American IPA My 2-time gold winning American IPA

[wobblymadman]

Well redspy, your post is slightly confusing, but it sounds like you will be fine. If you had a 1062 OG, and you have pitched yeast, provided you keep a handle on fermentation temperature you will end up with tasty beer and very acceptable ABV %.

The slightly low mash temperature will give you a more fermentable wort and possibly a slightly less sweet end product, but certainly not a big issue.

I am assuming your OG was taken after the boil. There's not much point measuring it right after sparging. To calculate your actual ABV, you need to remember to take a final gravity just before you bottle.

 

[redspy]

Thanks for your reply. I'm still pretty new to brewing so I appreciate it. After reading your post I feel pretty confident all will be good. I wasn't sure when I should be taking gravities. I am fermenting at about 68 degrees. I didn't see a specific temperature to ferment at on the recipe.

 

[bleme]

If a recipe doesn't list a temp range for fermenting, it is best to just follow the guidelines for the yeast. For this beer, I would try for the lower half of the range to minimize esters but that is all personal preference. Either way is going to make good beer.

 

[HopLife]

Ok, this beer is on my to brew list.

 

[Walshy87]

What's the optimum time for dry hoping this?

 

[meseta]

hey,
i am planning to brew this beer in a few days but have some questions.
I am from Europe and in the place I live in, it is impossible to find 2 row US pale malt.
Can I substitue it with pilzner malt, or English pale malt will be a better choice?
cheers!

 

[dale1038]

English pale malt will be better.

 

[homebrewhaha]

What's the optimum time for dry hoping this?

Most will dry hop for 3 days or up to a week.

 

[redspy]

Well I feel foolish. I have been reading through this thread again and stumbled upon a post in it mentioning that the app for ios cuts off the top of the recipe. I of course am using said app. Man I wish I had realized that before. Thanks everyone for the help!


New question though. Anyone object to dry hopping for a week in the primary? I really don't want to keg hops.

 

[VSGLS1]

Most will dry hop for 3 days or up to a week.

I just end added the hops to the primary. I'll cold crash and bottle it New Years.

 

[wobblymadman]

Well I feel foolish. I have been reading through this thread again and stumbled upon a post in it mentioning that the app for ios cuts off the top of the recipe. I of course am using said app. Man I wish I had realized that before. Thanks everyone for the help!

New question though. Anyone object to dry hopping for a week in the primary? I really don't want to keg hops.

I dry hopped this recipe for four days in primary and the result was just how I like it. Nice hoppy aromas and flavour. My method was hanging them into the fermenter in a nylon strainer bag weighted with marbles. All sterilized of course.

 

[meseta]

Two more 'newbies' questions

1. If I use US-05 yeast, do I need to use 1 pack or 2 packs? (2 vials of California in the recipe, this is why I wonder)
2. When you bottle beer after 3 weeks (1 week on primary, 2 weeks on secondary), do you add sugar/glucose/sth else to the bottle to start re-fermentation?

 

[HopLife]

Two more 'newbies' questions

1. If I use US-05 yeast, do I need to use 1 pack or 2 packs? (2 vials of California in the recipe, this is why I wonder)
2. When you bottle beer after 3 weeks (1 week on primary, 2 weeks on secondary), do you add sugar/glucose/sth else to the bottle to start re-fermentation?

I would re-hydrate the yeast and make a small starter for best results.. 2cents or pitch a good healthy dose of 1056/1272.

I would only use the typical priming sugar with a 3 week turnaround. There is enough suspended yeast to take care of carb. But don't expect bottle condition beer to be good until around 3 weeks in bottles.

 

[dale1038]

I would re-hydrate the yeast and make a small starter for best results.. 2cents or pitch a good healthy dose of 1056/1272.

I would only use the typical priming sugar with a 3 week turnaround. There is enough suspended yeast to take care of carb. But don't expect bottle condition beer to be good until around 3 weeks in bottles.

No real need to rehydrate dried yeast, but if you do, definitely don't make a starter with it. Just pitch 1 packet. And yes, you need to add sugar before you bottle.

 

[EineProsit]

Brewed this one already. Awesome. This may end up being my favorite. I gotta feeling it's going to be a staple at my house.

Thanks for sharing enohcs.

 

[redspy]

So I tapped the keg a couple days early just cause I couldn't wait any longer. Came out amazing even with my mistakes. It could still use another week I think to age a bit. But I am so happy with the results. Look forward to brewing it again very soon. By far my favorite beer I've brewed thus far. I'm with the previous poster in saying this will be a staple around my house. Thanks again to the OP.

 

[redspy]

Amazing

 

[VSGLS1]

Trying it after being bottled for 2 weeks. Very good ipa. This will be in my rotation. Thanks for sharing.

 

[wobblymadman]

Interesting the colour variation in those two pics. Mine was closer to redspy's.

