Pursuit of the perfect IPA

[tre9er]

I like the floral aromas of Nugget. It's got a sweetness like candy, not citrusy, not earthy or like dirt...I'd say a floral hop.

I'd go with Willamette, Bravo, Simcoe...probably Bravo out of those.

 

[gwdraper4]

Last night I dry hopped the first batch with 28 grams of Centennial, 28 grams of Simcoe, and 56 grams of Amarillo. I also made the Pacific Jade IPA and you can view my notes here: http://www.smallbatchhomebrew.com/Session-8-Pacific-Jade_b_16.html. I'll be making another single hop beer within the next few days or week and will post my tasting notes for a all Calypso IPA, which i just cracked last night. Cheers!

 

[LKABrewer]

If you are looking for the perfect IPA, don't forget the water chemistry. I have really soft water, and could not get a decent IPA without adding the proper minerals and salts.

 

[gwdraper4]

You raise a good point about water chemistry. In the past I have monkeyed with a few different profiles based on a variety of additions, but lately I have been shying away from these additions. I know it is standard practice in a lot of commercial and home breweries to make these water modifications, but I want to keep it simple and rely on great ingredients in the proper proportions. My water is kind of right in the middle of soft and hard so it is pretty good for most styles, which is also another reason I haven't made it a big focus. Plus for me, hops are more fun to play with than salt!!!

 

[gwdraper4]

I bottled the recipe listed at the beginning of this post and WOW...it smelled ridiculous! I can't wait for this to be carbed, but at 68 deg F and flat it still tasted really freakin' good! This may be one of the best IPAs we've ever made. Also, since that brew we've done 2 single hop beers (same malt bill): Pacific Jade and Falconer's Flight. Next up for the single hop beer might be Bravo. As soon as we get to tasting we'll report back with the results. Cheers!

 

[jkendal]

My Nugget Empire is one of my favorite beers though I've only made it once. It started as Yooper's Stone Ruination clone but I subbed all Nugget hops for flavor/aroma. I used CTZ for bittering. I was shooting for around 100 IBU's but overshot gravity on the batch and had to dilute post-boil. I estimate the final IBU's were in the high 70's. The ABV was ~8.5%. I used Yooper's hop schedule, scaled for my batch (by IBU's of each addition and then by proportion for late additions and dry-hop).

What I think was the real show-stopper was accidentally pitching a Kolsch slurry instead of chico. I had done a partigyle brew and had two beers, two yeasts at one time. I accidentally pitched the Kolsch yeast into the DIPA, but it fermented from 1.078 to ~1.013. There was a great fruitiness, but not too much...it complimented the flavor hops just right.

The finished product didn't drink like an imperial at all. I had to be very careful drinking it. It had great floral, inviting nose and a semi-sweet finish with enough malt to keep any harsh bitterness off the tongue. It was one of my best beers yet.

Hey, tre9er (or if anyone else knows) have you posted that recipe anywhere - your Nugget Empire? I'm interested in giving that a try - it sounds really tasty. I tried a search but came up empty.

 

[tre9er]

Hey, tre9er (or if anyone else knows) have you posted that recipe anywhere - your Nugget Empire? I'm interested in giving that a try - it sounds really tasty. I tried a search but came up empty.

Sorry for the late response. I'm still perfecting it, but here is a basic feel for it:

9g. batch, 1.076 OG., ~70 IBU

American 2-row 24lbs.
Pale Ale Malt 0lbs. (this time I was out. Last time it was almost 50/50 2-row/Pale Ale)
American Crystal 40 1.5lbs. (to color, around 8 SRM)

Mashed at 154 to keep some of the malt (60m).

Columbus Pellet No 2.00 60
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 30
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 10
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 1 (really a flameout hop after temp dropped slightly below boiling)
Nugget Pellet No 2.00 Dry

Dry hopped for 4-5 days after primary ferm, as I needed to keg it. I only primary fermented it for a little over a week, controlled in the high 60's the whole time with a repitch (1L starter) of chico (US-05/WLP001). I used a Kolsch yeast the first time, but now I'm convinced the Nugget hops steal the show here.

I like this one young. I also threw in about 1oz. dry-hop in the keg in a voile "bag" with twisty-tie holding it closed. There were hop particles in some of the pours, which doesn't bother me in the least.

 

[chuckstout]

Sorry for the late response. I'm still perfecting it, but here is a basic feel for it:

9g. batch, 1.076 OG., ~70 IBU

American 2-row 24lbs.
Pale Ale Malt 0lbs. (this time I was out. Last time it was almost 50/50 2-row/Pale Ale)
American Crystal 40 1.5lbs. (to color, around 8 SRM)

Mashed at 154 to keep some of the malt (60m).

