My first IPA. Your thoughts?

[jamie3]

I am attempting to make my own recipe from some simple ingredients.

Will be single hop IPA. Just want to get some people's thoughts on my recipe. Any suggestions is appreciated. thank you

This is a small batch just in case i dont like the outcome.


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 2.50 gal
Boil Size: 2.86 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00

OG: 1.056 SG
FG: 1.014 SG
ABV: 5.59 %
Bitterness: 58.3 IBU
Color: 8.8 SRM

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 91.67 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 4.17 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.17 %
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 48.5 IBU
0.13 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (20 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
0.13 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale



Mash Name: Single Infusion
Sparge Water: 0.96 gal
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE
Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body
50 min Mash In Add 7.50 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 3.00 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F

 

[KevinW]

Sounds pretty good, the 158° may give you a pretty sweet IPA(sugary sweet).

You have no aroma hops? How about ~1/2oz of Willamette @ 5mins and 0mins?

Granted, I love hops so bear this in mind!

Just my opinion

 

[Yooper]

Well, I like the recipe and the magnum for bittering.

But I honestly don't care for magnum for flavor and aroma hops. They are a great bittering hop- relatively "clean" bitterness and great for IPAs and APAs. The flavor/aroma falls short, though.

For IPAs, I like even more hops than a 20 minute and 5 minute addition. I'll generally use a 15 minute, 5 minute and 0 additions schedule for IPAs.

 

[Sean]

Even with the high-ish mash temp isn't the final gravity a bit high?

I too would add an aroma hop addition. And make 5 gal instead of 2.5, cause even if you don't particularly care for it, your friends will help. 5 gal goes quick.

 

[jamie3]

Well, I like the recipe and the magnum for bittering.

But I honestly don't care for magnum for flavor and aroma hops. They are a great bittering hop- relatively "clean" bitterness and great for IPAs and APAs. The flavor/aroma falls short, though.

For IPAs, I like even more hops than a 20 minute and 5 minute addition. I'll generally use a 15 minute, 5 minute and 0 additions schedule for IPAs.

I was going to go with a single hop recipe just to understand the magnum hop taste.

i really like amarillo and cascade hops for flavour/aroma. maybe substituting either of these would be sufficient?

 

[jamie3]

Even with the high-ish mash temp isn't the final gravity a bit high?

I too would add an aroma hop addition. And make 5 gal instead of 2.5, cause even if you don't particularly care for it, your friends will help. 5 gal goes quick.

i made the recipe in beer smith. not sure why it calculated it to be so high. should i change it to a single infusion, full body, batch sparge?

id like to do a 5 gal batch but im scared that the recipe might come out bad tasting and i would end up giving the entire batch away to my step dad.

 

[Yooper]

No, go with either a "light body" or "medium body" profile for an IPA. Especially with 8% crystal, you're not going to want it thick and sweet. Mash at 152-153.

The batch won't taste bad- I promise!

I like the idea of cascades or amarillo in the flavor and aroma (and dryhop) addition. I'd probably go with cascades, which will give you a "Sierra Nevada Pale Ale" type beer, especially if you keep the magnum for bittering.

For many IPAs, I like the IBUs to equal the OG, or a bit under. What I mean is, if you've got an OG of 1.060, I like 45-60 IBUs. I think 48 IBUs is good for an OG of 1.056.

 

[Ludovico]

Grapefruity IPA's are almost a cliche these days. Sure they're delicious, but why not try a different variety than cascade?

 

[jamie3]

Grapefruity IPA's are almost a cliche these days. Sure they're delicious, but why not try a different variety than cascade?

only because i don't want to diverge from ingredients that i am familiar with.

once i get a good IPA i will substitute ingredients one at a time to get a better understanding.

basically im learning to walk before i run.

 

[jamie3]

had a little taste of this before putting into the secondary.

i had to substitute the bittering hops for galena/

as one would expect there is a good amount of citrus/grapefruit taste followed by a nice bitter finish.

looking forward for this to be finished. ill post pics when im done.