I have been trying to brew a fruity and hoppy IPA with moderate bitterness, however my brews end up not as hoppy as I want them to be. I’m not sure how to get them to be hoppy, like for example ballast point sculpin IPA, but it is yet to turn out that way. So I am wondering if you guys could give me some advice regarding my recipe. This is it (please note, I am fairly new to this so if there’s some super obvious mistakes, please let me know!):
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.33 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 5.33 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 4.88 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 14 Mar 2016
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: My Equipment
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.8 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 95.9 %
8.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.1 %
1.00 oz Chinook [12.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 41.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 14.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [9.70 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 8.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [9.70 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 3.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35.49 ml] Yeast 7 -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [9.70 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color
Est Original Gravity: 1.066 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 67.3 IBUs
Est Color: 6.7 SRM
Measured Original Gravity: 1.062 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Calories: 206.7 kcal/12oz
I think the main advice you are going to get is to use more hops. For comparison you have 5 oz of hops here and I use 5.5 oz for a pale ale. I rarely brew IPAs because of the amount of hops they need. I would add at least an ounce of hops at the end of the boil and another at dry hop.
A lot of people seem to like getting all of their IBUs from the bittering addition and using the rest of the hops at flameout/hop stand/whirlpool and dry hop. You could have better success with doing this and then using 4 oz of hops at the end of the boil and 4 oz dry hop…
Also, if you are looking for a ‘fruity’ IPA you may want to experiment with some of the newer hop varieties. What you have looks like it may be more citrusy which is what I prefer
First off, use more hops. Then adjust your schedule a little bit. First wort hopping is a solid method of introducing more hop flavor, but there’s nothing wrong with a 60 minute addition. Calculate all of your IBUs into your 60 min or first wort additions. Everything else, push out to 0 minutes. Let the hops stand for at least 30 minutes while stirring occasionally. You could also add your 0 minute hops after you chill to 175 degrees first and let them steep at that temperature. For IPAs, I like around an ounce per gallon for the hop stand. I also like an ounce per gallon for dry hopping. It’s certainly not out of the realm to use a pound of hops in a 5 gallon batch of an IPA.
Thanks a lot guys. Already some good advice. Have not yet tried to add hops at 0min so probably should try that. I was just always afraid of adding more hops since the IBUs would go up too high.
For the different hop varieties, where I live (The Netherlands) we unfortunately do not have a wide variety of hops available… I’ve wanted to use hops like citra for a long time but it is jut not available here…
I agree with goschman. I think you need more hops near the end of the boil as well in the whirlpool. I would also dry hop for less days. 3-5 days should be sufficient. 10 days seems excessive. I would consider cold crashing the dry hops if possible then ramp the temperature back up before bottling/kegging. I’m not a big water chemistry guy, but that has certainly been known to effect the punch of an IPA. Finally, if you do indeed want a real fruity IPA, you may want to think about adding Citra, Mosaic, El Dorado, Lemondrop or other new varieties as he also mentioned previously. Good luck.
Keep your entire recipe as-is, but add 5-10 ounces of additional hops once you have chilled your wort down to about 170F. Give them a good, hard stir every 5 minutes or so for an hour. Then finish chilling the rest of the way and follow your recipe as you usually would. That will give you the hop flavor that you are shooting for.