Columbus Pellet No 2.00 60
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 30
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 10
Nugget Pellet No 1.00 1 (really a flameout hop after temp dropped slightly below boiling)
Nugget Pellet No 2.00 Dry

Dry hopped for 4-5 days after primary ferm, as I needed to keg it. I only primary fermented it for a little over a week, controlled in the high 60's the whole time with a repitch (1L starter) of chico (US-05/WLP001). I used a Kolsch yeast the first time, but now I'm convinced the Nugget hops steal the show here.

I like this one young. I also threw in about 1oz. dry-hop in the keg in a voile "bag" with twisty-tie holding it closed. There were hop particles in some of the pours, which doesn't bother me in the least.

Sweet, I might try your recipe with some fresh Nugget hops on my first year plant

 

[GuitarGumption]

For me the pinnacle of the IPA is the Ninkasi Total Domination. I'd recommend trying one if you can to see if you like it. I'm planning on trying to do a clone of this next, for my perfect IPA. I haven't found a definitive recipe, but I heard it uses a London ESB yeast, and Summit bittering, and some combo of amarillo and centennial for flavor and aroma. For me this is the perfect balance of super hoppy, but also very drinkable beer.

 

[bobbrews]

For me the pinnacle of the IPA is the Ninkasi Total Domination. I'd recommend trying one if you can to see if you like it. I'm planning on trying to do a clone of this next, for my perfect IPA. I haven't found a definitive recipe, but I heard it uses a London ESB yeast, and Summit bittering, and some combo of amarillo and centennial for flavor and aroma. For me this is the perfect balance of super hoppy, but also very drinkable beer.

It's probably a lot like this, with lower gravity, fewer hops, and a slightly different malt bill.

http://hopville.com/recipe/1351115/imperial-ipa-recipes/tricerahops-clone

 

[GuitarGumption]

Cool thanks for the link.

 

[gwdraper4]

*Update*
Two weeks ago I cracked the first one of the brews and I have to say...wow! After 2 weeks of conditioning it was a fantastic beer, but still a little green...or as my wife said that is really "danky" I let it sit for another week in the fridge and this past weekend I opened another bottle and it was damn close to perfect for my tasted. The color was a medium straw due to the lack of any malts higher than 25L, mostly clear, and good 1-1.5 finger frothy white head. The nose was full of tropical fruit, pine, citrus, and a touch of that herbal/danky characteristic. It was not a faint aroma, it really came jumping out of the glass to the point where you could smell it as the beer was pouring into the glass...simply sublime. The taste was crisp and full of resiny hop flavor...it coated the mouth, but was not puckering or dry at all. The bitterness was very smooth and balanced well by a bready and ever so slighty sweet malt backbone with no caramel at all. To me and the few people that got to try it thought it was one of the best IPAs they have every had. Although some said it wasn't "perfect" because they liked a little more caramel character in their IPAs. But to me, this was exactly what I was going for, a light malt background to support a hefty hop flavor and aroma. As far as changes to the recipe to "tweak" it towards perfection...the only thing I might do is back off a little on the Amarillo in the dry hop and substitute in some more centennial, simcoe, or columbus. Regardless this is a great recipe to go off of, where you could add some caramel malt if you prefer that type of IPA or maybe some rye. If anyone tries this recipe or a variation of it please post and let me know what you did and how it turned out. Cheers ya'll!

 

[jessup]

Subscribed! Your base recipe looks like one of my favorites -
2row pale, crystal 40L, biscuit/victory, honey malt & loaded with hops. Next week i'll be trying this recipe with all NZ hops + citra & chinook. Rakau, monteuka, nelson sauvin, chinook & citra. Now this should be fragrant & hoppy

Fwiw I like calypso & am curious how that batch ends up. Keep us posted on results. A group brew with same base recipe & different single hops would be fun & educational. Hmmmm <gears turning>

 

[zachj9292]

You guys like dry ipas? I hear nathan smith talking about adding corn sugar in the boil to let it ferment out, but thats with double ipas.

What do you guys think about doing this with a 1060 og ipa eh?

My guess is that you have have to scale down on the bittering hops (BUT KEEP THE HOPS AFTER 30min THE SAME!!!) keep it chronic but a little more sessionable... know what im sayn

 

[tre9er]

I've used sugar for imperials and it get's really dry. Use it sparingly. S-05 will eat malt-sugar for a long time, especially if you control the temps at various stages of ferm. Mash lower if you want it drier. Say, 150.

