Classic Burton IPA

[JammyBStard]

I'm putting my Flyer Blond on hold for a couple of weeks. I've been looking a lot at my water recently (Thanks Martin, Orlando and Others) and reading some beer history and I've decidide I'd like to try and make as near as I can, a true Burton IPA (not the 8% Export rocket fuel though. I want it to be drinkable i'm going for 5.5% to 6%).
All MO and Sugar as the grist, and Fuggles and EKG on the nose (Magnum for bittering).

Any comments would be appriciated I know what constitutes an IPA can be a debate on it's own. I've looked at Burton Bridge, Meantime and Old Empire for inspiration.

Batch Size: 21.50 L
Boil Size: 26.74 L
Boil Time: 90 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (12.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Water:


Burtonised sort of with Gypsum and Phosphoric acid to hit the Mash PH. Does that seem like a lot of gypsum??

The Mash:

4.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 93.75 %
60 min Step Add 15.00 L of water at 74.3 C 69.0 C (As it's all Pale malt I thought I'd go with a high Mash temp to make the most of the MO and then dry it out with some sugar in the secondry)
30 min Mash Out Add 15.00 L of water at 81.7 C 75.0 C (The 15L thing just suits my kit as i don't have a HLT)
Sparge Water: 2.20 L Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Mash PH: 5.4 PH

The Boil:

25.00 gm Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 38.0 IBU
25.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.4 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.7 IBU

01.06 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

Fermentation:

Three stages but all in one FV

Primary: 1 week @ 20'C
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Secondry: 1 week @ 20'c
0.30 kg Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 EBC) Sugar 6.25 % (because of the highish mash temp I'm going to add the Sugar in after the yeast has finished with the Maltose)

Tertiary: 1 week @ 22'c
10.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
05.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -

Fining with isinglass

Beer Profile:

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG (This will have to be adjusted on brew day as the sugar gos in to the secondry)
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (I usually find that Beersmith estimates the FG too high)
Expected Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.32 %
Expected Alcohol by Vol: 6.13 %
Bitterness: 45.2 IBU Calories: 544 cal/l (Bitternes Ratio of 0.82)
Est Color: 9.1 EBC Color: Color

[AnthonyUK]

Something doesn't look right at first glance.
Are you sure your water figures are correct?
A sulphate/Chloride ratio of 13:1 is OTT for the amount of hops I would think.

[JammyBStard]

Something doesn't look right at first glance.
Are you sure your water figures are correct?
A sulphate/Chloride ratio of 13:1 is OTT for the amount of hops I would think.

Hi Ant
Which bit do you think looks wrong? I'm as sure as I can be about my figures with out getting it tested. It's based on a water report and a salifert test.
The Sulphate/Chloride ratio of my source water is about 1:1 and then I pushed the Sulphate up to about 400 with Gypsum to Burton levels.
Are you saying I need more late Hops for the style? or that may water is way out?
J

[JammyBStard]

Double post!

[AnthonyUK]

The recommended range of sulphate/chloride is in single digits.
I have heard on podcasts of extreme ratios being 9:1 in US IPAs so 13:1 is way out there.
I would try reducing the Gypsum and increasing the Phosphoric acid to get your mash pH.
I would also wait for someone much more experienced though for a second opinion.

The issue I have with replicating geographical water profiles is whether they were used unmodified or not so I prefer to use a style profile e.g. the Pale Ale profile in Bru'N'Water.

