Thinking about an IPA for my next brew, this weekend if schedule allows, to redeem myself from my failed IPA. This is the recipe I am working on, and would love your feedback/suggestions.
Leia’s Kiss-AG
American IPA
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.22 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My 10 gal Brew Pot w/Igloo Cooler
End of Boil Volume 5.72 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal Est Mash Efficiency 73.0 %
Ingredients
11 lbs Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) (2.7 SRM) 90.7 %
10.0 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) 5.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) 4.1 %
1.00 oz Centennial [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 39.3 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min 11.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] - Boil 10.0 min 7.0 IBUs
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins)
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Denny’s Favorite (Wyeast Labs #1450) [124.21 ml] 1L Starter
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days 0.0 IBUs
0.50 tsp Gelatin (Secondary 2.0 days)
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.060
Est Final Gravity: 1.011
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.5 %
Bitterness: 58.3 IBUs
Est Color: 7.7 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 2.0 oz
Sparge Water: 4.13 gal
Sparge Temperature: 180.0 F
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 19.81 qt of water at 160.2 F 148.0 F 75 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.13gal) of 180.0 F water
I am also thinking of this water profile (based very loosely on Bru’n Water’s Pale Ale profile with a lot lower Sulfate):
Ca 95
Mg 4
Na 9
SO4 158
Cl 54
Mineral Additions (gm) Mash Sparge
Gypsum . 5.0 4.1
Calcium Chloride 1.5 1.2
Epsom Salt 0.5 0.4
Mash Acid Additions
Lactic 88.00 % 0.99 (ml)
Est. Mash pH: 5.32
Would love any suggestions/feedback, especially on the hoping.
IMO you’re way light on hops for an IPA - your hop schedule resembles an APA more closely. Personally I’d double (or even triple) your 10, 0, and dry additions, depending on how much hop flavor and aroma you like. And if I’m reading right, it looks like you’re gonna mash @ 148F for 75 mins. It’s ok, but you’re liable to finish lower than 1.011 with that grist. Water profile looks good to me.
I love a lot of hop flavor and aroma in an IPA. I like bitter as well, but not overly so. I doubled all the hop additions 10 min and later, and it put the IBU’s to 77 (past the BJCP range for an AIPA). If I drop the 60 min Centennial back to .75oz, it is 67.4 IBU, which is close to the level of one of the IPAs I like to drink. With dropping the Centennial back .25oz, you think that will be enough of an initial bittering with the rest made up in the late addition?
As far as possibly finishing lower than 1.011, that’s fine. 1.011 is just BeerSmith’s prediction anyway. As long as it tastes like what I am hoping for, a little extra alcohol is fine.
Backing off on the bitterness seems to suit what you’re after, while giving you nice hop flavor and aroma. But here’s a good way of getting the bitterness you want while leaving you free to add all the late hop character you want - add all of your targeted IBUs at 60 minutes, then after the boil cool the wort to 170F and add all the hops you would’ve added late boil for flavor and aroma (called a ‘hopstand’). Let these hops steep for 45 minutes, stirring often. Finish cooling as usual. Advantages are: 1/ You can control just the amount of bitterness you want while getting tons of great hop flavor and aroma. 2/ Hop flavor and aroma are superior to boil additions IMO. 3/ Little to no bitterness is extracted in a 170F steep so you can add plenty of hops and not worry about the effect on bitterness. This is what I do.
I think that’s the route I will go. Grand total of 1.75oz Centennial at 60 min (68.8 IBU, I like Hoppyum and that is 70 IBU), 4oz each of Cascade and Amarillo steeped for 45 min @ 170F, 2oz each Cascade and Amarillo dry hop for 13.75oz total hop additions…that’s a lot of hops LOL.
I am bottling my APA on Saturday, so that will free up my fermenter and chest freezer, so depending on my schedule, I hope to be able to do this one on Sunday morning.
I had Hoppyum for the first time while I was at Myrtle Beach last week. It was actually the first time I’ve seen it. Not a bad beer. It’s unique because it has a little nutty flavor to it.
I had never had it until I moved back to NC at the end of February. It’s a good NC beer. Foothills puts out several good brews IMO. I also like their Peoples Porter, Jade IPA and Seeing Double IPA.
Great brew day on this today. Hit my mash temp of 148F dead on and only lost 2 degrees over 75 min. I hit the predicted pre-boil gravity of 1.046 and hit 1.064 OG (predicted was 1.063). With the large amount of hops in this recipe, I decided to bag the pellets, and then pour into the fermenter through a paint strainer bag. I don’t think I will ever brew without bagging the hops and using the strainer bag again. I got my target post boil volume of 5.5 gal into the fermenter.
I was only able to get the wort to 80F with my chiller, so I put it in the chest freezer to finish cooling, cut the grass, and pitched the yeast at 5:00PM.
I double crushed the grains for this batch as well. I had a stuck sparge on my first AG brew day, so I was a little nervous about it today. There was no stuck sparge this time though. My measured mash efficiency was 76%, and overall brewhouse efficiency was 77.6% (both a good improvement over my first AG). Now to wait and see if my starter was good and the yeast takes off. I do have a couple of packs of US-05 just in case.
Erik-
If you are having issues with yeast getting going, I highly recommend you get an oxygen system for aerating. 90 seconds in a 5 gallon batch and your yeast will be quite happy.
I haven’t had any problems previously. I was just questioning my latest starter (I have another thread on that) because it didn’t look like there was much yeast in the flack after cold crashing it. Turns out that once I had poured of the excess wort, there was much more than it looked like. I started seeing some signs of fermentation after about 5 hours (normally I see it after about 8 hours), and this morning it it bubbling away just fine. I was concerned about nothing…again, LOL.
It has been in the bottle about 10 days. I did open one after 7 days, because I was impatient. It is carbing up nicely, and I am going to wait until Sunday to open another one, just to let it finish up, and the rest of the yeast to drop out. It was pretty clear though, with the cold crash and gelatin The aroma is great, bitterness just where I was hoping, and plenty of hop flavor. I’m sure it will be even better once it is fully carbed, but it is looking to be my best beer yet…though the Czech Lager I am bottling Sunday may give it some competition…but that’s another story. I will post another update once it has fully carbed and I know exactly what the finished product tastes like. I also gave a bottle to someone that is going to try it on Sunday as well and give their opinion.
I went ahead and opened another tonight. It is very well carbed, clear and flavorful. It is pretty much every thing I was hoping this IPA would be. The bitterness is not over the top, and lingers in the finish, and is bitterness with flavor. Kind of like you get when eating grapefruit. Aroma is a blend of floral and citrus notes. There is definite up front grapefruit flavor from the Cascade, and background citrus from the Amarillo and Cascade. Even at 7% it goes down smooth. This is hands down the best beer I have brewed so far, and it will be my regular house IPA (I may brew this as a double at some point, and maybe do it with Mango and Habanero as well, but I will probably only brew this as my standard AIPA). Thanks again to everyone who helped me fine tune the recipe.
