American Style IPA's

[196osh]

Are there any kits which taste like American Style IPAs?

I would be thinking about adding extra spray malt and hops to give it more of an IIPA feel.

[MightyMouth]

Boil some challenger hops for 5-10 minutes in any ale kit and make up to just 18 litres instead of 23 and it should be closer to what you want.

[jubby]

Take a look at this thread 196osh. Might give you some ideas:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20386

[196osh]

I might look into buying some Centennial hops. As that appears to be the main type that is in the only US style IIPA that I have had, Stone Ruination IPA.

It is far superior to any of the many UK IPA's that I have had. So might make some hop tea, stick an extra 500 grams of spray malt in it, and make up the kit up to 18 litres as opposed to 23.

[196osh]

Boil plenty of cascade (or any so called C hop etc) for 10 mins and steep a good quantity of them also.

All sounds good, when you say a good quantity what sort of weight do you mean?

Should I use the same levels of hops that are quoted for the AG/Extract clones of the Stone brew or would I need more as I am boiling for less time?

[mysterio]

Ruination IPA is some powerful beer, took several days for my tastebuds to return

[196osh]

The amount of hops you can boil then steep will be dependant on the amount of water you use. Assuming you use 2L or so you'll probably be limited to a total of 30-40g of whole leaf hops before it gets really soupy and you loose most of the liquid to absorbtion by the hops. You may have more luck using pellets and a seive (I haven't tried them personally).

You physically wont be able to over do the late hops from a flavour or bittering point of view, if you find the taste a little harsh initially, in time it will mellow and a much more pleasant hop flavour will come through.

So could I do two lots of 2l or 1 4l to make up to around the levels that the recipes call for?

Most of the ruination clone recipes also say to dry hop in the secondary, as I am a noob, I only have 1 FV and as I am a student, I would rather not buy another one till the summer, when I can start making some money. But I will if I have too. So would I be able to dry hop in the primary post intial fermentation?

[196osh]

Ruination IPA is some powerful beer, took several days for my tastebuds to return

Nice bottle too, great great beer. Don't think my taste buds will ever truley recover till I can clone it properly.

[196osh]

So could I do two lots of 2l or 1 4l to make up to around the levels that the recipes call for?

You can but you may end up with a wort that's two hot to pitch your yeast into if you add too much hot liquid to it without cooling first.

So if I boil say 4l worth of hop-tea I should cool it before add it to the fermenter a la when doing the mini mash?

[196osh]

You can do that but remember that whatever you are straining the wort through will have to be santised if the wort is cool.

It all takes time and at some point it'll be more advantageous to buy a boiler, hop strainer and wort chiller and do extract brews to give you even greater flexibility.

In the summer, I will be taking a year out from Uni after I graduate till I get into med school (might be a number of years depending if I get in or not), so I will be getting AG gear then.