traditional english ipa

[rui]

Helloo to all of you from a stormy Portugal,

this weekend i had the chance to brew two days follow , i brewed a pale ale and my first attempt of an english IPA.
this thread its about the IPA, was an easy day, everything was spot on!

here's the recipe:

Traditional IPA
English IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 17.3
Total Grain (kg): 5.800
Total Hops (g): 98.76
Original Gravity (OG): 1.071 (°P): 17.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 7.53 %
Colour (SRM): 11.1 (EBC): 21.9
Bitterness (IBU): 67.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 67
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
4.100 kg Maris Otter Malt (70.69%)
1.000 kg Pale Ale Malt (17.24%)
0.400 kg Wheat Malt (6.9%)
0.300 kg Crystal 60 (5.17%)

Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Magnum Pellet (13% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (First Wort) (0.9 g/L)
24.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.4 g/L)
24.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (1.4 g/L)
15.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.8 g East Kent Golding Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 5 Days (Dry Hop) (1.2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
4.0 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Danstar Nottingham

cheers

[rui]

after a week, i mesured the gravity, and its 1015!! the yeast was working well, i tasted the sample and the alcohol its there, despite of that, didnt tasted that bitter as wanted!!
I will let in primary more one week, then dry hop for 5 days with EKG, and bottle!! i hope, to try it at christmas (or before for quality control )

How grs/L of hops should i use at the dry hop???

[seymour]

Helloo to all of you from a stormy Portugal,...

Hello to you too! I didn't realize we had Portuguese members, that's cool.

...this weekend i had the chance to brew two days follow , i brewed a pale ale and my first attempt of an english IPA.
this thread its about the IPA, was an easy day, everything was spot on!...

That's always a great feeling isn't it? I love when everything goes as planned on brewdays.

...here's the recipe:...

"Traditional IPA" is right, and a pretty alcoholic example at that. Looks good.

...I tasted the sample and the alcohol its there, despite of that, didnt tasted that bitter as wanted!!

Regarding the lower-than-expected bitterness, I suspect the Magnum hops. If they're old, their bittering potential will be reduced. Also, if you have a cheapo kitchen scale like mine, a low dose like .9g is nearly impossible to measure accurately. Probably you didn't use as much as you thought? You get a lot of "bang for your buck" with those super-alpha varieties, but sometimes a traditional, lower-alpha hop like Fuggles of Challenger is easier to work with (and more traditional) in this kinda beer. But don't worry, I'm sure it'll taste great no matter what.

I will let in primary more one week, then dry hop for 5 days with EKG, and bottle!! i hope, to try it at christmas (or before for quality control )

How grs/L of hops should i use at the dry hop???

More so than other aspects of brewing, dry-hopping definitely a matter of personal preference. Much depends on hop variety, green or dried, whole cone or pellet, whether they are bagged or not, whether you agitate or not, surface area contact, duration, alcohol content, etc. For your batch size, you could start-out with 40-80 g, wait a week, then draw a sample to taste and see for yourself. If it's not as hoppy as you'd like, wait another week and taste again.

Oh yeah, you'll definitely be nipping it before Christmas. It's high-gravity enough to cellar a very long time, but a dry-hopped IPA like this is divine at its freshest. Good luck saving any 'til Christmas, more like it.

[rui]

Thanks Seymour for the reply!! Yes i am from Portugal and i check this forum, since i started brewing, two years ago!
I realy like english styles of beer and english hops, specialy EKG, challenger or fuggles!! Thats the reason that i brewed this beer. i dont do a water treatement, as i m not there yet, so maybe that could change how the hops show up.....
And this beer has something special, i was abble to found maris otter in Portugal, i bought the last 6 kilos from the store..... never brewed with it but i was whishing for a long time ago. The other two kilos i m keeping it to do a nice best bitter with fuggles!!

Yes, i know that, when you dry hop an IPA, you have to drink it young to taste all the hops fresh, but i would like to keep some bottles to see how it ages!!

cheers!!

[seymour]

Sounds great, cheers!

[rui]

took a smple yesterday, and gravity was 1010!! after two weeks its done, now i will dry hop with 30grs 0f EKG!!! i am affraid to unbalance the beer!!

[rui]

today i cracked a bottle to check carbonation , but its at the point





cheers

[Clibit]

How is it tasting? I'm impressed that you are home brewing English ales in Portugal. How did you discover your love for English ales? Have you tried other English hops?

[rui]

the dry hop of ekg its lovely you see its still young, but tastes lovely!! its not so bitter like i wanted, lets see how it ages, but its promising

Cheers