What's the trick to homebrewing an IPA?

For me, a complete noob at homebrewing, I've had a number of successes homebrewing extract IPAs by doing a full boil, using the hops that like (citra, columbus, simcoe, centennial) and lots of them, and finally dry hopping.

 

Start by making sure your water profile showcases hops well. I think sulfates is a key to it, but you will have to do your own research for good water profile, I am lucky enough not to need to do it.

Try using Pliny the Elder recipe as a starting point. I like Wyeast 1056, and a grain bill that is 95% two row and 5% crystal/caramel/honey malt. And lotsa fresh hops in boil. And whirlpool additions done properly. And definitely a good dry hop schedule.

My water from my well makes fantastic IPA's, and proper technique makes them even better.

 

Good stuff above. One more thing I'd add - if you're not going to drink the beer fairly quickly then you may want to steer clear of recipes with large amounts of darker malts - I did back to back 6 gallon batches of a Union Jack (+/- 2# of Munich) and Zombie Dust (+/- 1.1 # of Munich) - the Union Jack was fantastic at first but turned into a malt bomb in a few weeks. Zombie Dust (with less Munich) lasted about 6 weeks before turning south.

Mitch Steele's IPA book is a good read - I've learned a lot from it.

 

A couple of things have really helped my IPA's and IIPA's. Two of them have been mentioned, adding sulfates such as gypsum to your water really helps showcase the hop aroma and bitterness. Another, is lots of late hop additions between the 15min and flameout mark and then dry hopping. Look for hops with high oil content and don't be afraid to dry hop with hops that aren't "traditional" aroma hops. And probably the biggest thing for me personally was the addition of kegging my homebrew instead of bottle conditioning. Being able to purge with Co2 and reducing the oxygen pickup that occurs during bottling, really improved the shelf life and overall flavor of my hoppy beers.

 

Buy this book. That should help.
http://www.amazon.com/IPA-Brewing-T...d=1355244344&sr=8-1&keywords=ipa+mitch+steele

 

A clean, neutral yeast and a shitload of (late) hops. Low amounts of crystal malt and a low mash temp and/or drying out with sugar. Overly sweet IPAs are just gross, IMO.

 

If you are interested in making an American style IPA then MMAJYK provides good advice above.

Cheers!

 

IPAs are one of the easier styles, IMO. Anyone with basic brewing skills can make a good one. And with a little experience, most can make a really, really good one. There's no trick to it, really, and most of the pointers that can be given would hold true for pretty much all beer styles: ie, do a full boil, pitch the right amount of yeast, ferment at a constant temp at the lower end of the yeast's range, be sanitary etc.

But to be a little more specific, and opinionated: IMO a really good IPA does not attempt to "balance" malt sweetness and hop bitterness, though many will disagree. It's a showcase for hop flavor and aroma. To me, a good IPA has a dry, simple malt backbone, so I don't fancy it up with the malt bill: just two-row and a little bit of crystal (and nothing over 45L). I like 'em to have a dry finish, so I usually use a little sugar. The point here (IMO of course) is to showcase the hops, so you want to use plenty of 'em, especially late addition hops. I usually use a good dose of Magnum at the beginning of a 90 minute boil, and then mostly hold off until the last 20 minutes or so, at which point you want to add whatever combine tastes best for you: usually I use a lot of centennial, some cascade, and simcoe, citra, amarillo, whatever. And then *lots* of dry hops, usually in more or less the same proportion as the flavor/aroma hops. All that usually gives me the kind of IPA I prefer... your results will vary. Good luck!

 

The consensus is 'lots of hops', with emphasis on late additions (<20 minutes) and whirlpool. Generous dry hopping is a must for an IPA, IMO. You'd be surprised how much aroma can affect the perceived taste. 'Lots of hops' can be as little as 8 oz total with a good hop schedule or as much as 16 oz or more, if you don't want to take any chances (this is for a nominal 5 gallon batch). And drink it fresh. Fortunately, if it's knock your socks off good, drinking it fresh won't be a problem

 

Exactly. Although I will go so far as to say no crystal and 10% sugar with low mash temp.

 

“But to be a little more specific, and opinionated: IMO a really good IPA does not attempt to "balance" malt sweetness and hop bitterness, though many will disagree.” Your opinion on a ‘good’ IPA is consistent with what MMAYYK posted above. What you are describing is what I classify as a West Coast American style IPA. That happens to be my preference on how I brew my IPAs as well.

To be more complete to the OP we should also mention that other sub-styles of IPAs:

· East Coast American style IPAs try to strike a balance between the malt and hops. An example would be Victory Hop Devil.
· English style IPA: a balance between malt and hops where the classic hops are English hops like East Kent Goldings or Fuggles. An example would be Meantime IPA.

A commercial beer that could be classified as an East Coast American style IPA/English style IPA hybrid would be Southampton Burton IPA since it has a balance of malt & hops and uses both American & English hops: Centennial, Cascade, Vanguard, East Kent Goldings and UK Fuggles.

Cheers!

 

Water is hugely important for a good IPA. Others have mentioned sulfate ions, which is important and helps make the hops pop, low carbonate water is as important. High carbonate water will give an overly harsh, astringent, aspirin like quality with IPAs.

 

I find IPAs to be one of the most forgiving styles. If you pack in a ton of late/dry hops, a lot of minor imperfections will be covered up by all that hop flavor.

 

I have also been using a french press to infuse more hops flavors into my ales. Stole the idea from a local brewpub. You can usually amp up a six pack on a half ounce of hops using this method, just let the beer steep for about fifteen minutes. You can also use this method with a really neutral hopped ale to get an idea of what a certain hop brings to the table. I have also seen modified chambers put inline on a tap line and filled with hop cones.

 

It's called a Randall. Pioneered by Sam Calagione.
http://www.gourmet.com/winespiritsbeer/2008/08/infused-beer
http://www.dogfish.com/company/tangents/randall-the-enamel-animal.htm

 

I apologize if I'm mis-reading, but it sounds to me like you have possibly only brewed one batch of beer (perhaps not fully successfully). If so, I'd recommend reading this...

www.howtobrew.com

...before worrying about perfecting IPAs specifically.

If that's not the case, then there's lots of good advice in the other responses.

 

Anyone care to provide sulfate/chloride ratios that will make a nice IPA? (Realizing that this may be outside the scope of the OP if this is really just his second batch).

 

"I've tried to home-brew an IPA in a keg. "

What does that mean? ...Are you fermenting in the keg?

 

Tasty's pale ale profile is nice: http://canyoubrewit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14140&sid=9ca0c84e142fd80254a98f876546b835

This is close to what I use and it helps produce a clean profile, with snappy bitterness that lets the hops shine.