IPA Recipe----comments, suggestions?

[coryforsenate]

So, this is kind of a different ipa recipe, I think, with the biscuit malt. But I'm curious how a touch of biscuit would meld with the berryness of the golden naked oats and the hop medley. Sort of like a hoppy warm biscuit with a touch of berry jam.

5 gallon fermentation
Expected ABV: ~8%

12 lb Belgian Pale Ale Malt
1 lb Golden Naked Oats
8 oz Carapils
8 oz Biscuit Malt

2 oz Amarillo Leaf Hops
2 oz Challenger Pellet Hops
1 oz Brewers Gold Pellet Hops
1 oz Bramling Cross Pellet Hops
1 oz Fuggle Pellet Hops

Wyeast London Ale 1028


Mash at 120 degrees, 146, and 153 for 20 minutes each. Mash out at 170.

Challenger, Brewers Gold, and Bramling Cross are first wort hopped. Amarillo added after hot break. Fuggles will be dry hopped for 7 days, after fermentation has stopped of course.

 

[user 22118]

Looks good, I added a healthy amount of victory/biscuit into mine and it is rock solid. It is under the Pliny the Middle Child in my recipe dropdown. I also like more oats, 15% is a great amount for texture and body.

Good looking though.

 

[ThickHead]

Sounds like you got some kind of pan-western hemisphere (that dips slightly over the meridian) IPA goin' on there...

Looks good!

 

[coryforsenate]

I picked biscuit malt because of the color it's supposed to add in addition to the flavor.

Your pliny the middle is interesting. Beautiful color, btw.:fro:

 

[user 22118]

thank you, thank you. It is great and malty. If using an English yeast, you might want to make sure that you do either a slightly thinner mash or a cooler conversion. I see you are doing a step mash (which I have no experience with), so I don't know how it affects the sugars. But that said, you have to will English yeast to attenuate below 1.020 and IPA's are best below that if possible, IMO.

Good luck.

 

[coryforsenate]

I've been reading about how to increase attenuation, and I consistently get step mashing as a way to help with that.

Our very own brewwiki says that step mashing can result in ~10% increase in attenuation.

And I plan to do a 2 liter starter to really get those yeasties ravenous.


And the yeast I picked is supposed to have good attenuation for higher abv beers.

From Wyeast "This yeast creates bold, crisp beers with a dry finish, a minerally profile, and with some fruitiness. It is often used for higher gravity ales when a high level of attenuation is desired for the style. "

Attenuation - BrewWiki

 

[Teacher]

I've never used oats of any kind in an IPA so I can't comment on that. However, I do use Victory (basically biscuit) in IPAs and love it.

 

[user 22118]

If you have never done a step mash, I would really advise just trying to hit 151 or so to help with your attenuation. Tons of people achieve great results with this method. Having never done a step mash, I might look into doing it on a smaller beer so that I can get the process down. But there is no time like the present to learn something new and exciting so good luck to you.

If you are worrying about attenuation, then you might want to look at other things in your process. Is you thermometer calibrated, are you mashing too thick of a mash, is your fermentation too hot or too cold, are you bottling and if so are you allowing the conditioning to happen fully? Too high a final gravity is a pain in the butt, so if any of these problems look like they are your problem, then mashing at the right temp might not be your problem.

 

[coryforsenate]

I did a step mash with my very first beer (all-grain) and when I tasted it before priming with sugar and bottling, it was great. Like an american brown, but with a touch of hops. A few more days and I'll crack open a bottle to taste the final result.

I more do step mash just to give me greater control over the body of the beer.


I'm a biochemist in a tuberculosis lab, so I sort of plunged myself into more advanced brewing from the git go, thinking and hoping it would translate.