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Irenjcombs

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I'm thinking about a hoppy tropical IPA. I've done it a couple times and it was good, but not great. I've upper my hops quite a bit for this recipe, but I wonder if I've gone too far. Any suggestions?

12 lbs 2 row
1 lb Carapils
2 lb flaked oats
1lb malted wheat
1lb rice hulls

60 min at 152 deg

Boil:
--60 min addition:
1oz Warrior
--45 min additions:
1oz Columbus
1.5 lb lalactose
--30 min addition:
1oz Simcoe
--0 min addition:
2oz Centennial
1oz Simcoe

Omega Tropical IPA yeast

Dry hop with:
2oz Columbus
1.75 oz Centennial
1oz Simcoe
And :
2lbs puree pineapple
 
I was at:
1oz Azacca @10 min
1oz Citra @10min
1oz Sultana @10min

1oz Citra @0min
1oz Sultana @0 min

Dry hop with 1oz each Azacca, Citra, Sultana
 
My thoughts are...

You have a lot of hops in the boil. My gut tells me that that level of high aa% would put you in the 80+ IBU range. That might be fine for a west coast IPA, but does not scream "hoppy tropical IPA" to me. (edited...I left out the "does not" part.)

Then you have a lot of classic American hops that will provide notes of citrus, pine, dank and resinous character. Again, this just does not scream "hoppy tropical IPA." Are you trying to work with hops you already have?

I have never uses Sultana, but I can see where Citra and Azacca would be much more of a tropical feel. I guess it depends on what you are going for. I am sure a search here or at Google for "tropical ipa" or "tropical ipa hops" would turn up good info. Your prior recipe with more hops at flameout (or a steep at a lower temp) and more dry hops might be a good option as well.

Also, if you are adding lactose you can just add it at flameout or the last 5 minutes of the boil. There is no reason to boil it for 45 minutes.
 
Last edited:
I'm with @CascadesBrewer here... Doesn't seem to line up with what you said you're going for. You're adding lactose and you have oats and wheat which tells me you're trying to shoot for more of a hazy IPA. There is an amazing thread here on this style. It's long but there's a ton of good info there and the people who make these really well spend a lot of time there helping others.

If this were my beer, I'd drop all of the boil additions with the exception of the warrior @ 60 min, but I'd drop that to an addition that gives you 5-10 IBUs. Add your lactose at the last 5 minutes and do all of your other hop additions at whirlpool and then dry hop as you normally would, adding the pineapple at the very end of fermentation.

Also as CascadesBrewer mentioned, I'd swap out the hops for more tropical hops to help. Citra is a great staple in these. Since you're adding pineapple, Vic Secret would be another one. I get huge pineapple out of that. El dorado, idaho 7, mosaic, galaxy, sabro, these are some other popular ones used in this style.
 
Agree with above. i think some columbus or resiny hop in the boil would give some nice depth but later in the boil. I'd lower the 60 min addition too. in the dry hop you've got more pine/resin hops than tropical fruit hop, maybe because you're adding pinapple. i'd probably still balance the dry hops but i've never added fruit puree either. good luck.
 
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