Simcoe/Citra IPA recipe critique

[Tupperwolf]

Tell me what you think of this:

Batch size 5.00 Gal

11lb USA 2-Row Pale Malt
0.75lb Amber Malt
0.75lb Crystal 40L

Mash at 152 for 60 min, boil 60 min

0.5 oz Simcoe 13%AA 60 min
1 oz each Simcoe/Citra (12%AA) 15 min
1 oz each Simcoe/Citra 0 min

Dry hop 1 oz each Simcoe/Citra 14 days in primary after primary fermentation has finished.

Expected OG 1.065 and expected IBUs 63.7, color 8.4 SRM

Any thoughts? Different specialty grains? Different amounts? Different dry hop schedule? Cheers

 

[bottlebomber]

Looks great, although in my experience 2 weeks is too long for dry hops. Anything after a 7-10 days and they start to impart sour notes to the beer.

 

[Tupperwolf]

Great input, thank you. Just the type of critique I was looking for. I have never dry hopped before (and I wasn't planning on racking into secondary to do so as I only have a couple of fermenters right now).

 

[Dave37]

Maybe mash at a slightly higher temp to impart a little more body on your beer?maybe 154-155F This might take a little bit away from your abv% but might help towards a better finished beer.

I recently made a SMaSH pale ale recently and i wish i wouldve either mashed at a higher temp or deviated from the SM part and added maybe some carapils to help with the body and texture aspect of it. Great aroma and flavor but it feels a little thin.

Anyway try playing with the numbers and see what you come up with. Just a thought. Good luck

 

[AT-JeffT]

Grist looks great. I recently did a 50/50 Simcoe/Centennial IPA. The Simcoe completely dominates. I would maybe do 40/60 Simcoe/Citra to give the Citra a chance to come though. Although I'm sure Citra is more pronounced than Centennial. I'm going to dial the simcoe back to 30% next batch, it's that dominant.

PS: its not like my IPA turned out poorly, its a great IPA but it was just a waste of Centennial.

 

[Tupperwolf]

Thanks for the replies! AT-Jeff, do you happen to know the AA% of the Centennial you used?

I'm basing this recipe from a recipe my LHBS created called "Parchita IPA" (Parcha is the spanish name for 'passionfruit' so this would be a 'little passionfruit IPA" based on the fruity qualities of the hops). My recipe changes the grainbill slightly and moves the aroma hop additions later in the boil plus adds the dry hopping.

I know what Citra tastes and smells like but I'm not very familiar with Simcoe.

 

[AT-JeffT]

9.2% on the Centennial. 13.0% for the Simcoe. AA% shouldn't matter for the aroma though only bittering properties.

I'm sure you are about to be familar haha. Its mostly orange/tangerine. When used for bittering its has a pungent quality.

When you do brew it. Post your results, I'm interested.

 

[terrapinj]

depending on the source of your amber malt .75lb could easily dominate the beer

4-5oz is usually the predominant flavor for a bit when i've used it

 

[Tupperwolf]

So a couple of votes for a great looking grain bill, and one warning about the amber... How does this sound?

11.25lb Pale Malt
0.5lb Crystal 40L
0.5lb Carapils

I'm interested in trying the Carapils for head retention. Is half a pound OK or should I use a little less and keep a bit of amber in the recipe? I only have a 5gal cooler so I can't add much more grain. Going to send my guy an email tonight with whatever recipe I decide on!

 

[AT-JeffT]

The general guideline is up to a lb of Caramel malts in IPAs. The second grain bill will be a safer bet but I think that either would would produce a great beer. Do you like your IPAs on the maltier side? Also you could consider some sugar (table(sucrose), corn (dextrose), honey, or anything highly fermentable) to dry out the body. I like to throw 1lb of sucrose in (at high krausen) and usually end up with an FG of 1.010.

As for the carapils, you can use it if you want but the large amount of hops should provide plenty of head retention. If you do half a lb is a good amount.

 

[terrapinj]

I think the amber malt will fit nicely, just not in the original amount - it gives a nice toasty flavor that works well with american hops

i believe it's used in either DFH 60 or 90min

 

[Tupperwolf]

Sounds good.

I'm thinking 11.5lb pale malt, 0.75 crystal 40L, 0.25 amber, and mash at 154.

Thanks again for the input, this is my first time working on a recipe. I will definitely keep you posted

 

[terrapinj]

which yeast strain are you using? 154 will give you more body and a fuller mouthfeel - not necessarily bad in an IPA but i prefer mine nice and dry.

recipe looks good

 

[Tupperwolf]

I'm going to use a packet of rehydrated US-05. And you're right, I think 152 should be a better choice. I was rethinking it after I posted. I prefer my IPAs to be a bit crisp and quaffable.

 

[Tupperwolf]

Brewed today!

Here's the final adjusted recipe.

