Jeremiah's Devil IPA - Recipe Critique

[CadillacAndy]

Looking for some feedback on my IPA recipe. I've brewed this one 2x times so far, but I'm not a huge fan of IPAs so I'm trying to dial it in a little bit more... on paper at least. I'm going for a fairly dry, citrus (grapefruit and orange) and a little bit of fruitiness from the S-04.

Mash at 152F for 60 min and I usually do a 90min boil.

I usually ferment (with temp control) at 64F for s-04, and then ramp it up to about 70F after 5-7 days of good fermentation.

So here goes -

Malts -
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 67.8 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 22.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.6 %

Other fermentables -
5.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (3.0 SRM) Sugar 5 3.5 %
0.6 oz Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM) Sugar 6 0.5 %

Hops -
0.40 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 4 29.7 IBUs
0.40 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 8.2 IBUs
0.40 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 5.3 IBUs
0.40 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 2.1 IBUs
0.40 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 5.4 IBUs

Dry Hop schedule - in the keg for 5 days in bag. Will remove after 5 days
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

Yeast -
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 11 -

Also, as a side note, I named this beer after my 4th Great Grandfather, Pennsylvania Civil War vet and barrel maker that hanged himself in 1868.

 

[SouthBay]

looks solid enough. many people on here will scoff at the 30 minute cascade addition. they'll say either move it to bitter, or move it to flavor, or aroma.

i'd suggest upping the bittering addition. mashing @ 152 with an english yeast, with that low of bittering IBUs, AND 2# of vienna will slant the brew more to the malty side. maybe increase the bittering addition by 150%, to reach 45 IBUs.

 

[CadillacAndy]

Do you think I should move the 30 min Cascade to 60 min (50 bittering IBUs +/-)? That makes sense to me. Get some Cascade in there early in the boil, since I'm dry hopping with it.

I was hoping that adding some simple sugar, it would balance out the 152 mash temp. Leave some body, and still dry it out enough.

Do you think the amount of crystal is okay? I always struggle with how much to add. As long as I keep it below 10% of the grain bill, it seems to not overwhelm, even with 152F mash.

Thanks for the feedback. It is appreciated!

 

[Jwood]

I'm typically a fan of low to no crystal in an IPA. Or if you need the taste of the C-60, then a blend of maybe 3% c-60 and 2-3% Carapils. I've used a blend of C-40 and Carapils before at that amount and it turned out well. Use enough sugar to dry it out to about 1.010, and you are golden.

That's just my preference though, I like the looks of the rest of it!

 

[SouthBay]

i would move the 30 min to 60 min, to increase the bitterness.

mash temp: i like 152 for most of my beers, but usually do 150 for ipas. but, i dont add sugar, typically. as long as your FG gets to 1.010 or so, it should be fine.

crystal: a lot of people on here will say little to no crystal in an IPA. i'd say keep it where it's at for now, and just adjust next time as necessary.

 

[CadillacAndy]

Jwood and Southbay - thanks for the replies. I appreciate it. With the crystal - I'm at 5.3% and I mainly have it there to add a little color, not flavor, but at that amount, what flavors do you guys taste? With beers that have more crystal, I usually get roasted caramel flavor, but with the last batch of this I didn't really get anything other grapefruit and citrus from the dry and aroma hops, which was awesome, but it kept me from tasting the base beer.

*edit -
The question about what you taste was assuming you have made a beer with that amount of crystal. Not that you've had my beer... unless you've been sneaking pulls from my keggerator without me knowing, which you'd be more than welcome to do!