Help me Build an IPA

Look through the archives for Averagely Perfect American IPA - the recipes . This is apostles by vikeman publishing the recipes of his first crowd sourced recipe. There has since been a stout thread. If you do find the post, scroll to extract version section.

 

I would personally start with a nice recipe calculator (I use brewers friend). Play around with the amounts to get close to the following:

85-90% light DME or LME (I prefer working with DME)
~5% Crystal 40
~5%. Table sugar to dry it out

For hops I'd use a tad of a clean battering hop like Warrior or Magnum to get maybe 60 ibus

Then I'd drop a couple of ounces of something nice and fruity like Citra or Galaxy at flameout (maybe even 2 ounces of each!). I'd use US-05 to keep it simple and after about 10 day of fermentation dry hop with 2oz of Citra for 7 days, then another oz of Citra for 3 more days. Then bottle and wait 2 weeks!

I'm a big fan of Citra as you can see

 

for a 5 gallon batch

about 7lb light DME
about .5lb C20
this gets you about 1.065

Magnum to bitter (depending on how bitter you want anywhere from .5 to 1 oz)
lots of Centennial at 5 mins (anywhere from 2 - 5oz)
lots of Centennial at flameout (same as above)
Dryhop with more Centennial (same as above)
US05 for yeast

 

This sounds really close to the extract IPA I did a couple months ago that came out really well. I am going to convert the recipe to all grain this weekend and brew it again somtime soon. I don't have the numbers in front of me since I am at work, but mine was a little lighter on the DME, C20 instead of 40, same amount of table sugar, and a little bit or carapils, and my hop bill was chinook for bittering, centennial and citra at 5 and 2 minutes, fermented with US-05, and 2 oz of cascade dry hopped for a week.

 

It shouldn't be too bad, but if you want to use malted rye, you'll have to mash it.

 

DME, .5-1 lb of chrystal 20-40. shoot for og=1.055. Some toasted grains dont hurt either. Then use some high alpha acid hops to bitter. Then whatever hops you want for flavor at the end of the boil. sugar is highly optional, but maybe a good idea with extract. Use a neutral yeast, US-05 if you like dry, wyeast 1056 if you like liquid.

 

Incidentally, should you try the extract version of the averagely perfect aipa, you should post results - it was originally designed as an all-grain recipe and I don't think I've see anyone post about the extract version. Most people seem to thnk the all grain version was pretty damn good.

 

You might need to seek Rye extract, as I'm sure you can't steep it.

You can do a black IPA by steeping some dark grains, like Carafa III or something like that easy enough. 2-3 ounces will lend a black body.

 

Dude. It's easier than you think. First find either a program or a website that helps you build recipes. Then, Get yourself some good extract. I'm all grain but I still do small experimental extract batches; extract makes great beer!

For citrusy, I would recommend hops selection over addition of citrus, but it would be acceptable to add some dried orange rind (or similar brewing product) if you really wanted to. I've used sweet orange peel before, and it adds a subtle touch without being a highly volatile addition to a beer, so you might consider that. However, for really citrusy beers, use my favorite hop... Cascade!

Here's a suggestion based on a total whim:

5-6-ish lbs of extract (adjust based on the software, which type of extract you choose, and desired OG)

steeping grains:

1/2 lb munich malt (gives a little color and a little extra flavor)
1/2 lb carafoam

hops:

XX oz of either cascade some other high AA hop for bittering (adjust for total IBUs) at 60 min
1 oz cascade 15 min
2 oz cascade 5 min
2 oz cascade FO
2-3 oz cascade dry hop

There are a million other recipes which will also meet your needs. Run your ideas thru here if you're not sure!

 

Yes, please do post results if you choose the APA IPA. It's made my top six list that I recently posted. I would certainly also recommend you try this, even if it's next time around.