Yeast choice for IPA

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eon

eon

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I'm looking for some suggestions on which yeast to us for an IPA. Here is the recipe I came up with:

OG 1.071
FG 1.018

11* SRM

66.7 IBU

0.95 BU:GU

7.1% ABV

3 gallon boil
-------------------------------
6 lbs. Light DME
2 lbs. Golden Promise
1 lbs. Crystal 40 L

1.00 oz. Columbus @ 60 minutes
0.50 oz. Simcoe @ 30 minutes
0.50 oz. Amarillo @ 30 minutes
0.50 oz. Simcoe @ 15 minutes
0.50 oz. Amarillo @ 15 minutes
1.00 oz. Simcoe @ 5 minutes
1.00 oz. Amarillo @ 5 minutes
0.50 oz. Simcoe @ flameout
0.50 oz. Amarillo @ flameout

1.00 oz. Simcoe (DRY HOP)
1.00 oz. Amarillo (DRY HOP)

1 tsp. Irish moss @ 15 minutes

Some IPA/IIPAs I love are:

FFF's Dreadnaught
FFF's Broodoo
Two Brother's Hop Juice
Two Brother's Heavy Handed IPA
Founders Harvest Ale
Founders Double Trouble
Southern Tier Unearthly
DFH 60 & 90 Minute IPA
Bell's Hopslam
Victory Hop Wallop

I do not like IPAs that are too dry, thin, and crisp.

Right now I am thinking about wyeast 1968.

Any suggestions on the recipe or suggestions on a yeast? Thanks!
 
I wold suggest using some Gypsum Salt in you mash or adding some to the beginning of the boil. I've been really impressed by how much more it brings out the flavor and bitterness of the hops. I use Safale US-05 and have good results. It's very clean.
 
Try Wyeast Pacman if you can get it. If not, try harvesting from bottles. It's a great yeast. Very clean, and it'll be able to handle a bigger beer like that.
 
I was reading about pacman yeast and it seems like it produces a dry crisp beer. I like my IPAs with a nice malt backbone. A nice sweetness to take the edge off. I love the huge Grapefruit, mango, pineapple, flavors and some bitterness. I am not a fan of extreme bitter, dry, thin, watery, crisp IPAs. Trying to steer clear of those!

Thanks for the tips though.
 
Try something a little different and ferment it on WLP530 Belgian Abbey Ale. I made an IPA this summer with it that was AMAZING. Belgian Ale yeast + Hop Bomb = crazy delicious. The yeast is high attenuating which can make the beer dry, but if you steep your specialty grains a little higher than normal it should compensate.

My .002.
 
Pacman won't make your ipa any dryer or crisper than the grainbill will allow. What it does is give you a very clean ferment without adding much yeast character to it so it lets your malt and hops come though clearly. I like it in my ipa. It's a really good yeast. US05 would be another good choice.
 
I did a pale and a two hearted clone with 1272 and it came out ridiculously awesome. Next time I do an IPA proper i'm going to use it. 1056 would be great too.
 
Are you just going to steep the grains at 155 F or something or are you doing a partial mash?

If just steeping I don't see the point in steeping GP, which really has little grain flavor. I would steep something like MO, Vienna, Munich instead. BUT I don't brew extract beers so you can choose to ignore me.

American II, Ringwood; those are some other yeast choices. Do you want a neutral yeast taste or do you want some earthy and/or fruity-ness from the yeast?
 
Funkswing, I hate to sound ignorant but here I go...

Whenever I steep grains I bring the water to X degrees and try to hold it there or 30-60 minutes. Whichever time I choose. usually, it's a time decided on by somebody from this forum!

Whenever I have done partial mashes I bring the water to x degrees and try and hold it there for 45-60 minutes...

So as you can see unless I am doing something totally wrong, I still havent figured out the difference between steeping and PM.

Care to share some info on that?

Oh, and I have actually heard the opposite about golden promise. I heard it was kind of sweet and malty. I think they use it in Sulry Furious IPA. I could be wrong though...on everything! haha! :)
 
Oh, and I'm not sure which kind of yeast I'm looking for. I wouldnt say fruity per se. I really like to drink IPAs that have the HUGE citrus, mango, peach, all the good stuff up front but are well balanced by a nice sweet flavor and have a good body and mouthfeel.
 
Well, so far Wyeast 1056 seems like what I'm looking for.

Still taking recommendations! What is your favorite IPA and yeast?
 
Steeping versus mashing primarily depends on the ingredients. Most people recommend a temperature of anywhere from 148-158 (give or take) for mashing and steeping, but steeping is the term used when the grains don't contribute much in terms of fermentable sugars. When you mash, you are using base malt (which you are in this case) to give yourself some fermentables.


As far as your yeast goes, my favorite american ale strain is wyeast 1272, because it's fruity, but not overpoweringly so. I think that your 1 lb of crystal will help with your desired sweetness, which is not determined so much by yeast (aside from the attenuation percentages I guess).
 
Try Wyeast Pacman if you can get it. If not, try harvesting from bottles. It's a great yeast. Very clean, and it'll be able to handle a bigger beer like that.
Click to expand...

+1


Pacman won't make your ipa any dryer or crisper than the grainbill will allow. What it does is give you a very clean ferment without adding much yeast character to it so it lets your malt and hops come though clearly. I like it in my ipa. It's a really good yeast. US05 would be another good choice.
Click to expand...

+1



I find pacman to be one of the most consistently attenuative yeast strains out there, regardless of mash temp and despite judicious amounts of crystal and specialty malts in some of my beers I get huge attenuation everytime. use nutrient, pitch a ton of yeast and aerate the crap out of it. I had pacman take a 1.085 IIPA down below 1.010...........do the math on that one!