11.5lb US 2-row
0.75lb Crystal 40L
0.25lb Amber malt

0.5oz Simcoe FWH

1oz Simcoe 15min
1oz Citra 15min

1 packet bakers' yeast 15min
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min

1oz Simcoe 0min
1oz Citra 0min

Chilled to below 70* and whirlpooled manually with a big spoon, pitched 1 packet US-05 rehydrated in 100*F water for 30 minutes and the bucket is now in my fermentation chamber at 65*F (air temp).

Lots of hop and protein material, I was only able to collect about 4.8 gal of wort at 1.062. I was shooting for 1.065 so I am pretty happy with that. I have been making temperature corrections to my hydrometer readings using an online calculator - I really don't trust them so I may have been closer to my calculated OG than it appears.

I decided to fly sparge for the first time, I took just over 60 minutes to collect all of my runnings, the Beersmith calculated volumes were spot on. When the mash tun ran dry I was right at my calculated 6.8 gal.

Hydrometer sample tastes good, looking forward to this one!

 

[Tupperwolf]

This is how I figure my hop additions - least amount of hops (Levitation) goes in first, I work my way along to Ruination My mom sent me these bottles for my birthday. They're no good for drinking beer out of, but they're great for hop additions.

First time fly sparging!

 

[AT-JeffT]

very nice. What is the bakers yeast for? Yeast nutrients?

 

[Tupperwolf]

Yes. By throwing the dried bakers' yeast in the boil, the cell walls rupture and it acts as a nutrient for the live yeast that is pitched to the cooled wort. That's my understanding, anyway... 3 packets of bakers yeast was $1.29. Plus I made some spent grain bread with one of the packets.

I decided to first wort hop instead of a 60 minute addition because Beersmith showed it adding just slightly more IBUs and I've heard that FWH is a 'smoother' bitterness. I don't know how it will turn out but that's what experimentation is for! I have a wheat beer that I bottled two days ago that used a FWH addition, but I've yet to taste the finished product.

 

[CraigT]

This sounds like a great recipe. I have some simcoe and citra in the mail and will probable do something like this in the next month or so. I'd like to hear how this one turns out for you.

 

[Tupperwolf]

I will be sure to update this thread when I sample a bottle or two in 8-10 days. I cracked the lid to add my dry hops and take a hydro sample (1.011ish), which I chilled in the fridge before tasting. There was still a lot of yeast in suspension, but this will definitely have some interesting citrus and tropical fruity character and if I closed my eyes and imagined "passionfruit" I was definitely getting it. I kept the fermenter cool (65ish) for a week and it will be at 71ish for another week. On day 5 of the dry hopping I will cold crash the bucket for a day or two around 35* and then bottle.

 

[tgmartin000]

So a couple of votes for a great looking grain bill, and one warning about the amber... How does this sound?

11.25lb Pale Malt
0.5lb Crystal 40L
0.5lb Carapils

I'm interested in trying the Carapils for head retention. Is half a pound OK or should I use a little less and keep a bit of amber in the recipe? I only have a 5gal cooler so I can't add much more grain. Going to send my guy an email tonight with whatever recipe I decide on!

That looks good, lots of people also add .5 lb of munich or victory, your call though. I'd also personally double the amt of dry hops - 2 oz each.

 

[Tupperwolf]

Well I just cracked a sacrificial bottle. After tasting this I'm going to start throwing 6-packs in the fridge. It's been bottled for 6 days and certainly tastes good. Very very fruity aroma and flavor, with enough traditional bittering to clean up the palate that the tropical fruitiness isn't overwhelming. Mouthfeel is a little thin, which could be down to the fly sparge with no mashout, but carbonation probably still isn't there so it may change. I just put this bottle in the freezer for about 45 minutes so the beer should be much clearer with a few days in the fridge. Pretty impressed with how clear it is now vs. how cloudy it was before crashing and bottling.

 

[Enf0rc3r]

Any further tasting notes?

 

[CraigT]

Yeah I'd like to hear how you feel about the hop schedule and your amounts, and if you'd do something different next time. Something like this will be my next batch

 

[Tupperwolf]

I only have 5 bottles of this beer left from a 5-gallon batch, I drank through it pretty quickly. I am saving them for a homebrew get-together this weekend so I will do my best to come back with some coherent notes after a day of drinking.

I started drinking this beer when it was barely carbed so I got to experience it as it mellowed and changed, and it definitely got better towards the end of the batch. The tropical, passionfruity notes that were very prominent and even a little overwhelming (almost kool-aid like) in the very first bottles mellowed out, letting a more clean bitterness come through, but retaining those nice fruity notes at a more pleasant level. After being fully carbed the body was much better. These beers didn't end up being clear but I didn't fine with gelatin and only cold crashed for 24 hours before bottling.

Thanks for the interest, hope you guys find this useful!

 

[Enf0rc3r]

I am brewing this next Monday except I'm using summit/citra