So I made a DIPA and it finished at 1.013. Mashed at 153. Way to malty or caramel tasting. maybe 8 oz of crystal to 5 gallon batch? I use RO and had not been changing PH? wondering if that would be part to blame? Used over 12 oz of hops and you get more caramel than hop? real bummer
OG?
A lot of west coast drier IIPAs are just saying no to crystal at all. I use none in my normal IPAs. Which are few and far between because they grow on trees around here.
FWIW, I mash DIPA @ 148F/90 mins to get a dry finish. Did you use any sugar ? Substituting a lb of sugar for a lb of base malt helps dry the beer and make it more drinkable as well. Also, use any gypsum ? Gypsum helps bring hop presence more to the forefront for hoppy styles. And FWIW, on DIPA I only use 5 or 6 oz of crystal max.
Added 8 oz of honey at flame out. Did not add sugar.
you may be able to manipulate the flavor of the finished beer with some gypsum additions. it dissolves easily in cold beer or water. you can mix up a solution at a known strength and dose a glass to get the proportion then scale up to the full batch (assuming you are kegging).
Did you measure pH? Did you add any brewing salts. pH is kind of important.
What Sulfate level did you target? 250 ppm or more will help give a dry finish.
Mashing at 153f is not really too high, I use that for most of my beers.
Before I started to use software (Bru’n Water for me) and a pH meter I could only make decent darker beers. Why? Because my water is unbelievably alkaline. Anything lighter or hoppy ended up either sweet, muddy, no crispness or just kind of “meh” for lack of a better term. Control of pH and use of CaSO4 and CaCl2 to adjust flavor made a world of difference. That, and switching to all RO water and back adding salts.
In addition, it is really fun to get some sort of BMC and dose samples of it with different amounts of CaCl2 and CaSO4. You can drastically change the flavor profile of a beer with just those two salt additions (or lack thereof). Find out the levels you like for different styles of beer. SO4 is important for IPA.
So I was wrong looking at my notes here it is.
Mash at 148* for 75
RO water with
3.6 G Gypsum
1.2 Salt
6.5 Epsom
4.45 Baking
8.1 Chalk
No acid
OG = 1.084
FG = 1.012
Tried again today just to malty and sweet tasting. maybe because its 9.5%? Disappointed was wanting something dry and hoppy!
The alcohol in a 9.5% beer brings sweetness of its own, aside from any residual maltiness. I bet you’re picking up on that. So is this beer kegged? If so, I usually add more hops to the keg with APAs and IPAs using a fine mesh paint strainer bag.
I don’t believe you can brew an all-malt 9.5% beer that is dry. It would need a little sugar to cut the malt down.
What kind of crystal was it? How much yeast did you pitch and what strain was it? Will you share the recipe? I doubt 8 oz. of C-10 or C-20 would make it too sweet.
Will post recipe later, don’t have with me. Maybe I’m hitting it a little early as well the beer is only 30 days old? Ive had beers in the past with that flavor and it goes away with time?
Alcohol will enhance the perception of sweetness, but I’m wondering about those additions. Why were you targeting such a high alkalinity (is that 4.45g of baking soda and 8.1g of chalk)? I guess, granted, the chalk really doesn’t dissolve well so might not have made much difference, but I’m not sure what you were going for by adding it. Same with ‘salt’ (as in table salt?).
+1 to the alcohol adding to the perceived sweetness. Certain hop varieties can also lend some perceived fruitiness which can come across as adding to the sweetness of the beer as well. These two factors combined can enhance the sweet flavor in your IIPA. And at 30 days old this beer should be quite drinkable.
+1. I back off even more on crystal when I brew a beer with mostly fruity hop varieties (Citra, El Dorado, etc). Those types of hops definitely combine with crystal and alcohol (in the case of IIPAs) to make the beer seem sweeter IMO.
Excellent point!
I feel the same way. especially if you are adding crystal malt. If I use crystal malt with an IPA style beer I usually sub an equal percentage, or more, of sugar (for the base malt) to make sure the beer stays dry.
Same here, especially in IIPA. Not making as many of those anymore though. With AIPA I can have a few more each time, so the hop character is fresher by the time the keg kicks.
Thanks good advise.
Grain Bill ( might be the problem)
14 lb 2 row
4 lb Pale Malt
2 lb Munich Malt 10L
.5 lb Cara amber 30L
.5 lb Honey
Do you think the munich is a little to much?