IPA recipe opinions needed at

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Alteredstate, Apr 25, 2015.

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  1. Alteredstate

    Alteredstate Initiate (0) Mar 5, 2015 New Jersey

    my fourth batch and I told my son it's his design so here is what we have

    5 gallon batch

    12 lb pale ale 2 row
    1 lb caramel crystal malt 30L
    1.5 victory malt

    1 oz Columbus at 60
    .50 oz chinook at 45
    .05 oz simcoe at 30
    1.00 centenial at 15
    1.00 cascade at 5
    2.00 citra at flameout
    2 oz mosaic dry hopped
    1 pkg. California ale V
     
  2. icepick

    icepick Initiate (0) Feb 17, 2008 California

    I would ditch the victory malt with all the different hops you have you want them to shine. And I would drop the 45 and 30 minute additions and boost the last 15 minute hop additions instead. You'll get plenty of bitterness from the oz of Columbus at 60. And maybe save the mosaic hops for A different beer and dry hop with the simcoe if you have more
     
    inchrisin likes this.
  3. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    I'm going to be critical, but it's for your own good. I usually use smiley faces when I do this, but I see a recipe that's trying to be too cute. I don't see it fitting into an IPA territory.

    Agreed with @icepick Victory malt is seen more in a brown ale. It's that distinctive nut brown flavor. You could push this towards a hoppy brown ale, if you like. I'd cut back on it even then. It's really about what you want to accomplish, but we'll need more to go on. Do you want this West Coast dry, or balanced?

    As for the hops, it looks like you're not allowed to use a hop more than once. What gives? :slight_smile: <---got one in anyway. I think that a lot of these hops will play well together. (Disclosure: I have no experience with Mosaic). Now, especially for your fourth batch, I'd be trying to keep things a little simple. Often times when you have a kitchen sink beer, you get muddled results. This is true for both malt bills and hop schedules.

    I'll step back and say that if you want to honor your son's recipe, let's work with that. I would start by redirecting the style to a hoppy American Brown Ale. Not a bad thing at all. You're going to want some Chocolate malt in the bill. You'll want to cut back on the Victory, and you may want to mix up the crystal malts. A pound max. .5# Carapils for body, and another base malt to add depth.

    Please lean on your son to cut the hops down from 7 varieties to about 4.5. Simcoe and Chinook are at the bottom of the list and the first to be cut, (personal preference). Chinook is very spicy and dominates a lot of what C hops can lend a beer and Simcoe can be a little catty and unpredictable. Use with moderation.

    Hoppy Son's Brown:

    9# Am 2 row
    .5 # carapils malt
    2# Munich malt (I'm stuck with a sack of the stuff. Use Vienna, or MO if you like)
    .75# chocolate malt
    .5# Victory malt
    .75# crystal 30L malt

    Mash at 152 for 60 min

    Hops:

    60 min
    Columbus

    10 min
    2.5 oz (TOTAL) of C hops and Mosaic

    5 min
    2.5 oz (TOTAL) of C hops and Mosic

    Flame out
    2.5 oz (TOTAL) of C hops and Mosic

    Dry hop
    3 oz of 60%-80% of what you used above and 1 other hop.

    I didn't give you a quantity for your 60 min Columbus for a reason. You'll want to put everything through an IBU calculator and you'll want to adjust your 60 min bittering hop LAST so that you get the number of IBUs that you want. The other quantities should remain high so you get the flavor and aroma that you want.

    I'm not against some 30 min hops or 20 min hops. I think for this beer to work it needs to be heavy in IBUs to get through the Victory and the crystal. It's heavily hopped in the end to work as a beer that you can drink fresh. Don't skimp on the late addition hops.

    If I'm off base, let us know and we can work towards an American IPA. I know I was kind of critical, but I want to try to help you make a beer that's worthwhile for you and your son.
     
    GetMeAnIPA likes this.
  4. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,559) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah

    I hope you have a good timer with all those hop additions. For IPAs keep malt bill simple 2 row and no more than 5% crystal. Also, I would cut the hop varieties down. Grab two or three you prefer and use them evenly. Also, would help to know what style ipA as well as the specs like OG, abv, ibus etc
     
  5. StrawbzT5

    StrawbzT5 Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2015 Iowa

    No offense @inchrisin but it seems OP (and son) are shooting for a WestCoast IPA with a bit of body/malt complexity...so I wouldnt redirect em at all. Sounds like they're shooting for a dank, resinous (chinook, simcoe) IPA with a desire for some tropical lychee or grapefruit on the flavor/aroma (citra/cascade). Keep it simple OP, drop the Victory and maybe keep the C30 under 5-8%. Cut out the 45/30 hop adds. ADD MORE 15/FO/Whirlpool hops. With the crystal, mash 148-152. Keep the Mosaic for DH as it complements Simcoe and Citra favorably! Sounds yummy!
     
    inchrisin likes this.
  6. Alteredstate

    Alteredstate Initiate (0) Mar 5, 2015 New Jersey

    My son is looking to make a west coast style IPA, and he wanted it to have complexity with the different hops. I agree that it's a bit much. The IBUs come in at 93.6 which to me needs to be scaled back and the alcohol at 6.64. I will talk him into switching some things around based on your suggestions. I would like to see it around 6.00% and have 65 IBUs. If anything so far I have seen you don't need a lot of ingredients to make a good beer.
     
  7. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    What do your IBUs come in at if you remove the 60 min Columbus?
     
  8. Alteredstate

    Alteredstate Initiate (0) Mar 5, 2015 New Jersey

    51
     
  9. Alteredstate

    Alteredstate Initiate (0) Mar 5, 2015 New Jersey

    Ok I think we got the numbers more manageable, although I could only talk him into dropping 1hop:grinning:

    5 gallon

    12 lb pale ale 2 row
    1 lb caramel crystal malt 30 L
    1oz Columbus at 60
    .50 oz simcoe at 15
    1oz centenial at 10
    1 oz cascade at flameout
    2 oz citra at flameout
    2oz mosaic DH
    1 pkg Cali Ale V

    5.99 %
    66.3 IBUs
     
    GetMeAnIPA likes this.
  10. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,559) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah

    That looks solid to me. The only other recommendations would be to change the 60 to first wort, get a more pleasant bitterness, but that's just a personal preference. I Iike the late additions of citra and DH of Mosiac.
     
  11. icepick

    icepick Initiate (0) Feb 17, 2008 California

    Now THAT looks like a tasty west coast IPA! Brew that ish up!
     
    GetMeAnIPA likes this.
  12. Supergenious

    Supergenious Maven (1,273) May 9, 2011 Michigan

    More dry hop - at least 3-4 oz.
     
  13. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,559) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah

    I was thinking the same but with 3 ozs at flameout that should really add to the aroma?
     
  14. Smokebox_79

    Smokebox_79 Initiate (0) Jan 11, 2013 Pennsylvania

    The beers I've done with Mosaic (3 of them) I found it dominated. Even when I added same amount of Simcoe. Hopefully the dry hop will cut down on the dominance. Also used it 1:1 ratio with Amarillo and I couldn't perceive the Amarillo at all. Good luck!
     
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