I also have WLP001 in house and really like it. I am experimenting with WLP007 as many great breweries use a similar strain, Stone and Surly come to mind. Time and time again when I am making an IPA, pacman gets the call though. If WLP007 turns out to be as good as think it is going to be, I think I may make a change.
 
But since he doesn't want the IPA to finish dry y'all should stop jacking off over the pacman yeast.
Pacman yeast:
Very mild fruit complements a dry, mineral finish making this a fairly neutral strain.
Click to expand...
As in it taste like almost every single one of Rogue's beers.

1272 is my vote for what you want. Its not fruity like a Belgian yeast, but complements the hops very well (its what terrapin uses for its rye and hopsecutioner to get an idea of the yeast)

1056 would be fine too (US-05 is the dry yeast version). Its the Sierra Nevada pale ale yeast.

I really like to drink IPAs that have the HUGE citrus, mango, peach, all the good stuff up front but are well balanced by a nice sweet flavor and have a good body and mouthfeel.
Click to expand...

Those hops are going to give you that huge citrus flavor you want, so you are basically already there!
 
funkswing said:
But since he doesn't want the IPA to finish dry y'all should stop jacking off over the pacman yeast.
Pacman yeast:

As in it taste like almost every single one of Rogue's beers.

1272 is my vote for what you want. Its not fruity like a Belgian yeast, but complements the hops very well (its what terrapin uses for its rye and hopsecutioner to get an idea of the yeast)

1056 would be fine too (US-05 is the dry yeast version). Its the Sierra Nevada pale ale yeast.



Those hops are going to give you that huge citrus flavor you want, so you are basically already there!
Click to expand...

If he doesn't want a dry finish then pacman/1056/001/US-05 are out of the equation. They all attenuate a ton.
Although one of the defining characteristics of AIPA is a dry finish.....

I just read up on 1272 and that does sound like a great strain.
 
I used 1272 a couple of times, and it turned out way too fruity for my taste.
 
I used 1272 a couple of times, and it turned out way too fruity for my taste.
Click to expand...

What temp did you ferment at? 1272 is a fine yeast. It flocculates (unlike 1056), giving clear beers relatively quick.

I wouldn't say that 1056 finishes too dry. At least you can control the attenuation with mash temp. 154 F and 1056 in an IPA = FG 1.015
 
Actually I found wl 02 (English Ale) to give IPas a very nice malty backbone and they do not finish that dry, especially when fermented in the low 60's. 02 also finishes and clears very, very quickly.
 
Thanks for all the tips everyone! I think we are playing semantics at this point. I do believe an AIPA should be bitter and a bit dry. Of course an AIPA should not be cloyingly sweet! But, with that being said I have tried beers such as Crooked Tree IPA and it is probably my least favorite IPA. It is so dry and crisp in my opinion. I also had Racer 5 and didnt like that either. I can't remember why though.

If you want to know what I'm talking about just look at my list of favorite IPAs. One I left off was Modus Hoperandi. That beer seems to have all the great citurs goodness and a bit bitter but it also has the malt to back it up. That's all I'm saying.

I havent tried every IPA out there but I guess the closest example of what I DON'T want would be the Crooked Tree IPA. YUCK :D

Also, I am new to brewing and fairly new to drinking craft beer. I'm sure my palate is not as refined as many on this forum. So, I may say that my favorite beers are not dry but in reality they actually are. Also, I think alot of it has to do with how hop bitterness is perceived. etc...

Thanks again!
 
eon said:
I was reading about pacman yeast and it seems like it produces a dry crisp beer. I like my IPAs with a nice malt backbone. A nice sweetness to take the edge off. I love the huge Grapefruit, mango, pineapple, flavors and some bitterness. I am not a fan of extreme bitter, dry, thin, watery, crisp IPAs. Trying to steer clear of those!

Thanks for the tips though.
Click to expand...

sounds like you want a english IPA there go for WLP005, it should give that happy medium
 
Your beer isn't going to be cloy-ingly sweet with that recipe. Once you move to all-grain you can further control a lot of the factors that are important to you.

Now you can just pick a yeast. All of the ones listed here will be great, and none will be too sweet by default. The easiest would be a dry yeast. Just sprinkle in two packets of whatever (English, American ale). We have all brewed those beers, and dry yeast is perfectly fine (and easy!)

Oh yeah, and you will be in love with your hop aroma after dry hopping.
 
I have been doing IPA's with Northwest Ale 1332 and I really like the results. I split a 10 gallon batch doing half on 1332 and the other half on WLP060 American Blend, and the 1332 came out with a bigger malt body, but it was not sweet.

1056 is always my fallback for a good clean finish.

Alan
 
The other thing you might consider is a flavor addition of a fuggles which can give you a nice fruit background to your others hops. I found Amarillo does this as well which i know you have in there. They both impart a nice fruit sweetness depending on the amounts. Let us know what yeast you decide to try?
You could always do two smaller batches and try two different yeast?
 
I'm assuming you are going to mash the Golden Promise??? US-05, 1056, or WLP 001 all work great. You might like a standard English ale yeast such as S-04 as well.
 
Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to end up trying several different yeast strains.

First one up: Wyeast 1272
 
eon said:
Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to end up trying several different yeast strains.

First one up: Wyeast 1272
Click to expand...

Good choice. One of the best from Wyeast. Denny's 50 is another one to use. Pacman is my absolute favorite but is part of the Private Collection (hopefully Wyeast will add it to the regular lineup someday soon). Montanaandy
 

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