IPA Recipe critique...

[AnthonyD]

I have made a few IPA's over the past year or so, but apart from one or two I've never had exceptional results. My ambition is to change that with this next brew as I now have a fermentation fridge which really helped with my export porter which is tasting brilliant! I've finally got the hang of water additions now too, so I'll be looking to do this one at around a CL:SO ratio of 1:2.4

Suggestions on the below welcome:

6kg Maris Otter
1kg Munich (10L)
250g Crystal (120L - a bit dark but the only I've got in stock! - could sub caramalt here too?)

Should be about 7.4% ABV on my system.

Hopping:

20g Topaz FWH (75min boil)
20g HBC366 (5 mins)
80g Topaz (20 min flame out steep)
100g Citra (20 min flame out steep)
50g Topaz (Dry hop 3 days at 4C)
50g Citra (Dry hop 3 days at 4C)
50g Topaz (2nd Dry hop phase 3 days at 4C)
50g Citra (2nd Dry hop phase 3 days at 4C)

US-05 Yeast (in stock)

The 20g of HBC366 is really just to use up what's in the freezer with the aim being a nice citrus IPA that will play off one or two different varieties.

EDIT: A quick scout of the freezer also uncovers 70g of Galaxy - theres room for that here too I think? Maybe at the dry hop phase.

[Matt12398]

Do you treat your water for the style? For me that's the only way to get a decent IPA.

[AnthonyD]

Yeah, my water is terribly soft here. Think I haven't been using enough gypsum to get the water hard enough and to get the ratio of SO:CL correct.

This time I'm going to pay far more attention to the water and hopefully the results will be better with controlled fermentation temp too.

[YeastWhisperer]

What are the alpha acid ratings of your kettle (first addition), 5 minute, and steeping hop additions? What style of IPA are you attempting to brew? What is your projected original gravity? Do you have access to a yeast strain other than the lifeless US-05?

[AnthonyD]

I've had a bit more of a play with Beersmith and I come up with this:

Code: Select all

 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 31.30 l
Post Boil Volume: 26.75 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l   
Bottling Volume: 22.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.066 SG
Estimated Color: 12.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 92.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
6.00 kg               Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)         Grain         1        81.1 %        
1.00 kg               Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM)           Grain         2        13.5 %        
0.40 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)   Grain         3        5.4 %         
15.00 g               Citra [12.00 %] - First Wort 75.0 min    Hop           4        16.8 IBUs     
15.00 g               Topaz [17.00 %] - First Wort 75.0 min    Hop           5        23.8 IBUs     
20.00 g               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           6        4.5 IBUs      
20.00 g               HBC 366 (Experimental) [15.00 %] - Boil  Hop           7        4.9 IBUs      
40.00 g               Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0  Hop           8        11.8 IBUs     
40.00 g               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0 Hop           9        13.8 IBUs     
40.00 g               Topaz [17.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0  Hop           10       16.7 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         11       -             
50.00 g               Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days       Hop           12       0.0 IBUs      
50.00 g               Topaz [17.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days       Hop           13       0.0 IBUs      

Unfortunately I don't have anything other than US-05 or Belle Saision in stock at the moment. I love WLP007 Dry English Ale though and I understand US-05 being 'plain' and not very characterful, but hey it's what I've got to work with for this brew.