Ipa

[Mastermind171]

I am looking to making a really hoppy ipa. I have brewed a few pales and hefes and would like something to really pack in the hops and ABV. What do you guys think about this recipe?

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.136
Efficiency: 65% (steeping grains only)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.019
ABV (standard): 8.21%
IBU (tinseth): 89.33
SRM (morey): 8.93

FERMENTABLES:
8 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Extra Light (63.7%)
9 oz - Corn Sugar - Dextrose (4.5%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
2 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (15.9%)
2 lb - Belgian - Cara 20L (15.9%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 12.52
1.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 34.12
1 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 10.6
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 13.77
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 6.98
2.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 11.34
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Aroma for 0 min
1 oz - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

 

[WayFrae]

That looks like a pretty solid IPA. You will need to mash the 6 row to really get any benefit from it. In my opinion, if the only grains you are adding is pale malt then you might as well just add more extra light extract. Specialty grains (caramel and roasted malts) are what you want to steep to add flavor.

 

[Mastermind171]

Could I sub for 2-row toasted malt?

 

[stratslinger]

I'd caution you on the duration of those dry hop additions... I've gone as long as 10-14 days without problems, but a 17 day dry hop, unless you're looking for grassy and possibly vegetal qualities from your dry hop additions, just might add some unwanted characteristics to your beer. The rest sounds pretty good.

 

[Mastermind171]

I'd caution you on the duration of those dry hop additions... I've gone as long as 10-14 days without problems, but a 17 day dry hop, unless you're looking for grassy and possibly vegetal qualities from your dry hop additions, just might add some unwanted characteristics to your beer. The rest sounds pretty good.

When i transfer to 2ndary i will add the first 2oz of hops for 7 days and then I'll transfer it to another 2ndary for another 7 days and put the final 2oz of hops

like double dry hopping

 

[WayFrae]

Yes, you can steep the toasted malt. You would still probably be better off to mash it though. Mashing and steeping aren't that much different. Steep the 4lbs of grain in 6 quarts of ~154°F water for 60 minutes and you will have successfully mashed the grain.

 

[peterj]

Could I sub for 2-row toasted malt?

That would also need to be mashed. If you're just steeping you need to stay away from base malts. But a mini mash is not hard to do if you would like to do it. Just "steep" the grains in ~150F water at about 1.25-1.5 quarts/pound of grain for 60 minutes. So for 4 lbs of grains you could use about 6 quarts of water.

Also it's hard to get a good amount of bitterness when you're doing partial boils so I would suggest boiling as close to the full amount as you possibly can. The IBUs reach a saturation limit at around 100 IBU (probably a little less than that actually) in the wort. So when you top off with water you're diluting the IBU down from around 100. So for 3 gallons topped up to 5 gallons your max IBUs will be probably a little lower than 60 IBU (probably more like 50 or so).

This may be just a personal preference, but if you're adding 1.5 oz of Chinook at 60 I wouldn't bother doing 1 oz for the FWH. Seems like your just doubling up on the bittering addition and it would just be kind of a waste. The point of FWH is to give a smoother bitterness but if your just adding a full bittering charge of the same hop at 60 anyway then there's no real point in my opinion.

 

[stratslinger]

When i transfer to 2ndary i will add the first 2oz of hops for 7 days and then I'll transfer it to another 2ndary for another 7 days and put the final 2oz of hops

like double dry hopping

Gotcha - in that case, game on then!

 

[peterj]

When i transfer to 2ndary i will add the first 2oz of hops for 7 days and then I'll transfer it to another 2ndary for another 7 days and put the final 2oz of hops

like double dry hopping

I forgot but I was also going to comment on the dry hop length. This sounds better though.

Probably another personal preference but I would shorten those times up and cut out all of the transfers. I always dry hop in primary. If it were me I would add the first addition for 3-5 days then add the next addition for another 3-4 days. If you want you could tie some unflavored floss or something to the hop bag so you could remove it later.

 

[Calder]

Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 65% (steeping grains only)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.082
Final Gravity: 1.019
ABV (standard): 8.21%
IBU (tinseth): 89.33
SRM (morey): 8.93

FERMENTABLES:
8 lb - Liquid Malt Extract - Extra Light (63.7%)
9 oz - Corn Sugar - Dextrose (4.5%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
2 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (15.9%)
2 lb - Belgian - Cara 20L (15.9%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 12.52
1.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 34.12
1 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 10.6
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 13.77
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 6.98
2.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 11.34
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Aroma for 0 min
1 oz - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

4 lbs of speciality grain is way too much. Drop the carapils, there is probably some in the extract anyway. Cut the crystal to about 0.5 lbs.

Extract tends to not ferment too well. Up the simple sugar to at least 1 lb?

 

[WayFrae]

Yeah 4 lbs is way too much. If you use that much your beer will be super sweet and not in a good way.

 

[Mastermind171]

Thanks!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Fwiw I use a # of c40 in my 10 gallon all grain IPA. It is definitely enough. I don't use any wheat or carapils and I get great head retention and mouthfeel. All those hops will help with that. I like multiple short dry hop additions instead of big long ones. So a couple 3-5 day dry hop sessions.

Also, are you going to be making a starter? What kind of yeast? Good DO concentrations will be helpful for clean fermenting and good apparent attenuation.

 

[Mastermind171]

I'm going to use white labs yeast and double pitch it prob also use some bru vigor.

 

[Mastermind171]

So just a lb of crystal 40 and all is good with the lme?

 

[peterj]

So just a lb of crystal 40 and all is good with the lme?

With a 1.082 OG I would probably go with 0.5 lb or less of crystal because you're going to want this to finish pretty dry. Sandyeggoxj was saying 1 lb for 10 gallons but you're doing 5. Less sweetness and a lower FG will accentuate the hops more. In fact I would up the corn sugar to at least 1-1.5 lb and use it to replace some of the extract.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I'm going to use white labs yeast and double pitch it prob also use some bru vigor.

You will need more yeast than that! Check out brewersfriend and their yeast calculator.
It will tell you how many cells you will need. Two very fresh vials will get you to about 180 billion cells. If you want it to dry out you better have happy yeast and lots of them. You might look at olive oil instead of dissolved o2 for the yeast to use for building cell walls and such.

So just a lb of crystal 40 and all is good with the lme?

I'd use half pound max! Maybe 6 oz. And then bump up corn sugar and drop one down a bit.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Also your estimated fg is pretty high. I think you'll want it down in the 1.010 range. It is an IPA... You want to showcase the hops and that doesn't happen with a lot of residual sugar. I'd keep the caramel/crystal contribution to less than 10%. More like 5% or less.