Brewing IPA's

[Nathan]

I'm new to brewing (and JBK) and wanted to ask why all the advice I can find on IPA's says that you need to balance the brew with crystal malts? I understand that it will add sweetness to the finished ale but IPA's are all about the hops. I'm planning on using Maris otter and Vienna malts in my first IPA brew but wanted to ask what flavour issues I might experience using these? Hops I'm planning on using are Galaxy, Citra and styrian.

Any assistance would be gratefully received.

[Hanglow]

Some people like them with some crystal and some - myself included - without or very little, like 2% at most

You can do a great IPA with just Marris otter as base and nothing else.

Anything over about 6% and I'd start replacing base malt with some simple sugar to it as well

[Matt12398]

The question that you have to ask yourself is whether you like your IPAs to taste like hoppy beer or water with lots of hops in. If you prefer the former then a bit of crystal malt goes well in an IPA. Munich is also a good addition, probably more so than Vienna.

The issue I have with a lot of the UK brewed 'American' IPAs is that they only taste of hops and nothing else. There are exceptions. Drink anything by the American brewers like Sierra Nevada, Flying Dog, Stone, etc. and there's a bit more sweetness and complexity to them. They're not just dry hop water. It all depends on what you like drinking though.

This is a very interesting article which I read recently which is mostly related to dry hopping but it's got some good information on brewing IPAs.

http://www.port66.co.uk/dextrins-dry-ho ... pe-design/

[Matt12398]

Double post.

[Clibit]

I used to be anti crystal, for some reason, but experience is leading me the other way. I agree with Matt. The best IPAs I've had have had a good malt character to support and complement the hops. Otherwise you have hoppy water. Check out clone recipes online for IPAs you like, and make whatever suits you. But be open minded.

[Hanglow]

disagree with "just hop water" from an english pale malt base only. Yes if you were only making a 4% one, but not at a standard strength.

imo of course

[Jocky]

This is a very interesting article which I read recently.

http://www.port66.co.uk/dextrins-dry-ho ... pe-design/

Very interesting article. I had wondered myself how some breweries were getting low terminal gravities while using dextrinous malts for body.

[alexlark]

I was in the same boat a few months ago. What I decided to do was to brew a simple SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer so that could see, and taste, for myself what it would be like. And importantly, keep it simple!

I went for 4346g Marris Otter (what I had left) and 85g Amarillo Hops. (Boiled 55g and dry hopped 30g). (Only my second BIAB, first one was a London Pride clone).

Turned out looking light, like a lager. Tastes and smells quite hoppy, 5% ABV.

This is the first brew I have done that actually smells like a bottled hoppy beer, very fresh. I was surprised what could be achieved from basic ingredients.

[Nathan]

Thanks for the replies, all very useful. The main reason I'm looking at Maris otter and Vienna are because I'm very partial to Jaipur and from internet research it uses these malts? I'm certainly not intending to make hoppy water so I may add a little crystal just to offer a little body. Any thoughts on the hops I'm using? (Galaxy, Citra and styrian) I like light citrus fruity ales and think these may offer this.

[Hanglow]

Yeah Jaipur is just MO and a touch of vienna, at least according to the IPA book. Great from cask!


Should be a good hopbill, work out what flavour aroma hops you want then use the galaxy to get your bittering up to what level you want at 60mins would be my recommendation. And if you want to notice the styrian goldings then use a lot of them as they aren't as pungent as galaxy and citra especially.

[Matt12398]

I've heard some people say that Galaxy provides a harsh bitterness. As a result I've only ever used them 15 minutes before flameout or later. I've adopted that purely based on what I've read though so experience might suggest otherwise.

I agree that malt flavour can be achieved with just base malt but people often just keep chucking hops in and you end up with unbalanced beer. Adding a bit of something else in can help, particularly if you're using US05 which is very neutral. On the flip side I once used WLP002 for a pale ale using lager malt only. It's not a typical choice due to low attenuation and estery character but mashed at the lower end and fermented at 18C it had some sweetness and a great malt character. I guess what I'm saying is, play around and don't confine yourself to dry, unbalanced, over hopped beer.

[Nathan]

I'm also toying with the idea of a black IPA using a similar recipe but with the addition of 4% chocolate malt and 4% cararoma malt.

[Hanglow]

Galaxy is not harsh unless you overdo the mineral additions. Also, it's the best of the three he mentioned for bitering. I would prefer the likes of magnum/herkules etc for what he wants but he didn't mention them

use dehusked malt for black ipa or E150 or sinamar etc.

[censored] hate roast in a BIPA. YMMV of course.



Love a hoppy porter but I tend to use british hops in those.

[Wonkydonkey]

Hi guys, and of course Nathan.

I known it's slightly off your topic, but as your new-ish to this. I thought that I should mention , Your type water also plays a part in how your brew turns out. you can still do a nice beer, but you can do a better beer if you start to play (add or subtract minerals) with the water.
I live in high carbonate hardness area, which is great for those dark ales ( with more acidic malts). but when it comes to lighter ales ( less acidic malts) it's not so good. And this has an affect on the hops and flavour, but there again, citra hops are strong and shine in any brew I've done,

But having said this, I would not worry too much about at the mo, it's something for another day.
Also your water maybe just right for what your planning to do,
Let us know how you get on,
Wonky

[gibbiem]

disagree with "just hop water" from an english pale malt base only. Yes if you were only making a 4% one, but not at a standard strength.

imo of course

Buxton Axe Edge, Magic Rock Cannonball, Siren 10 Finger Discount, Marble Earl Grey all classic examples of British hop water.....