IPA recipe critique

[Warbirdbrewer]

I've been brewing for about nine months and it's time to take the leap to BIAB. I've been playing with beersmith and came up with this IPA recipe. Any comments/suggestions?

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.38 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.25 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 4.55 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

11 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.8 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.3 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 1.9 %
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 38.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 5 7.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 6 9.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min Hop 7 4.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124.21 ml] Yeast 8 -
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs




Saccharification Add 37.40 qt of water at 159.1 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min

 

[olotti]

I wouldn't use sorachi ace to bitter, move it to a five min addition and use a neutral bittering hop like warrior or magnum to get some ibus and use the sorachi ace late for flavor. I'd also cut the crystal to .75 lbs as it can get too sweet using the amount of crystal u have in the original grain bill.

 

[TexasWine]

Greetings fellow Texan! Honestly, I didn't even look at the recipe. The reason I didn't is because I would always recommend that for your first all grain brew you should use someone else's proven recipe. That way if things turn out tasting like schnitzel you know it was your method/procedure and not the recipe that was to blame. The Homebrewtalk recipe database is a great place to look for a recipe.

Once you get the hang of all grain brewing and start getting some consistency in your process, then venture out with your own recipes.

Heck, I've been doing this for a short two years now and still start with other people's recipes. I'll tweak it here and there because I know what works for my system and the processes that give me the flavors I enjoy. But rarely do I strike out and develop a recipe from scratch.

Hope this helps.

 

[RM-MN]

I have a few suggestions to go along with what the others have said. First off, mill your grain fine for BIAB. Second is to cut the boil size to 7.5 and the boil time to 50. If your grain is milled fine, you won't need as much pale malt to get your sugars so reduce that too, perhaps to 9 pounds. Skip the mash out, just pull the bag of grains out to start it draining and start heating the wort you have collected. Forget about the 2 stage fermentation too, that secondary stage is unnecessary and just gives you the opportunity for oxidation and infections. Do your dry hop right in the primary. When your beer is ready to bottle, put a paint strainer bag over the end of the siphon to catch the hop particles as you siphon the beer to the bottling bucket or keg.

 

[Warbirdbrewer]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am actually going to try a proven recipe the first few times. I was just looking ahead and trying to fine tune my recipes

 

[Ungoliant]

I would suggest bumping down the 2-row, maybe to 10 lbs, and add in 1/2 pound each of biscuit and Munich to give a better malt backbone. If you're doing a 90 minute boil you want the malt to shine a bit better, so give it a leg up by diversifying it. You could also replace a couple pounds of 2-row with Pearl or Maris Otter.

I'd also recommend shooting for around 3+ oz of dry hops to get a better dry hopped character.