 

[gwdraper4]

You guys like dry ipas? I hear nathan smith talking about adding corn sugar in the boil to let it ferment out, but thats with double ipas.

What do you guys think about doing this with a 1060 og ipa eh?

My guess is that you have have to scale down on the bittering hops (BUT KEEP THE HOPS AFTER 30min THE SAME!!!) keep it chronic but a little more sessionable... know what im sayn

I like dry IPAs, but not over-dry, I think balance is key. The one I brewed for this thread was a 1.061 IPA, I used Briess DME (comparable to a 152ish mash for fermentability) and it finished at 1.012. I would not want it any drier than that especially since I did not have hardly any specialty malts. If you had a good dose of crystal malts, than I can see using a little sugar to get it to 1.010, but beyond that I think it starts to get a little thin. To play a little Devil's Advocate here, if you look at the BYO recipe for New Belgium Ranger IPA, you'll see they use quite a bit of sugar in their recipe and I really like that beer, but I believe it finishes at 1.010. Knowing New Belgium's roots if you look at thier grain bill for that it almost looks like a lower ABV Tripel grain bill, but pale malt instead of pilsner...just my 2 cents.

 

[BEER_4_BREAKFAST]

And in the interest of actually contributing something to this thread I wanted to add this. I just brewed an IPA about a week ago with the following hop schedule;

1 oz - Tettnanger (AA 4.5), Type: Pellet, Use: First Wort
1 oz - Chinook (AA 11) for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1 oz - Cascade (AA 7) for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
0.5 oz - Citra (AA 13) for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1 oz - Chinook (AA 11) for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil
1 oz - Citra (AA 11) at flameout, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil


Although it's only been a week, the krausen just settled today so I took a hydrometer reading, and the 1oz or so of beer that I decided to taste was literally one of the best things to ever happen to my face. My mouth was so happy that the rest of my head got jealous.

After another week for the yeast to flocculate and some carbonation, I'm thinking I might have a good beer on my hands.

Any update?

 

[vrstud]

I am starting out on an adventure to craft and brew the perfect IPA. I know there is no such thing as perfection, but I want to get as close to it as I possibly can...at least for my tastes. So what can make the perfect IPA? For me, it has to be balanced, clean, crisp, and of course have great hop flavor and aroma. There are a number of fantastic commercial examples out there, so I will draw inspiration from them to make my perfect pint. To get to the perfect IPA I will have to no doubt try as many of those commercial examples as possible, but brew a freakin ton of IPAs. The best way I can think to do this is make a 12 pack at a time. This way I can brew a lot more often and have a solid rotation of beers to taste and examine along the way. I"ll start with a base recipe and modify the hops or malt 1 ingredient at a time to learn what each contributes to the beer. I'll probably also throw in some single hop beers to really nail down those profiles for my palate. Let the adventure begin!

Here is my first crack at an initial recipe...any thoughts or suggestions?
(this recipe is formulated for 6 gallons post-boil, which I will scale down to 1.5 gallons for the 12 pack batch)


Recipe Specifics
Batch Size (Gal): 6 gallons Post-Boil
Anticipated OG: 1.061
Anticipated FG: 1.010-1.012
Anticipated SRM: 6.2
Anticipated IBU: 66
Fermentation: 10-14 days at 68º F

Grain/Extract/Sugars (% of total weight)
Briess DME - Golden Light (91.2%)
Biscuit Malt (25L) (5.9%)
Honey Malt (18L) (2.9%)

Hops AA% (Grams) Boil Time
Simcoe 13.0% 28 60 min.
Centennial 8.1% 28 15 min.
Simcoe 13.0% 28 5 min.
Simcoe 13.0% 28 0 min.
Centennial 8.1% 28 0 min.
Amarillo 8.0% 28 0 min.
Simcoe 13.0% 28 Dry
Centennial 8.1% 28 Dry
Amarillo 8.0% 28 Dry

Yeast
Safale US-05/Wyeast 1056 or 1272

Hi, i'm a newb and trying to learn. Was this an extra base or from a grain mash? I don't have the setup yet to do a mash but I am looking to try a good, strong, hoppy IPA. If not, what would be some good extra alternatives?

Grain/Extract/Sugars (% of total weight)
Briess DME - Golden Light (91.2%)
Biscuit Malt (25L) (5.9%)
Honey Malt (18L) (2.9%)