I would like to brew an IPA. I haven’t brewed one in a few years. Here is what I have so far:
For 3 gallons at 1066 OG
87% 2-Row Pale
13% Clear Candi Syrup (1 pound)
59 IBU Simcoe @ 60
1 oz Azacca @ 1
3 oz Azacca steep/whirlpool
3 oz Azacca dry
M44 West Coast Ale Yeast
I have 1 more oz of Azacca. I can add that anywhere. I also have 8 oz of Amarillo and Crystal I could use for variety.
The candi syrup is just something I have laying around. I can drop that. I just thought it might be good to dry out the beer.
It’s definitely a personal preference thing on how you want the outcome so take all of my comments that way.
-I prefer a slightly lower OG so that the alcohol doesn’t overwhelm or get in the way of the hops. I generally aim for 1060-64 for those IPAs I expect to finish fairly low (i.e. <=1.010).
-1lb of candi syrup will really force a low FG causing the ABV to be high and alcohol notes as well. I think 0.5lb for a normal strength IPA is sufficient to help it finish low without causing a super high attenuation situation that leads to too many alcohol notes/esters.
-I prefer to have a bit more malt background in my IPAs - nothing too much, just something more that pure pale 2row. A smidge (2-3%) of character malt (crystal, biscuit/victory/aromatic, etc), or a smidge more (5-10%) of a higher kilned base malt (vienna, munich, etc), or even a split of UK Pale Ale malt with US 2row. I only pick one of those avenues, not all. I find a bit more malt character helps to bring more to the table than just plain hops and beer flavor; kind of helps to round out the impression on the tongue and not leave it too one-sided.
-IBU level seems reasonable and I have no experience with Azacca. I don’t think Crystal hops would add much, if anything, to a big hoppy IPA but the Amarillo can help to give a fruity, bright background note if the Azacca are dank and resinous.
That said, if you changed nothing then I’d still help you drink this batch ;D
I agree. Personally, I’d drop the syrup altogether. I think a sugar addition is only necessary in IIPA. It’s easy to attenuate a 1.062-1.065 IPA down to 1.010 with no sugar at all (I mash IPA 152F/75 mins generally). I don’t like too much crystal in IPA, but I use around 3% C40 usually. Carahell is nice in IPA as well. Looks good otherwise IMO.
I would definitely add some Crystal malt and some carapils for some mouthfeel. I like Crystal 40 the best. Add about 3% of both. I like the azacca with Amarillo combo… I would use the combo in both whirlpool and dryhop.
