Thoughts and advice on this IPA please

[Deebee]

Hi all.

I am working on an IPA recipe to be brewed early in the new year.

The aim is to use s-05 as the yeast and that this will be able stand and condition for around 5 months.

Here is my idea but I am wondering if it is a little thin and if there is anything elsse I should have in it to give it more body.

I am working on a 15 l brew and 75 % efficiency.


3000 pale
200 crystal ( not sure as to dark or light)
200 Torrified wheat
35 g black for a bit of colour.

Around 60 g fuggles ( 4.1%) for 60
25 Styrian goldings for 10
20 g cascade for 5


I can always go for some dry hopping at the end of fermentation as s-05 takes a long time to clear and I have the time for it to condition.

Total IBU is around the 50 mark and Abv is around 5.2%

My first thought is that I should up the pale to bring the ABV to around the 5.5 % mark, but I wonder if this will be a little thin and bodyless.. should I get some carapils for example.

In addition I am wondering about the Grist/water ratio.
Usually I use 2.5 1 but have been advised to use 2:1 on this.

What would the advantages of this thicker mash be?

I would be aiming to mash at around 66.5 for 90 mins with a 60 minute boil.


Thoughts and tweaks greatly accepted.

[simple one]

Looks lovely. I would brew it tomorrow. I would maybe replace the fuggles with something with more AAs, and reduce the weight. But thats only because I am a tight wad.

[Deebee]

I have some 11 or 13 % target? More along those lines?

Also what would the thick mash do? and should in your opinion i up the ABV to 5.5? if so should that be across the board or just with the pale?
Thanks

[simple one]

A thick mash will favour creating more unfermentable sugars. Similar to a high temp mash.

Well, I probably would still use the fuggles. But I don't think there would be a massive difference if you replaced them with the same IBUs of Target. I would just prefer to get the fuggles in to another brew as a late (ish) hop.

I would maybe ditch the black. If its just for colour and your not cloning something the there is no real need in a pale ale.

ABV is up to you.

[Matt]

I wouldn't worry about the proportion of pale malt - up it to your desired SG. I know that the style guidelines go down to 5.2% abv but I feel an IPA worth savouring should but high 5's at least to balance the hopping.

Matt

[Deebee]

Based on the advce of those of you who have answered this post i have weaked it a little and the recipe and stats are as follows.


Pale 3160
Light crystal 200
Torrified wheat 240


Hops

19 gTarget 13 % for 60
22 styrian goldings ( 5.2) for 10
20 cascade for 5

Yeast safeale 05

Stats

estimated OG 1057
estimated colour 11.9
estimated IBU 49.3

I am estimating this based on 75 % but hve had the last few brews at nearer 80 %, mainly due to me sparging a lot slower ( fly sparge)

This is a 15 liter brew and the aim will be to bottle it, not keg it

any more tweaks??? Brew as soon as the yeast comes throgh fro BB.

Strange to think that inc posage he is still cheaper than here

[6470zzy]

I think that you should add the carapils that you mentioned, and I am glad that you chose the light crystal rather than the dark because Cascade really doesn't mix well with the darker crystals IMO. If it were me I would ditch the Cascade altogether and double up on the Styrian Goldings , once again its personal preference, I really like the "C" hops but I don't tend to mix them with others.

Cheers

[Deebee]

Thanks for that.
How much carapils would you add?

[Whorst]

Condition for 5 months???? In my most humble of opinions, that beer should be fermented in 7-10 days and conditioned for 30 days max. Conditioning a beer of that strength is unnecessary, and robs oneself of his labors.

[6470zzy]

Thanks for that.
How much carapils would you add?

I would do 200gm and I do agree with Whorst regarding the conditioning, 5 months is a long time for this brew. I think that it will peak at about 6 weeks or so.

Cheers

[Deebee]

thanks for the reponses guys.

Whorst :- this is the main reason that i asked the question of tweaking the brew.

I have never brewed an IPA before and have never brewed using S-05 either.

I have chance to brew this one then put it away to keep. i want to have it for the christening of the new baby in the summer ( june/july time) so i would appreciate any tweaks to the brew.

I am not a lover of the commercial IPA here, i would like something that is middle of the road with regard to IBU.

So please do come with a tweak for me. What should i aim the SG at?

By the way NICE avtarr!!!!

[Matt]

Whorst is keen on drinking fresh beers, nothing wrong with that. I'd be doing the same as you though Deebee, maybe aiming for 3-4 months though. While being good at 3 weeks, all of the stronger, hoppier beers I have brewed have developed lovely complexity post the 3 month mark.

And er, in any case the IPA style was developed to cope with long transit times.

Matt

[Deebee]

I might up the ABv to nearer 6 then and add a couple units IBU.

Was thinking that i also might dry hop for a week or so before bottling. using s-05 is something that wil be interesting......

[Barley Water]

Well, if you are celebrating the birth of a new child, I submit that you will need plenty of high gravity beer just to make it through the experience (especially if the child is female and I should know as I'm twice blessed). I would go ahead and drink the beer young then make another batch for the event itself (think of this first one as a test batch).

I am not really a hop head and rarely brew this style but I just happen to have done a Dogfish Head 60 minute clone this weekend. This is basicly an exercise in hop bursting as you add a bunch of high alpha hops constantly over a sixty minute period (Warrior, Simcoe and Amarillo) then dry hop with a combination of Simcoe and Amarillo after primary fermentation is done. What I am trying to do is get a fairly dry beer for the gravity (mine started at 1.063) so I mashed at 150F and am using WLP05 which I hope will attenuate fairly well. You really want the beer to drink a little smaller than it really is so you can keep the sweetness down to showcase the hops and keep the "drinkability" up there. As I was staging the hops to put into the copper, the entire kitchen smelled of the characteristic grapefruit aroma of the "C" hops, very nice. Anyhow, I know that a thinner mash will favor less dextrins but I think the mash temperature is much more important so I don't worry about it too much, just add the hot water as needed to hit the temperature you are aiming for.

Anyway, good luck in your efforts and congratulations on the family addition.

[Whorst]

The change to a higher alpha hop is a good idea. You want to be in the 50-55 IBU range. Dry hopping is a good idea as well. Near the end of fermentation, chuck your dry hops directly into the fermenter. A week will probably be adequate for your taste, but I've gone two weeks with no problems. After your dry hop period, chill the beer down if you can. This will assist in dropping the hops. If you've never dry hopped before, don't worry about contaminating your beer. I've NEVER encountered contamination from dry hopping. The alcohol is a strong deterrent against anything nasty. Be sure to post your thoughts when it's done. The UK-05(some refer to it as S-05) will bring all the hoppy goodness to the front of the beer. Your beer will resemble swamp water out of the fermenter, but will drop bright with age and drop pretty fast if you fine.