My Citrus Crush IPA

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aaronius79

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Hi fellow homebrewers,

I just bottled an IPA and the uncarbonated beer tasted absolutely wonderful. The only way it could have been better was if the bitterness was a little bit higher. It was a tad on the sweet side. And I really mean just a small margin of sweetness. My question is should I have added more bittering hops or was it something I did in the mash? Any tips on this would be appreciated and I'll make note so that the next time I do this recipe it comes out a little better with the bitterness.

Here's what I did: BIAB

Grain Bill

65 minute mash at 152 (4.5 gallons of water in mash for mash)

12 lbs of 2 row
1 lb of crystal 20
1 lb of corn sugar

Target gravity was 1.070 and I hit it exactly (to my surprise)


I then brought the volume up to 6.2 gallons for the boil and proceeded with the following hop schedule


1 0z Galaxy Hops(15.7% AA) - 60 minute
1 oz citra - 25 minute
1 oz citra - 10 minute
1 oz citra - flameout

also I dry hopped with an addtional 1 0z of citra.

according to Brewersfriend calculator my IBU rating was 96. which I thought was good but maybe it needed to be higher.

My FG was 1.010 and that came in at 7.88% ABV


Like I said the citrus flavor is amazing. Tastes like a ripe navel orange was squeezed in it. there is some bitterness but not as much as I had hoped for and it is a slight bit on the sweet side. What can I do to get it a little more bitter and a little less sweet next time.

Thank you..


:mug:
 
Your FG was low so it appears the sweetness is coming from the crystal malt. Lower the amount of crystal next time, its fully converted so you aren't gaining/losing sugars in the mash, its there for flavor. It's current at 8.3% of your grain bill, try it around 5% or below next time.

With your hop schedule the bitterness you are looking for is coming from the 60 min addition and maybe a bit from the 25 min addition. Everything from the 25 min addition down is that navel orange flavor/aroma you are enjoying. If you are happy with that keep those additions the same and up the IBU's on the 60 min addition. I'm not sure what IBUs you're getting from that addition or what you consider bitter enough but that is the addition you want to add to.

Edit: Also drink it fast! The hop flavor aroma really does fade quickly, drink it up while its there.
 
Thank you Hopfather. I learn something new every time I come to this forum. I did not know that Crystal was fully converted and was only to be used mainly for flavor. I'll cut down to .5 lb of crystal next time. Also I might add an additional half oz of galaxy or comparable hop for bittering. THanks again.

Other comments welcome people, so please advise.
 
No problem, this site is amazing.

If I could chime in on the recipe itself I would suggest you try supplementing all of that citra with some mosaic as well. There is something really special about the citra + mosaic combo that I think you'd really enjoy.
 
It should be better once it's carbonated. Carbonation will add a little more bite.
I don't think you are way off on the Crystal. It's only 7% of your grain bill and it's lighter C20.
 
i would definitely take out the crystal or at least reduce it by a lot

I also have been moving 90'% if hops to very late or flameout additions. I always do a large hopstand at flameout. Once I started doing this, it really pushed my IPAs over the top. The hop aroma is so fresh, I cant even find commercial bottles that taste that good. I would move the 25min addition to flameout and add at least 3oz more hops for the hopstand. It will really give a ton of hop flavor and aroma without any lingering bitterness on the palette. Its like sucking the resin out of a fresh hop cone
 

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