what effect will these changes have on my IPA?

[Tiredboy]

My last batch was my first IPA and it turned out amazing (even SWMBO liked it and she doesn't like IPAs!). It was supposidly a clone of DFH 60 minute but unless the bottle I bought hadn't been stored well, it was nothing like it (not that I minded as I prefered mine). I tried to get the ingredients last weekend to do another batch but the HBS I was forced to use (long story) didn't have what I needed (made me realise how good my usual HBS is). The recipe is below with the potential alternatives in brackets. Can anyone comment on what the changes would do to my beer (I'm weighing up making something new against ordering the exact ingredients).

Original recipe:

6lb Light DME
1/3 lb maris otter
1/3 lb 6 row
1/3 lb crystal 45
1lb honey for last 10 minutes of boil

hops (equally divided in 3 and added at 45, 30 and 10 minutes):
1 oz warrior
1 oz simcoe 12.2%
1 oz amarillo 9.3%

dry hop (7 days):
1 oz simcoe
1 oz amarillo

Potential substitutions:

2-row instead of 6-row
crystal 20 instead of crystal 45
Chinook 11% instead of simcoe 12.2%
US brewers gold 9.9% instead of amarillo 9.3%

 

[bobbrews]

I'm not sure what all those parentheses are for, it makes your post confusing, but here are a few tips:

1) Boiling honey ruins its aromatic potential. I would add it after the wort has cooled some (around 85-95 F). And using only 1 lb. in a 5 gallon batch will hardly be noticeable, even if used correctly. The quality of your honey also matters. Some people decide to opt for honey malt instead, since it gives more flavor. Real honey offers more aroma IMO.

2) 6-row and 2-row both require mashing, but 2-row is better for American IPAs.

3) 1/3 lb. (or even 2/3 lb.) of mashing grains will hardly be noticeable in a 5 gallon batch. If your set on partial mash, then I would bump the base malt up to 20-30% minimum of the total grist. Using something different than the base malt used to make your extract could be interesting, i.e. English + American 2-row blend.

4) For 5 gallons, I would shoot for 6-9 oz. total hops for an IPA under 1.067 OG.

5) Go with Extra Light DME or Pils DME whenever at all possible. For a higher OG, drier IPA, you could also substitute some DME with 5-10% corn sugar.

6) Please do full volume boils with no top off water. The quality of your beer, especially an IPA, will improve dramatically.

7) I don't particularly care for Brewers Gold hops. 45 minute hop additions are a bit useless when you have 60/30 already. And finally, the trick to a really aromatic, well-bittered yet smooth IPA is to load up on the late additions and dryhop while easing back on the bittering and middle additions.

 

[Tiredboy]

Thanks for the reply and general suggestions for IPAs. My real question is how different will my IPA be based on the changes and what differences am I likely to notice.

The parenthesis are the alternatives I got, I'll edit the original post to make it clearer.

Not sure if its the same thing (I'm a relatively new brewer) but the grains are steeping.

The original recipe works really well (at least for me) It may not be to everyone's tastes and I may be able to remove ingredients but "if it ain't broke...". I could probably tweak it quite a lot and be more economical or produce a better beer (although I'd question that for my personal tastes as its the best IPA I've tasted). My concern is whetehr I shoudl wait and order the original ingredients or go with what I have.

 

[Double_D]

I'd say the hops won't be that noticeable. The amarillo is a little on the spicy side and I prefer it as an aroma and flavor hop to almost everything else. The crystal 20 vs 45 is a slight difference in the toasty sugar taste. But like bobbbrews said, 1/3lb in a 5 gallon batch will be practically unnoticeable. And FWIW, I like to use honey in conjunction with honey malt if I'm really trying to get the flavor to come through.

Overall though, I's suggest just picking one character malt and seeing how it comes out. And then try another one next time.

 

[normzone]

[Tiredboy], personally, I like the parentheses and think your post could benefit by having even more of them. End brackets [] are useful as well.