Extract IPA recipe help

I just had my first bottle of the Kama Citra Session IPA 5 gallon extract kit I brewed about 6 weeks ago. While I think it turned out well, it’s not my favorite IPA. It’s a little maltier and darker than I’d like. I’ve only recently really started to like IPAs and this was the first one I’ve brewed so all I have to go off. Kind of shooting from the hip here but wondering how this might turn out.

6lbs Pilsen lme
3lbs table sugar
1oz Amarillo @ 30
1oz Centenial @ 15
2oz cascade @ flame out
2oz citra @ dry hop
Yeast US-05
Specialty grains ?

33% of the grain bill being sugar might be too much…maybe replace some that with some wheat dme…and add the lme later in the boil to keep the color lighter.

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Agree 3lbs sugar is too much. You say you recently started liking IPAs… which ones? That would help in finding a recipe that lines up.

Are there specific commercial session IPAs that you like? If you can find a couple of “clone” recipes for those beers, that can often be a starting point for a first attempt at a recipe.

Using the Karma Citra ingredients list:

You could lighten the color and/or malty-ness by using

  • Caramel 10 or 20, rather than Caramel 40.
  • using 1 lb sugar rather than using 1 lb DME.

I haven’t used Amarillo as a bittering hop and I have no experience with hops in the ‘@ 30’ time frame - so I don’t have anything to offer here.

If you’re set up to do 1 gallon test batches, OG of 1.050 is 20 oz of DME (or a pound of DME and some sugar).

Extract tends to finish a little sweeter… by malty, do you mean sweet? Adding sugar to dry things out is a good move, but you might have overdone it. 4.5 Oz hops seems light to me for an IPA. Maybe adding extra hops could Balance it out a bit.

I enjoy karben4 fantasy factory and Central Waters Glacial trail. I believe both are American IPAs.

Did brew this a few times came out good. Actually been thinking. Making this one soon. But as all grain

Replace the sugar to 1 lbs dme. And 20 min before the end. Add 1 lbs corn sugar

Here are the beer descriptions from their web sites.

karben4 fantasy factory

  • Hopheads crusade on a heroic quest for the holy grail of India Pale Ales. The subconscious composes paradisiacal scenes of malty waves crashing on a ripe lupulin landscape cascading hop flavors and aromas in profuse abundance. With humble confidence we offer this brew as fantasy made reality. Balanced in every detail and gushing resinous, exceptional citrus flavors and aromas that collaborate with soft bready notes surrendered from premium English golden malted barley, this beer is a tropical dreamscape.

Sometimes checking the beer ratings sites offer useful insights as well. Central Waters appeared to be getting bad reviews due to bad inventory management beyond their control (aka outdated beer :frowning: ).

To get closer to either of these, you may need a create a “more flavorful” malt base using partial mashing.

Thanks for all the input everyone. Here’s what I’m thinking now. Any additional thoughts would be appreciated.

.75lbs of Caramel 20
3lbs Pilsen lme @ 60
.5oz Amarillo @ 60
3lbs Pilsen lme @ 20
1lb Pilsen DME @ 20
.5oz Amarillo @ 15
1oz Centenial @ 15
2oz cascade @ flame out
1lb sugar @ flame out
2oz citra @ dry hop
Yeast US-05

You could move the dme to 60 and all the lme at 15-20.

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Consider calculating the estimated IBU for the new recipe and comparing it to the old. Moving 1/2 the LME from @ 60 to @ 30 may have a noticeable impact on the bitterness. For bitterness calculations,

  1. more time results in more IBUs, and
  2. lower OG results in more IBUs