How do you brew your IPA

probably not the most unique answer but i use about a pound of carapils and usually not much else (maybe a little crystal 40?) for specialty grains in my hoppy beers. i mash low (~147-8) and dry it the hell out. my favorites have come in around 1.003 or 1.004.

 

I avoid crystal malts in amounts over 4 ounces.

I try and brew it at dry as possible.

 

Corn Sugar or Table Sugar is a must IMO. It will help dry it out since you like West Coast IPAs. I use about 3g of Gypsum since I didn't want to add 5g without testing water but that's supposed to help hops aroma and flavor. Go with a bittering charge and keep rest of the hops late into the boil. I found instead of adding a flame out if you add once the wort chills to 160-170 you'll retain way more aroma as well from that addition. Dryhop is a must as well. Anywhere from 2-5oz or more (all preference). I like to dryhop 3-5 days to try to keep the "green / vegetal" flavors away.

It took me about 11 trys to brew an IPA that I liked. Granted IPAs are my favorite style so I am very, very critical of them and wanted to get as close to that commercial quality as possible. I brew extract and I feel the need to jump to All Grain to get even closer to that commercial IPA quality. (even our best IPA brewer in the homebrew club uses sugar in his recipe - his IPAs are amazing).

 

Just brewed my first all grain and it was an American style IPA. Used 2row and caramel 40. Centennial for bittering, cascade at 20 and 10 minues, citra at 5 and citra at 150 degree F hopstand with wort chiller. Aroma is insane. Dry hopping with Amarillo, cascade, citra, and falconers flight. Yeast was california V from whitr labs. Scrumptious.

 

One rule, add as many late additions of citra as your wallet can afford!!

 

For me, WLP029! It's a German Ale / Kolsch Yeast but is killer in an American IPA.

 

I've used glacier hops with some success in an IPA. Interesting earthy citrus aroma when used as a late hop addition.

 

I solely use British or German malts, depending on what I'm going for. Let's face it, hops fade, especially if you're bottling, and a tasty malt backbone that doesn't get most of its character from crystal prevents the last dozen from being a chore to down.

 

Added me to the camp that's not in favor of crystal. I think it was a podcast listen to Gordon Strong that the caramel doesn't play well with IPAs and hops. Yes there are a ton of breweries that love the big "C" but it struck a cord. I like IPA clean, dry and letting the hops shine. So no crystal and in replacement Munich or Vienna.

 

My latest IPA, I experimented with throwing some wheat in for mouthfeel and head retention. I just finished primary fermentation, so I'll post my results when the beer is done.

 

I like to add citrus zest to some of my IPAs. Blood orange is my favorite, but grapefruit is good as well. Works best with hops that display citrus like qualities. Fruit can also be fun. Mango is awesome with tropical type hops. Hammerheart, a brewery in my home state of Mn makes a smoked IPA. It's amazing.

 

I'm a fan of Marris Otter and Munich with carapils for body head retention and mouth feel. Light, crisp and let's hops steal the show. Some people use pilsner malt as well.

 

Base malt, I use 2row. Period. I dumped crystal off all my recipies and only use munich or vienna to modify the malt backbone. I will always add a pound of wheat for a little head retention and that special somethinng. I use a big AA% hop to do my bittering, I am partial to magnum but have used chinook and columbus as well. Then I boil for 45 minutes in a nice peacefull manner. Then all hell breaks loose as I am adding hops from 15 minutes until knockout. I use stinky cat piss hops like citra and simcoe in copious amounts with help from dank hops like chinook and maybe a touch of centennial just because. The only IPA I brewed where I didn't use citra in some fashion, well, I don't like it at all. As for dryhopping, well more copious amounts of high AA hops. I try not to put more than 3 oz in a five gallon baatch though, I get vegetal flavors after that. This reminds me I need to brew, I have a pound of citra set aside for my next batch.
Also, I may be in the minority, but in my brewhouse it is customary to take a big hit off a bag of freshly opened hops. Just pretend like you're huffing paint and take a deep breath off those citra the second you open them...

 

I'm in the no crystal camp too now. Just MO with maybe wheat and dextrose depending on strength, mashed low. US05 because it's cheap, easy and effective, albeit a bit rubbish for clearing

 

Nothing wrong with a little crystal (<5%) as long as it's fresh...I'll bet a lot of crystal, though, sits, like a disheveled junkie...crushed...stale...oxidized...waiting for the Crystal Stormtroopers to break down the door

 

Generally no Crystal in my IPAs or DIPAs. (CaraMunich, Carapils or GNO on occasion)
Pale Malt and/ or MO and/ or Wheat and/ or Munich and/ or Sugar.
No Boiled hops besides the 60 min addition.
Big charge at F0, 180 and 160 degrees total steep of 30 min(2-4 ounces total).
Dry hop at end of primary and in keg. 4-6 ounces dry hop total.
I have been very fond of wlp090 lately. Clean, fast to ferment and clears faster than 001 and 05.

 

I'll toss in a new one.

Use only extract to bitter, and all my hops are 10 minutes and in. So much cleaner, in flavor and clarity.

 

At this point:
Malts - English pale malts or perhaps American pale malts that have more character than 2row. Victory tends to be in there as well. Sometimes a touch of Special Roast. Usually no crystal but sometimes 4oz/5gal of a belgian crystal malt. Always using 1#/5gal of Flaked Barley.
Hops - Clean bittering addition. Small middle addition like Simcoe, Centennial, or Columbus. 10min (about an oz) and KO (3-6oz). Dry hop 4-6oz for 1 week in keg (hops tend to be similar combination used in kettle). I tend to bitter on the lower end because that's what I prefer and it works better with Chicago water. I use a lot of Simcoe. For me the real trick is balancing a real "flashy" hop (like citra, mosaic, nelson, galaxy, etc.) with more typical standbys like Simcoe and other C hops. The reason is that if you bomb out with flashy hops you can get a lot of weird things like onion/garlic, diesel, etc. Anyone can throw a bunch of Citra in a beer but can you integrate it well and avoid the weird notes it can throw.
Yeast - S05 or 1098
Alcohol ~= ISA under 3-4.5%ABV, APA 5-5.5%, IPA 5.5%-6.5%, IIPA 7-8.5%. Over 8.5% hoppy pale is not appealing to me anymore and I prefer APAs.

 

Just finished my third 5 gallon batch minneola orange peels about a pound-1 1/2 has given me a surprisingly tarty delightful flavor with the hops leading the way at the end