IPA malt bills? Care to share yours?

I make a lot of IPAs and I’ve got a standard malt bill. 90% 2-Row, 5% Munich 10L, 5% C40.

I’d like to start mixing it up just to experiment and see if I can make it better. So, would some of you mind sharing your favorite malt bills for American IPAs?

The first one I’m thinking of trying is a mix of base malts; 2-row, munich, vienna, and wheat malts only.

My last one was a blend of 2-row, Munich, and white wheat. I liked it. It was light in color, let the hops shine through. Can’t remember the proportions though…but I think they were all fairly even. Original gravity was something like 1.069. I used to put too much crystal in and it kind of gets in the way of hop character sometimes.
But I make more black IPAs than anything for hoppy beers. I go with something like 86% 2-row, 7% Blackprinz malt, 7% Crystal 50-60L. I like that one…

I’m usually 85-90% 2 row in the great majority of my IPA’s. I experiment more with hops and yeast, using different times and amounts of hops to see what I like most.
As for grains, I’ve enjoyed playing with Munich, Vienna and White Wheat lately. Color never really came into play with me until recently and I’m definitely still learning.

75% 2-row
15% melanoidin (or light vienna/munich)
5% c20
5% c40

sometimes, 1/2lb of simple sugar 2-3 days into the fermentation.

You might want to try varying up the base malt as opposed to the specialty (sub in MO, vienna, or even light munich). My buddy makes a great 80% vienna “IPA” with the traditional C-hops.

Love this thread idea btw.

I like session IPAs with an ABV somewhere in the 5’s. Carapils (about 5%) works well to keep body from seeming too thin to stand up to a healthy dose of dry hops. 5% red wheat can also give some complexity to body and aid in head retention.

[quote=“Beerlord”]I’m usually 85-90% 2 row in the great majority of my IPA’s. I experiment more with hops and yeast, using different times and amounts of hops to see what I like most.
As for grains, I’ve enjoyed playing with Munich, Vienna and White Wheat lately. Color never really came into play with me until recently and I’m definitely still learning.[/quote]

I’m looking for more “maltiness” in my ipas. I feel like I get mostly the sweetness from the crystal and the hops shine through, but the base malt could be more present.

What ratios did you use for the Munich, Vienna, Wheat malt bill? I recently made a Vienna Lager that used only Pilsner, Munich and Vienna malt, and even with just base malts I got a wonderful complexity. I’m thinking of mixing the base malts to achieve something similar in an IPA.

Nobody has mentioned ‘Pale Ale Malt’ as their base malt. Thoughts on 2-row vs Pale Ale Malt?

Isn’t that just an extra hoppy apa?

I always use pale ale malt in IPAs.

Good question. I’m still confused by the difference between 2-row/2-row pale, and pale ale malt. I’m pretty sure pale ale malt is darker, but I’m confused when I see someone or some brewery say they use “2-row Pale Malt”.

Isn’t that just an extra hoppy apa?[/quote]

It seems like ‘extra hoppy apa’ is selling it short. I’m talking about 2# of hops / barrel in the kettle and >1# / barrel for dry hop. Mitch Steele puts this somewhere between an American IPA and a Double IPA based on hop amounts in his book “IPA”. Splitting hairs maybe. Either way, it needs something extra to add some substance to the body.

93% 2 row 4% sugar 3%c20

After years of aiming for malty complexity, I’m realizing that I don’t care for a ton of malt character in IPA’s. Now I’m more of a “clean slate for the hops to shine through” kind of guy. That said, I do enjoy a little sweetness in my IPA’s and subtle complexity is never a bad thing. My most recent and best IPA to date used:

47.5% 2-row
47.5% pilsner malt
5% C-15

This yielded a nice straw color, light sweetness, and really lets the hops shine. The pilsner malt keeps things light, but adds a subtle sweetness that I don’t find in 2-row alone.

[quote=“Chinaski1217”]

I’m looking for more “maltiness” in my ipas. I feel like I get mostly the sweetness from the crystal and the hops shine through, but the base malt could be more present. [/quote]

Seems like that’s going to be not 100% “malt independent”, but rather a combination of malt/barley selection and hop selection (and quantity). Meaning, you should be able to make a “malty” IPA just by decreasing the IBUs.

FWIW, I like adding MO, munich, and vienna when I want an IPA with malt character. Seems like that’s fairly standard for many, though.

[quote=“Silentknyght”]
FWIW, I like adding MO, munich, and vienna when I want an IPA with malt character. Seems like that’s fairly standard for many, though.[/quote]

What ratios are you using with this combo? I’m assuming you mean a mix of MO, Munich, and Vienna within the same malt bill.

[quote=“Chinaski1217”][quote=“Silentknyght”]
FWIW, I like adding MO, munich, and vienna when I want an IPA with malt character. Seems like that’s fairly standard for many, though.[/quote]

What ratios are you using with this combo? I’m assuming you mean a mix of MO, Munich, and Vienna within the same malt bill.[/quote]

No, sorry. I use predominantly MO, with a splash of munich or vienna, usually no more than a couple lbs of the latter. That’s not to say you couldn’t experiment with a predominantly vienna or munich IPA. It’d certainly be worth sharing your results.

“MO”…Marris Otter?

My favorite IPA malt bill is 88% pale ale malt, 5% victory, 4% C77, and 3% C120. Use Simpson’s crystal if you can get it. This gives about 14 SRM and gives you a solid malt backbone to put in some bold hops with a resiny, piney flavor like Chinook. It’s my go-to IPA to always have on tap.

Correct.

My last IPA was 95% 2row pale and 5% Victory. Good and lets hops shine through but something is missing. I think next I will do 7% munich, 5% Carmel 20L, and the rest 2row. Thinking also about some white wheat but I don’t really know what that does for an IPA?