New to recipe building Could I get feedback Please

[redarmy990]

Good day all,
Just putting together a quick Pale/IPA recipe for a first brew on new equipment, And never really done my own recipe.

I haven't plugged anything into any brew software yet, just wanting some feedback. Thanks

5 gallon batch

10lb marris otter
2lb vienna
2 oz Caramel 50 (unsure about this)

1oz citra first wort
1oz citra 20 mins
1oz citra 10 mins
1oz citra flmeout or steep at 180 for 30 minutes

 

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I think it'll be fine. My initial thought was that there's typically a little more crystal / caramel / etc. for sweetening but the Maris Otter kinda has that built in so nevermind. The hops schedule is fine.

There can be 100 opinions about what everyone else would do instead, but if that looks like a good recipe for you, which is most important, brew it. There are no big issues / omissions / problems with it.

It'll be more a pale ale than IPA, and that's A-OK.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I plugged your recipe into brewers friend to see what it looks like. Stats are below...

The only thing for me, is I'm not a huge bitterness fan. I like mild IPAs. Once you start getting into the high IBUs, not for me. However, i know a lot of people like the higher bitterness. The only other thing I'll point out is your in Double IPA territory with this recipe.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I would also add a dry hop. I don't think you'll get a fantastic aroma from this. I'd add a minimum 2 oz dry hop of something. Seems you're going for all citra, so maybe a 2oz dry hop of citra.

 

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I plugged your recipe into brewers friend to see what it looks like. Stats are below...

View attachment 700628

The only thing for me, is I'm not a huge bitterness fan. I like mild IPAs. Once you start getting into the high IBUs, not for me. However, i know a lot of people like the higher bitterness. The only other thing I'll point out is your in Double IPA territory with this recipe.

Interesting, yeah you may be right. Pretty sure you are. I last brewed an IPA with an 11 pound grain bill, decent efficiency, and am sitting around a 5.5% ABV beer. But it was 10lbs base & a pound of victory / crystal. The vienna does push the ABV higher than those and there's more of it. For a pale ale perhaps the MO should go down to more like 8 or 9 lbs. This will depend on the method, if it's more BIAB or more sparging type and the resulting efficiency.

Definitely right about the hops. I had an almost identical schedule with my last brew and it's not at all too hoppy, but it was primarily cascade. Citra is about double the AA and so yes there will be very much an IPA not a pale ale. I should have looked at it better. For a pale ale the hops could go from 1.0 oz at each of those steps to just 0.5 oz.

 

[redarmy990]

I would also add a dry hop. I don't think you'll get a fantastic aroma from this. I'd add a minimum 2 oz dry hop of something. Seems you're going for all citra, so maybe a 2oz dry hop of citra.

I put Citra as it was on top of my inventory list, I have around 10lb of different hop varieties.

I could dry hop with mosaic or cascade. Not sure how well they would work with the Citra.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I put Citra as it was on top of my inventory list, I have around 10lb of different hop varieties.

I could dry hop with mosaic or cascade. Not sure how well they would work with the Citra.

Mosaic works well with Citra!

 

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I've been playing w/ hop single and combos with a basic pale ale recipe I have repeated a few times. I didn't care for the cascade + citra combo much either. It was a fine beer and I drank it, but my cascade + centennial worked well, and citra alone was better than with cascade.

 

[ejf063]

Yeah Mosaic and Citra are best of friends. If you have so many hops you may want to bitter with something different. Citra as a bittering hop isn't that great. If you want to just keep straight up citra, I would omit the bittering charge all together and spread that extra ounce out between the 20, 10, FO additions. What you have now works and will likely be a good beer for these autumn months. Just providing a little bit of a different idea if you want to beef up the hop flavor and aroma to compliment that MO.

 

[Chuckbergman]

I put Citra as it was on top of my inventory list, I have around 10lb of different hop varieties.

I could dry hop with mosaic or cascade. Not sure how well they would work with the Citra.

Cascade and Citra together are AMAZING! I use them together primarily for my NEIPAs.

 

[Chuckbergman]

Interesting, yeah you may be right. Pretty sure you are. I last brewed an IPA with an 11 pound grain bill, decent efficiency, and am sitting around a 5.5% ABV beer. But it was 10lbs base & a pound of victory / crystal. The vienna does push the ABV higher than those and there's more of it. For a pale ale perhaps the MO should go down to more like 8 or 9 lbs. This will depend on the method, if it's more BIAB or more sparging type and the resulting efficiency.

Definitely right about the hops. I had an almost identical schedule with my last brew and it's not at all too hoppy, but it was primarily cascade. Citra is about double the AA and so yes there will be very much an IPA not a pale ale. I should have looked at it better. For a pale ale the hops could go from 1.0 oz at each of those steps to just 0.5 oz.

I agree. I'd decrease MO to 8-9 lbs, up Vienna by 1-2 lbs and up crystal to at least 8oz. Agree with another post that Citra at FWH is kind of a waste. Use another high alpha bittering hop and save Citra for late additions. Otherwise really solid, tasty looking recipe.

 

[Rob2010SS]

8lb maris otter
3lb vienna
8oz crystal 60

This get's you back down to single IPA territory. Your color here is 9.3. This wouldn't be a bad start!

In regards to your bittering charge, I've used citra at 60 min and it kind of leads to an unpleasant bitterness, honestly. It fades after a couple of weeks and is no longer harsh, but fresh, in my opinion, it was a harsher bitterness than say, using something like magnum or nugget at 60 minutes. If you want to stick with Citra, I'd do as someone else said and eliminate the 60 min addition and increase your other additions to make up the difference.

 

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Cascade and Citra together are AMAZING! I use them together primarily for my NEIPAs.

Perfect example of why everyone should experiment and figure out what they like - I didn't care for it. Then again, I am starting to think maybe I just don't like Citra that much to start with (and Cascade is one of my all time favorites)

 

[Rob2010SS]

Perfect example of why everyone should experiment and figure out what they like - I didn't care for it. Then again, I am starting to think maybe I just don't like Citra that much to start with (and Cascade is one of my all time favorites)

I think I need to try more with Cascade. As of right now, I don't care for it too much. But I think i just don't have enough experience with it.

 

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I love doing the build-your-own 6 packs, and then seeing what is focused on by searching for the recipes.

https://www.craftbeer.com/editors-picks/13-single-hop-beers-test-palate
I can't vouch for the info in the link above, but as an example to do searches kind of in reverse.

 

[redarmy990]

View attachment 700735

8lb maris otter
3lb vienna
8oz crystal 60

This get's you back down to single IPA territory. Your color here is 9.3. This wouldn't be a bad start!

In regards to your bittering charge, I've used citra at 60 min and it kind of leads to an unpleasant bitterness, honestly. It fades after a couple of weeks and is no longer harsh, but fresh, in my opinion, it was a harsher bitterness than say, using something like magnum or nugget at 60 minutes. If you want to stick with Citra, I'd do as someone else said and eliminate the 60 min addition and increase your other additions to make up the difference.

Thanks for this, its really helpful. I have some Galaxy which I may dry hop with instead of the Mosaic and drop the first wort charge all together.