't boil freely. I've noticed the same problem in my IPAs.

As a solution I just made my own stainless hop screen, 9" in diameter, 15.5" tall. Google stainless hop screen lionheart brewing. He has a great write up.

 

[DarthCitra]

For IPA's i do a full ounce of whatever bittering hops im using. I followed a kit my first time and it gave me .5oz of hops for bittering and i had the same problem.
Everyone above is correct though, give it time to carb up and try it out if it isnt where you want it then you learned your lesson and next brew bump up the 60 min addition. Its all trial and error with brewing, and its not even an error if its still drinkable!

 

[kombat]

If your water is particularly soft, you could have added some gypsum to your water ("Burtonizing" your water), which emphasizes bitterness.

 

[dkeller12]

56IBU is low for an IPA with a 1.064 OG.
If the recipe gave hop quantity without regard to AA that could be the problem.

The recipe referred to Centennial AA% at 10% and my LHBS had 9%. I made the adjustments in Beersmith for the 9% which is what accounts for the 56 IBU's.

 

[dkeller12]

Are you using hop bags? I've heard that that reduces hop utilization because the hops clump together and can't boil freely. I've noticed the same problem in my IPAs.

As a solution I just made my own stainless hop screen, 9" in diameter, 15.5" tall. Google stainless hop screen lionheart brewing. He has a great write up.

I only used a hop bag to dry hop. The hops that I used on brew day went directly into the kettle. I will however take a look at the hop screen. Thanks.

 

[dkeller12]

For IPA's i do a full ounce of whatever bittering hops im using. I followed a kit my first time and it gave me .5oz of hops for bittering and i had the same problem.
Everyone above is correct though, give it time to carb up and try it out if it isnt where you want it then you learned your lesson and next brew bump up the 60 min addition. Its all trial and error with brewing, and its not even an error if its still drinkable!

When scaling the recipe, I wondered about the .50 ounce hops at 60 minutes, but when I added a full ounce the IBU's went off the charts, so I stuck with the .50 oz. Guess I will have to try the full ounce and see what happens. How did your final beer turn out?

 

[dkeller12]

If your water is particularly soft, you could have added some gypsum to your water ("Burtonizing" your water), which emphasizes bitterness.

Our water is not soft, it is somewhat hard. We get white scale in the shower and sinks, to it is definitely not soft. My water report has very little information that I find useful, so it is hard to make adjustments since I really don't know if it is good or not.

 

[cjgenever]

You need a larger bittering charge and some more flavor hops couldn't hurt either. I use a min of 8oz hops per five gal batch, including dry hop. Usually more like a full lb/5 gal. Ipa is an expensive brew to brew well. You need to buy hops in bulk to make it economical.

Whether or not your water is soft or hard isn't really the issue. It is the mineral ratios that are important. I suggest doing a couple small one gal batches with varying amounts of gypsum in the boil. You can even add some gypsum to a fresh pour of the batch you just finished to get an idea. You will taste a difference!

It is also important to pitch enough yeast for a healthy fermentation, but not too much. The yeast pull the Alfa acids out of the beer when they flock. Too much yeast equals lower than expected ibu's.

 

[paperairplane]

I usually use 4 oz hops for a 5 gal batch of pale ale. For an IPA more...

Also - this is all centennial. For IPA, I like a big AA hop for my bittering addition - Warrior, Nugget, etc. I'll do a 1oz addition of a 15-17%AA hop at 60. Even a 60-70 IBU beer can be fairly non-bitter if you don't hammer in a backbone bittering addition.