New Boiler = New Beer (Comments/Suggestions wanted)

[AnthonyD]

Hi folks,

I've upgraded to a 33L boiler with hopfilter and ball valve and hope it will revolutionize my brewing from my old 13.5L Stock Pot!

To christen the new toy - I was thinking a nice juicy flora and fruity IPA. I've gone for the following recipe:

Recipe: IPA
Brewer: Anthony
Style: American IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.06 Imp gal
Post Boil Volume: 4.50 Imp gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 4.50 Imp gal
Bottling Volume: 4.50 Imp gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 10.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 67.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6.12 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 92.3 %
0.30 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (50.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.5 %
0.21 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.2 %
28.53 g Bravo [15.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 4 49.0 IBUs
11.41 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 5.4 IBUs
9.13 g Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 5.2 IBUs
28.53 g Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 3.8 IBUs
17.12 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 4.5 IBUs
37.50 g Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg West Coast IPA Private Collection (Wyeast Labs #1217) [124 Yeast 10 -

Do you think the hop schedule is too heavy on the bittering side? And how about the hop choices in general? I have access to Centennial, Bravo, Simcoe, Cascade, Citra, Ahtanum, and lesser quantities of Perle, Nugget and Northern Brewer, would my selection here give a nice fruity/floral tang found in many American style IPAs?

My last IPA turned out a bit worng as it finished far too sweet. Since discovered I mashed too high and there was probably too much crystal in it, so I've tried to back the crystal of a bit here to just a small 4.5% and added a bit of Melanidin malt for a bit of character, and colour. Good choices?

Finally I've plumped for a new yeast - the Wyeast West Coast IPA Private Collection yeast that is supposed to attenuate all the way up to 83%. the three previous beers I;ve made with Wyeast have turned out really well (a 1056 and 2x 1272), especially now I'm making 1 litre starters overnight.

Water treated my last two brews and they both turned out great so again I think I'll add a little Calcium Chloride and Gypsum here to accentuate the hop profile. I'll take a look at the spreadsheet closer to the time before I brew it.

Any comments or suggestions? I want this one to turn out better than my last try at an IPA!

Thanks in advance!

[RobWalker]

it will be bitter, but if you're a fan of VERY hoppy IPA's, I don't think you'll find it out of place. if you do want a huge hop aroma, you'll probably want to dry hop. a lot of craft breweries are now relying solely on bitter and dry hopping, no aroma or flavour - 20g/gallon is pretty normal. that's really where that big floral hit comes from as your 5 and 0 min additions have some of the aroma heated off...

The main hops you listed all sound great, not sure about Bravo though. Perle, nugget and NB arn't IPA hops, so use them for bittering only.

[scuppeteer]

Looks great but have you adjusted the FWH for the IBU ratio? If I FWH I generally put them at 90mins in my software to give a better indication of the utilisation. I would also be inclined to ditch the 5 min additions and put them all in at 0mins, this would compensate and balance better for the high IBU you are going for. My last IPA was around the 70 mark but I put in 100g hops last minute, very tasty. ;o)

[AnthonyD]

Cheers folks... Will have a fiddle around with the software and post any alterations. Thanks for your suggestions much appreciated.

[AnthonyD]

I didn't get too much difference out of FWH and 90m boils in terms of IBUs on BeerSmith so I've left it at FWH 60mins in the recipe.

Decided to make a couple of changes...

Swapped Vienna in instead of Melanoidin, and changed the hop schedule around slightly for less bittering and more flavour/aroma. Dropped Bravo for another brew and gone for Centennial instead.

Batch Size (fermenter): 4.50 Imp gal
Bottling Volume: 4.50 Imp gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 9.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 57.4 IBUs

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 89.9 %
0.37 kg Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
0.30 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (50.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.4 %
30.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 m Hop 4 36.4 IBUs
12.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 4.8 IBUs
12.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 5.7 IBUs
40.00 g Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 5.3 IBUs
20.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 5.2 IBUs
60.00 g Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124 Yeast 10 -

Nearly there? Maybe 20g for both Simcoe and Centennial at 10 mins? Will dry hop too with a bit of Ahtanum, but haven't reflected that above.

[far9410]

57 ibu's in a 1070 ale is not at all too bitter, but i dont think its bitterness you're after, in which case this should be fantastic with those late hops.

[AnthonyD]

57 ibu's in a 1070 ale is not at all too bitter, but i dont think its bitterness you're after, in which case this should be fantastic with those late hops.

Thanks... Yeah, I'm really after the flavours and style of beer I've been drinking from some of the smaller UK brewers that have followed the amercian craft beer movement. I had in mind something like a Stone Levitation ale/Arbor Yakima Hopped (a lovely beer btw!)/Partizan brewery IPA kind of vibe. Not a clone, but something inspired by I guess.