PineFire IPA

[HullAndOats]

Hey all, long time lurker, first time poster. Advice from this site has really helped me out over the years, so I decided it was high time I actually registered.
I'm looking for a critique for this Red/Rye IPA. Basically, I was interested in how a super piney hop schedule (I'm essentially cloning PineDrops) would interact with a more malty/roasty base. Theoretically, it'll be like a pinewood campfire.

PineFire IPA
1.068 OG - 50.3 IBU - 16.2 SRM - 6.9 Est. ABV
Single Infusion Mash 60 Mins - Boil Time 60 Mins

6 lbs Maris Otter
3 lbs Rye Malt
2 lbs Vienna
1 lbs Light Brown Sugar
6 oz Roasted Barley
3 oz Crystal 120l
3 oz Crystal 20l

1 oz Nugget - 60 mins
1 oz Centennial - 10 mins
1 oz Northern Brewer - 10 mins
1 oz Chinook - Flameout
1 oz Equinox/Ekuanot - Flameout
2 oz Chinook - Dry Hop
1 oz Equinox/Ekuanot - Dry Hop

Mangrove Jack's Burton Union Ale Yeast #M79​

 

[treebeerd]

I've been a lurker and recently joined, myself.

Sounds like it might be something like Night Time from Lagunitas (good thing in my opinion), but lighter in color.

You might consider adding some rice hulls to help prevent a stuck sparge from the rye. Also, unless you've tried this recipe or one with a similar amount of brown sugar, I'd think about cutting that back or eliminating all together until you know you need it in the recipe to help dry it out.

 

[Queequeg]

A few tips.

Equinox isn't very piney, if you want pine go for chinook, simcoe, eureka, ctz.

Though I would personally recommend Summit or Apollo with rye.

Also the malt bill looks excessively fussy to me. I would drop the crystal 120 , the vienna and the sugar.

I would up the crystal 20 to 8oz to balance the drying effect of the Rye.

6 oz of roast barely is going to be quite assertive. I would dial it back to 3 oz and use dehusked grains in a cold steep.

 

[HullAndOats]

Treebeerd:
I will most certainly be adding rice hulls. In fact, whenever I use rye I also line my mash tun with a paint strainer bag (ala BIAB).

Queequeg:
I took the hop schedule directly from PineDrops. I also questioned Equinox, which for me has always been a bit more lime-flavored, but apparently it's what Deschutes uses.
Also [mostly] just copied an Irish Red recipe, but added the rye and sugar. I suppose if I dropped the 120, I could also drop the sugar, as that's what I was trying to counteract.
It has also been suggested to me to perhaps replace some base malt with a subtle smoked malt. The cherry smoked was suggested, but if I was going to do it, I'd go with Weyerman's Oak-Smoked Wheat. Thoughts?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Queequeg]

I am not a massive fan of smoked malt in any beer really, but am IPA definitely not. For IPA's I tend to go a pale as possible otherwise the malty character just cancels out the "hop pop" I also keep the character malt count 1 one. Rye is one of the few exceptions to this which needs crystal to make it palette, otherwise you have to dial back the rye addition.

I agree the sugar can be dropped, just mash low.

For the roast character I would use a dehusked grain and cold steep overnight. Then drain through a fine nylon bag and heat in a separate kettle to pasteurization temp for 10 mins or so. The add the running's to the main kettle at knockout. This results in a ultra smooth roast character this is sweeter and more chocolaty than a mash.

I have done this with Chocolate rye and debittered Belgian roast barley, both work well.

Alternatively you could drop the Roast barley all toegther and use a small amount (2%) of special B or caraaroma. This won't be roasted but add a really nice chocolate aniseed and plum quality. Personally I think this would work better than the roast barley.