Might be a winner?

[HumboldtBrewer]

Over the last few months I have tinkered with my house IPA, and I am getting closer to what I think will be an awesome IPA. I've played with grains such as Marris Otter, Vienna, Munich, Crystal, and 2-Row. Initially I wanted to stick to Nugget and Amarillo as hops, but have realized I like the citrusy/piney IPAs better than the earthy ones. So, here is my (hopefully) final house IPA Recipe, so let me know if you have had any beers similar to this, and what would you change. Any suggestions welcome

Grain Bill:

7 lbs. 2-Row: 50%
3.5 lbs. Vienna: 25%
2.5 lbs. Munich 10L (light): 17.9%
8 oz. Crystal 20: 3.6%
8 oz. Crystal 60: 3.6%

Hop Schedule:

1 oz. Chinook 13% AA @ 60 min.
0.5 oz. Centennial 10% AA @ 20 min.
0.5 oz. Centennial 10% AA @ 15 min.
0.5 oz. Centennial 10% AA @ 10 min.
0.5 oz. Centennial 10% AA @ 1 min.
2 oz. Centennial or Citra @ Dry Hop

WLP001 (California Ale) yeast

 

[HumboldtBrewer]

Anyone? Is it a good recipe, so that's why nobody wants to comment?

 

[Jayhem]

It seems like a lot of Vienna/Munich and about 2X as much Crystal malt as most people would use but to each his own. This grain bill will produce a sweeter, maltier IPA with huge head retention.

I tend to like malty IPA's as well but most people are going to say to stick to 8oz of Crystal in 5-5.5 gal batches and leave the rest mostly base malt, perhaps some Vienna this will make the beer drier and allow the flavor of the hops to be the dominant feature of the IPA style.

Look into "Hop Whirlpooling" or "Hop standing" Essentially you steep a couple ounces of your late hops as you cool down your wort. Boiling wort drives off much of the volatile hop aromas so whirlpooling them as the wort cools retains much of them! I couldn't believe the difference when I started doing this!

I also think it is a waste to use a high end hop (like Chinook) for the 60 minute bittering addition because 90% of the flavor and all of the aroma of that hop will be lost in a 60 min boil so you are only left with its bittering properties. Columbus, Magnum, Super Galena, etc are better for the bittering hop because they are much cheaper and also have high AA% for good bittering.

Personally I like to bitter at 60min with something clean and cheap for about 80% of the IBU's and then add the rest at 10 minutes, hop whirlpool and dry hop.

These are just recommendations based on personal experience and preference. I think you recipe is pretty solid!

- J

 

[HumboldtBrewer]

Thank you Jayhem. I was kinda thinking the Crystal malt might be a bit much as well. I think I'll get rid of the 8 oz. C20 and just leave the 8 oz. Of C60. The whirlpool technique sounds interesting and I think I might try it. Do you think taking the 1 minute addition of the 0.5 oz. Centennial and moving it to whirlpool instead will make much difference, or should I at least add 1 oz. of it to the whirlpool? Thanks again for the great info.