[Barley Water]

Well first of all I'm not a "water guy" so I can't help you much with dosing your brewing liquid. I have medium hard water so I don't mess with mine at all when doing IPA's, I just run it through a filter and let 'er rip. I would probably opt to start slowly when dosing up you water though; if it gets over the top you'll ruin a batch. Remember, really hard water will make the hops really pop and back in the day the beer was aged a long time which dumbed down the bitterness. In my opinion, one major difference between ok IPA's and the really good stuff is that the bitterness needs to be smooth in the excellent examples. As far as a recipe goes I think yours will work just fine. Your plan to dry the beer out with sugar is a good one, you want good attenuation for this style. Many like to add a bunch of crystal malt and frankly I'm not a fan at all. I really don't care for beers were you have alot of sweet playing off against intense bitterness plus of course the crystal malt is going to increase your terminal gravity making the beer heavier (all of that being just personal preference of course, many have other ideas). As it turns out I'll be doing my version of an English IPA this weekend. Rather than using sugar I am using about 1 1/2 lbs of flaked corn in a 5 gallon batch (from what I have read there is historical president for that). I also dump about 1/2 a pound of bisquet malt in there to try and augment what the Maris Otter base malt should bring to the table. Finally, I'll be mashing at a lower temperature to try and drive down the terminal gravity and I'm pitching a ton of WLP013, I want it dry. Since my O.G. will be in the 1.065-1.067 range I'm shooting for something close to 60 IBU's and of course I'll be late and dry hopping the hell out of the beer.

[millmaster]

I use the Durden Park Beer Circle Old British Beers and How to Brew book them as a source for traditional recipes. There is one in there for a Burton Pale Ale ( dated 1871 ). 3lb 3oz ( old money ) Pale Malt, 2.1oz goldings per imperial gallon of brew.
It does specify 3hrs simmering and do not hard boil. I assumed all the hops went in for the full duration of the "simmer" when I made mine. Recipe also specifies use hard water. It doesnt say, but speculatively a low-end mash temp ?

That recipe forecast OG 1070, but, like I did, you could simply reduce malt and hops ( although I didnt reduce the hops ) in proportion to get near your target OG and have something like a traditional burton pale ale. Also suggests leaving to mature for 6 to 8 months. I'll find out what mine is like at Christmas.

Several other recipes in the book for similar types of ale. £7.00 well spent in my opinion

[Hanglow]

Reid IPA from 1839 based on info from Ron

OG 1.057
FG - depends on what you do w/r to brett etc
IBU - 211 calculated from boil

100% pale malt

Kent goldings - 370g full boil
70g dry hop in secondary

Yeast - your choice

Original IPAs were left in secondary for about a year or so, most likely with brett from the wooden vats. Then on a ship for 3 months or so with some highish temperatures

I'd love to try a proper IPA brewed from ye olde recipes, I imagine a bunch are being brewed now after Mitch Steel's recent IPA book.

[JammyBStard]

Something doesn't look right at first glance.
Are you sure your water figures are correct?
A sulphate/Chloride ratio of 13:1 is OTT for the amount of hops I would think.

I really want to try and get the Burton Snatch effect which I feel makes all the difference some of the best IPA's I've tried. By all accounts relies on a Sulphate level of about 400ppm (or more). But I've previously beeen warned off rising the Chloride level because of the minerally taste it imparts (unless I guess you like a minerally taste)

I think Martin wrote in interesting post here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/f ... pic=4398.0 on the subject.
Is the Sulphate/Chloride ratio more relavent to bitter/malty balanced beers with few late hop such as Milds than it is to IPA?
I could re balance the ratio with Calcium Chloride, but that would reduge my Sulphate levels, Or I could use CRS in place of phosphoric which would perhaps be the answer if 78ppm chloride is desirable.

[JammyBStard]

I've just kegged this today it finished nice and dry 1.010, I'm really happy with the clarity without finings and the hops and water both seem good

But unfortonatly the ambient temperature spiked during high krausen and I've got way too many Esters and possibly Fusel in there. If you like Black Sheep it might be for you but I think I need a brew-fridge!

[JammyBStard]

Interestingly enough after ten days in the Keg at room-temperature the Hop flavour has become more prenounced and the solventy flavour has subsided to almost un-detectable. It's become a very drinlable beer.
I didn't think it was possible to get rid of Fussel so it makes me wonder what it was I was tasting?
I can pick out many individual flavours in my beer these days but I really struggle to work out which one is which. In "How to Brew" Palmer has written a list of different off flavours with descriptions but I struggle to match them up with what I'm tasting.