Partial mash IPA recipe, what do you think?

[progmac]

I'm going for a dryer and not super-bitter English IPA. My last one was syruppy and sweet, I'm looking for quite the opposite. Any thoughts on this?

grains, etc
maris otter 3.5#
victory 0.5#
pale LME 3.5#
light DME 2#
cane sugar 0.4#

hops
simcoe 1 (bitter)
goldings 1 (flavor)
challenger 1 (aroma)

yeast
wyeast 1056, 3rd generation, pitched on top of half-cake from last brew

method
- partial mash, 60 minutes ~ 155, sparge
- add LME at flame out

 

[progmac]

i just decided i'm going to keep it simple by single-hopping. i think i'll try challenger hops for bittering, flavor, and aroma.

 

[bobbrews]

Do yourself a favor and look up a clone or any info on Elysian Immortal IPA. It's the most balanced IPA I've ever tasted. Not sweet, not bitter, and yet hop forward with good malt presence. I typically enjoy supremely bitter, aromatic, in your face IPAs... but Immortal IPA was really a breath of fresh air. It seems to be exactly what you're looking for.

http://www.elysianbrewing.com/beer/immortal.html

You could use Muntons Extra Light DME (a great English product) to satisfy the base and mash everything else. What is your boil / batch / kettle size?

 

[progmac]

bobbrews --

thanks for showing me that IPA. I've never heard of it, but it is exactly what i'm looking for.

this is a 5 gallon batch. i am stovetop with a 3 gallon kettle. that is why i'm adding the LME at flameout, to keep the gravity constant when i add all the water.

i'll have to see if my local HBS has Munton's light. I was planning on using Briess Golden Light. The reason for the LME and not all DME in the recipe is that the local HBS have a good pale LME for $2.60 a pound whereas the DME is $5.50 a pound.

 

[progmac]

so, i just bottled this one last night. the attenuation was insane. i went from 1.060 to 1.007, meaning 88% apparent attenuation.

but the flavor was not to my liking at all. i didn't notice the hops (ok, wanted a lighter hop presense), but the big problem was a strong aftertaste of what i would call peanuts. any chance this will improve with bottle conditioning? could this just be what maris otter and victory malt do?

had to sub hops because of inventory at LHBS. used nugget for bittering and US Goldings for flavor and aroma

 

[bobbrews]

Good job on the attenuation. What was your FINAL recipe?

Goldings aren't really a good IPA hop. I personally think straight English IPAs suck, so when I want a little of that English character, I get it from the malt and the yeast... not the hops. Victory malt can be quite detracting if you use a lot of it... That's where you're getting the nuttiness from. Maris Otter however is a great characterful base malt for an IPA; and Nugget is a good choice of hop.

 

[progmac]

My recipe is the one at the top, except for the hop changes. Victory malt was 1/2 pound or about 5% of total grain bill. I'm really hoping that flavor mellows with some time in the bottle. Think there is any hope of that?

Re: attenuation, I pitched on top of about 1/3 of the yeast cake from a previous batch, which itself was on its second generation. Then fermented around 64 degrees.

Note: see last post. Flavor mellowed out completely after normal bottle conditioning, this is a great beer

 

[progmac]

okay, this is brewed, conditioned on the cake for 3 weeks and has been bottled for 2 1/2 weeks. i cracked one last night. some notes and final recipe

DRY ENGLISH IPA
grains, etc
maris otter 3.5#
victory 0.5#
pale LME 3.5#
light DME 2#
cane sugar 0.4#

hops
nugget 1oz (bitter)
goldings 1oz (flavor)
goldings 1oz (flavor)

yeast
wyeast 1056, 3rd generation, pitched on top of half-cake from last brew

method
- partial mash, 60 minutes ~ 155, sparge
- add LME at flame out

carbonation
- carbed to 2.1 volumes co2 with 3 ounces sucrose

OG (actual): 1.060 FG: 1.007; ABV: 7.1%

beer turned out very well, probably my best ipa to date. this is a dry beer. little alcohol taste. grassy, earthy flavor. may not have enough hop flavor/aroma for those used to american ipas. consider dry-hopping in that case. i achieved almost 90% attenuation which turned into > 7% ABV. it would be easy to drink this beer a little too fast and end up drunk. i like this kind of brew for a weeknight where i can have just one or two and feel pretty good. 8/10 would brew again. beer had an overstrong nut flavor at bottling that made me stress but it faded completely and added to a pleasant flavor profile after bottle conditioning.