Thoughts on grain bill

[BMatt1985]

I am looking to make a tropical citrusy IPA. I have seen people use some acidulated malt. I have used victory malt in the past and liked it as well. What are your thoughts on these specialty grains along with some crystal?

 

[jdauria]

Acidulated malt is used mainly for adjusting pH of the mash, not really for flavor unless you are making a sour or tart beer and you would not want to use more than 3% of your total grain bill for acidulated. You probable see people using in an IPA because with mainly all light grains you need more acidity in the mash.

As for victory malt, definitely...it can add some depth to the beer and give some biscuity notes.

 

[RM-MN]

I just made a citrusy IPA that used 60% pale ale malt and 40% Maris Otter. Bittering was from Nugget hops and dry hopping with Citra and Cascade gave me the citrus aroma. I've also made a pale ale using pale malt and C-120 for some interesting flavors with the same hops. That one didn't last long. It wasn't a traditional pale ale but who cares, I liked it.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I think the Victory would be fine, but I always use (and recommend) a decent portion of Vienna malt in PA and IPA, as it gives a bit more malty backbone (20-30% is what I usually add).

 

[BMatt1985]

Thanks. I was wanting to use a mixture of some or all of the following hops: simcoe, mosaic, eldorado, citra, galena, and azacca. Galena and/or simcoe for bittering. Mosaic, eldorado, citra, azacca for late/dry hopping. Any experience with these or combinations to really give it that citrusy punch?

 

[Cavpilot2000]

No experience with Galena or El dorado.
My experience with Mosaic and simcoe is that the will both contribute some fruitiness but also some dankness, which may or may not be to your liking (some love that, some, like me, could take it or leave it (usually leave it)).
My experience with Citra and Azacca in NEIPA is fantastic.

IMHO, stick with no more than 4 hops varieties, and I think 2-3 is better. My reasoning is that let's say you love it but it has one element you don't care for. With so many varieties, you'll never be able to troubleshoot and identify the responsible party.
Two batches ago I did one with Mosaic and simcoe early, And all Citra and Galaxy in the dry hop. It was amazing, except for a slight dank hint that I didn't want (I was going for a pure tropical fruit bomb). I figured the Mosaic or simcoe or both were responsible, so my most recent batch was all Azacca, Citra, and Galaxy.
Pure fruit juice. No dankness.
Some folks thing Galaxy can be overpowering, but that's not my experience.

I will use that combo again or just drop back to Citra/Galaxy w/o the Mosaic and Simcoe.

 

[BMatt1985]

Thanks cavpilot2000! Which are you going to use for bittering this time around?

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Well, this last one I used 1 oz Azacca for 15 min and 1 oz each (Azacca, Citra, Galaxy) at flameout.
I completely underestimated the bittering contribution of the big flameout addition. It was much more bitter than I planned (though not in a totally negative way, just more than I wanted for this brew).
I chose Azacca for bittering (yes, it got lots of bitterness for 15 min and a bunch of flameout - these are high AA hops we're talking about) because I had read a lot about Citra and Galaxy being harsh and not pleasant for early additions.

I'll use it again (Azacca) but reduce the flameout addition (probably pushing it later).