Need some help with an IPA recipe

[Jeepinsc87]

I'm relatively new to coming up with my own recipes, most of the time I've used kits from my local homebrew supply store. A couple of years ago I started growing my own hop vines (all Cascade). A friend of mine suggested we make an IPA and tasked me with coming up with a recipe. Unfortunately, I haven't really kept up with my hop vines this year and was only able to get 3 oz of Cascade for this batch of beer. I know most, if not all, will go in right at the beginning of the boil. By doing a quick search, it appears as though I still need more hops to get a good hoppy IPA. Here are the rest of the ingredients I was planning on using (based on Charlie Papazian's "Palilalia IPA"):

3 oz Cascade hops (full 60 min boil?)
6.6 lbs Briess Golden Light
1 lb Crystal malt
0.5 lb toasted malt
1 oz oak chips (secondary)
2 oz Gypsum
SafAle S-05 yeast

So, what other varieties of hops would you recommend? Does the rest of the recipe sound good?

Thanks in advance!

 

[histo320]

Any of the C hops should compliment Cascade pretty well. I've never used whole leaf hops before so I don't know how much to use in place of pellets.

My suggestion would be to use Chinook or Centennial for bittering and use the Cascade for flavor. I've made a few IPA's using Chinook and Cascade together. Worked quite well.

 

[Poobah58]

2 oz of gypsum? How did you come up with that?

 

[Jeepinsc87]

Any of the C hops should compliment Cascade pretty well. I've never used whole leaf hops before so I don't know how much to use in place of pellets.

My suggestion would be to use Chinook or Centennial for bittering and use the Cascade for flavor. I've made a few IPA's using Chinook and Cascade together. Worked quite well.

I'm assuming C hops refers to any hops whose first letter is "C"?

Also, what would you recommend as a hop schedule? I'm thinking the Chinook for full boil and then add 1.5 oz Cascade at 15 min and 1.5 at 0. Sound good?

 

[Jeepinsc87]

2 oz of gypsum? How did you come up with that?

Thanks for pointing this out! This was supposed to read 2 tsp....the result of a long day and not thinking clearly!

With that being said, I've never brewed an IPA and certainly never used Gypsum. I've read that it can help accentuate hop character, particularly if you have very soft water. Our house is equipped with a water softener, so our water is most certainly very soft. After some careful research, it sounds like 2 tsp may serve me well. I'm certainly open to your opinions regarding Gypsum. Too much, too little? Thanks!

 

[chickypad]

Yes C hops referring the the american hops starting with "c" like cascade, centennial, chinook, columbus. Also that's supposed to be 2 tsp of gypsum , i.e. 8 grams or about 0.28 oz. DO NOT use 2 oz. For that matter without knowing your water profile you may not want to add any. I'm assuming that's liquid extract since you said 6.6 lb, in that case it'll be pretty low gravity for an IPA. It's fine if that's what you want, just pointing it out since the original calls for 7 lb dry extract, which is about 8.75 LME. That's more crystal than I would personally like in an IPA, but maybe it's good with the oak? Sorry can't help you there, I'm not big on oaked beers.

Chinook for bittering with your cascade and 15 and 0 sounds good. Although I'd throw in some more additions there 15 to 0, plus dry hop.


Edit: sorry, simultaneous post. That's true, if your water is low in sulfates adding gypsum to bring that up can help accentuate bitterness. The problem with a water softener is it can remove the good stuff like calcium (probably more important for all grain), but add a lot of sodium.

 

[Jeepinsc87]

I'm assuming that's liquid extract since you said 6.6 lb, in that case it'll be pretty low gravity for an IPA. It's fine if that's what you want, just pointing it out since the original calls for 7 lb dry extract, which is about 8.75 LME.

You are correct sir...I misread the original recipe. Since my local HBS also carries dry malt extract, I will probably go that route. The original recipe calls for 5.5 lbs of light or amber dry extract. Since I tend to like IPA's on the lighter side, I will go with the light extract. My HBS sells it in 3 lb bags....so how does 6 lbs. sound?

 

[BigPerm]

Is that 3oz of wet hops (off the vine), or have you dried them? if they're wet, 90% of the weight is moisture ie NOT hop oils. Meaning, 3oz becomes 0.3 oz, which isn;t enough to do much of anything.

If that's the case, make an IPA however you want and shove one cone into each bottle of the finished product. You have much more change of appreciating your homegrown hops this way.

 

[chickypad]

Still seems a little light to me for an IPA, I think you'll be coming in around 1.057. I'd probably go with the full 7 lb, DME keeps well if you store it cool and dry.

 

[BigPerm]

Thanks for pointing this out! This was supposed to read 2 tsp....the result of a long day and not thinking clearly!

With that being said, I've never brewed an IPA and certainly never used Gypsum. I've read that it can help accentuate hop character, particularly if you have very soft water. Our house is equipped with a water softener, so our water is most certainly very soft. After some careful research, it sounds like 2 tsp may serve me well. I'm certainly open to your opinions regarding Gypsum. Too much, too little? Thanks!

The gypsum additions are probably warranted but you may want to consider cutting your water by half with distilled. Softeners replace calcium with sodium, and this can lead to a minerally-salty taste if enough chloride is present. I've never brewed with softened water, so this recommendation is not from direct experience, so if youve never noticed an issue, you may be fine.

 

[Poobah58]

Thanks for pointing this out! This was supposed to read 2 tsp....the result of a long day and not thinking clearly!

With that being said, I've never brewed an IPA and certainly never used Gypsum. I've read that it can help accentuate hop character, particularly if you have very soft water. Our house is equipped with a water softener, so our water is most certainly very soft. After some careful research, it sounds like 2 tsp may serve me well. I'm certainly open to your opinions regarding Gypsum. Too much, too little? Thanks!

It's impossible to know how much gypsum you need without knowing the makeup of your water. Have you ever gotten a water report? I don't know what a tsp of gypsum weighs but I would start off with a few grams (4-5?) or maybe even omit. If you do add it also add to your sparge water.

 

[Jeepinsc87]

Is that 3oz of wet hops (off the vine), or have you dried them? if they're wet, 90% of the weight is moisture ie NOT hop oils. Meaning, 3oz becomes 0.3 oz, which isn;t enough to do much of anything.

That's 3 oz dried. Also, I have brewed with my water once since we moved into this house. I didn't notice any mineral or salty taste.