 

[deuce40]

Yeah mine was too. You sure that was the right beer. Lol

 

[Walshy87]

First off this is a delicious beer! Thanks for the recipe.

So I gave one to a co-worker and told him to critique it. He said it was really good, definitely my best one so far. After drinking it he had a Ranger and another IPA, he said mine was lacking complexity in the after taste which I agree with. Seems like the hop is up front with no bitter taste than not much after taste. Anybody else noticed this or is just the way I brewed it? The only mishap I had while brewing this was that I was a gallon short post boil which I topped off and hit target gravity.

 

[homebrewhaha]

The only mishap I had while brewing this was that I was a gallon short post boil which I topped off and hit target gravity.

That's definitely going to affect your hop flavor and I wouldn't necessarily attribute any deficiencies to the recipe itself.

 

[bleme]

Seems like the hop is up front with no bitter taste than not much after taste.

I think that this is all a matter of preference. I prefer the huge hop flavor and aroma I get with this, without the overwhelming bitterness a lot of IPA's have. My favorite commercial IPA so far is Stone's 16th Anniversary, which accomplishes the same thing in a remarkable way.

 

[Hopper77]

Subscribed

 

[Walshy87]

Dont get me wrong I don't think it's bad thing, this is definitely a staple now in my house. Just wondering if that's how it was suppose to be or if my process contributed it. next time I'll make sure I don't have to top off.

 

[redspy]

Mine is the same way. Lots of hop up front with a feint after taste. I have no issue with it though. Delicious beer.

 

[creatorofbeer]

I made an extract recipe for this, just brewed last night, its my 2nd brew:

steeping grains:
1 lb Crystal 20
1 lb Munich Light 10L

extracts:
3.15 lb Gold LME (from NB--contains some carapils)
6 lb Gold LME--added at end of boil
4 oz pilsen DME

hops:
1 oz Chinook 30 min
1.5 oz Cascade 30 min
1 oz Williamette 15 min
1.5 oz Cascade 15 min
1 oz Williamette 5 min
2 oz Cascade dry hop in secondary

I also put in a teaspoon of Irish moss at 15 min. I left out the carapils since the Gold LME has some in it, and I left out the torrified wheat, since it has to be mashed, hopefully its not super important. Used US-05 and its bubbling away nicely. Adding the 6 lbs LME at the end of the boil should help with hops utilization since I only have a 3 gal boil.

How did this extract pale turn out?

 

[RichBenn]

First off this is a delicious beer! Thanks for the recipe.

So I gave one to a co-worker and told him to critique it. He said it was really good, definitely my best one so far. After drinking it he had a Ranger and another IPA, he said mine was lacking complexity in the after taste which I agree with. Seems like the hop is up front with no bitter taste than not much after taste. Anybody else noticed this or is just the way I brewed it? The only mishap I had while brewing this was that I was a gallon short post boil which I topped off and hit target gravity.

Ranger is kinda crap, IMHO.
I've started serving one beer that is a crowd pleaser for those that don't think a beer is right unless it tastes like something they are used to. (It's posted under my name and took 1st place, if you are interested) It's got that Sierra Nevada/Sam Adams kinda familiarity, which is why it succeeds with the general population in addition to being an award winner.

The recipe in this thread is one of my favorites, but I have not gotten much more than "interesting" as a comment from anyone except for true beer lovers. Their loss. I brew variations of this IPA a lot, and my wife and I love it.

 

[Jaman]

First off this is a delicious beer! Thanks for the recipe.

So I gave one to a co-worker and told him to critique it. He said it was really good, definitely my best one so far. After drinking it he had a Ranger and another IPA, he said mine was lacking complexity in the after taste which I agree with. Seems like the hop is up front with no bitter taste than not much after taste. Anybody else noticed this or is just the way I brewed it? The only mishap I had while brewing this was that I was a gallon short post boil which I topped off and hit target gravity.

Possibly try adding a few more oz of Munich next time. This gives a nice grain after-taste which I find quite nice. That is the only alteration I have made to this recipe. Good luck!

 

[BruBird]

Thanks for this fantastic recipe! It is just over a week in the bottle and already tasting super fine!

Just one question, i dry hopped in Primary for 3 days (after one week of fermentation) then bottled. I get quite a sour/bitter grapefruit aftertaste - i assume this settles out (it is only 1.5 weeks in bottle after all!!) but what would be the optimum drinking time? I read that IPA's should sit for 2 months......but who can wait that long?! I see on here somebody said 3 weeks is good. Anyone wait longer than that? And did anyone else experience the aftertaste in the beginning?

I was too scared to transfer to secondary in case of oxidising - i don't have the glass carboy (hard to get hold of in SA) so would have had more headspace in the plastic bucket fermenter (25litre) hence why i threw the hops into the primary. I ran the whole lot through a filter at bottling.