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My First IPA Recipe - Thoughts?

Beer Recipe Design
#1

Hello Experienced Brewers,
I’ve been brewing with Extract Kits for about a year and thought I’d try my hand in creating my own recipe. Below are all of the ingredients I have and how I plan on using them! Let me know your thoughts

Steeping Grains (A mixture recommended by the guy at the brew store. I can’t remember exactly.)
3lb Pilsen Light LME - 60min
1lb Pilsen Light DME - 60min
1oz Amarillo hops - 60min

3lb Pilsen Light LME - 30min
1oz Simcoe hops - 15min
1oz Cascade hops - 5min
1oz Citra hops - 2min

1oz Citra hops - dry hop 1 week

I also have 5oz of bottling sugar I don’t need that I can add.

Thanks!

#2

First thing about making a recipe is you should know what your putting in. Didn’t you write it down?

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#3

I have it written down at home, but I posted this at work lol

#4

Oh now that makes more sense

#5

Personally I wouldn’t waste the Amarillo hops for bittering it’s one of my favorite flavor and aroma.

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#6

I agree with @brew_cat re the amarillo. I’d use something like cluster or magnum for bittering and use the amarillo as a late addition for flavor/aroma. I’d use the Simcoe later as well. 15 minute addition may give you a little flavor but you’ll get more bang for your buck with additions after 10 IMO.

Why pilsen DME? Pls malt has a particular flavor profile that’s great for…well…pilsners…for an IPA I prefer the smoother taste of 2 row with ( your specialty grains?) some added c malt, and vienna or munich malt for a malty sweet back ground to let the hops pop out.

#7

I don’t use pilsner in an IPA either but I was giving @J23P the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he has had an IPA made with straight pilsener malt. I use mostly 2row myself. IPAs are about the hops.

#8

See what kind of grains he did recomend. I like to use. Caramel malt as well as add to the grain bill why dont you use. The citra hops as a flame out hop. Forget the 2 min hop

#9

But sounds like a awesome recipi.

#10
  • Pilsen LME/DME is unusual (as others have noted), but not unreasonable
  • the 30 min addition of the LME is highly unusual. Typically, late additions are done at 15 or 10.
  • hops look reasonable for a 1st recipe.
#11

Use a neutral bittering hop. Amarillo @60 mins is a waste.

Add your bottling sugar plus another 11oz (total of a pound, 16oz). This will help dry your extract out, and make the hops shine.

Just a heads up, Citra is powerful, so expect your cascades to provide little to no aroma/flavor. I would drop it to 1/2oz.

Drop your Simcoe to 8mins or less.

Hard to really tell with your “magical” blend.

#12

I’m always skeptical of boat loads of various hops too. Will it be muddled? Firestone Walker uses all those hops and more in Union Jack and Double Jack. Centennial, cascade, amarillo, simcoe, citra and chinook. I recently brewed a union jack clone with all 6 for dry hopping. It’s very good but honestly it is a bit hard for me to pick out the contribution of each individual hop.

#13

I will make an IPA with pilsner when I have to use it up. I prefer 2 row, as you get more body. I like G. Magnum, but in some what smaller quantities for bittering, I’ve got a bunch of northern brewer awaiting me to bitter some brews with. I’ve not been a big fan of multiple different hops. My opinion, I seem to get a taste that smells like a sweaty sock. I prefer to keep it to 2 different types… And the last few I’ve been using sugar to dry it out just a bit and will continue down that road. I’m enjoying my results. Sneezles61

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#14

Interesting that sugar is “back in style” (also, 30 minute hop additions from another thread). Anyone know why people stopped using it the last time it was popular?

I’ll agree that generally less is more. However, there are exceptions and personal tastes :slight_smile: (for example: some people taste ‘onion’ when simcoe is used). A while back, I “stumbled into” a dry hop combination of 1 part Amarillo, 1.5 parts Simcoe, and 3 parts Centennial that works well for me in a number of different pale ale and IPA malt bases.

#15

As far as the “dry” style of years ago, that would be a good question of the pro brewers. I enjoyed the dry style. It wasn’t till a year, maybe a bit longer did I somewhat grasp how to dry out a brew. And very well attenuating yeast, seem to be a key.
Isn’t that what one of those hops you can buy is, a combo? I’m not real up on the newer hops that are out and coming soon, just enjoy the standard hops I’ve been using. I tried Mosiac and my palate wasn’t happy at all, cascade, centennial, and yes many years ago EKG. In fact, I had that hop growing! Sneezles61

#16

It could be (but I’m not aware that it is). Falconer’s Flight® and Falconer’s Flight® 7Cs Blend are a couple of commercially available blends that I’m aware of. I don’t have experience with either. The Amarillo/Simco/Centennial blend I mentioned has its ‘roots’ in a web article back in around 2010.

#17

I’ll say it depends on the hop. Some of the new, hot hops are amazing in a blend, but kind of weird on their own. I tracked down some single hop Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra, and didn’t enjoy them. Throw them in with other hops, though, and I love them. The “classics” hold up on their own much better. That being said, more than four hops in a beer is usually a bad idea.

#18

So as part of recipe design, what techniques do people use to try out various hop combinations quickly?

(and a ‘loosely related’ link):

#19

Trial and error for me. If I have a beer I like I’ll research what hops they use. But just because you know what hop combos you like there are still alot of variables. ABV, mash temp, fermentation routine. Basically I’ll brew the same grain bill and change up hops and try to keep a half decent log. Eventually I’ll end up with a recipe I’ll repeat over and over. Of course eventually I get board and change it again so it’s kind of ongoing for me anyway.

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#20

Exactly Brew Cat! It is an evolving hobby. There are brews that are just fine, and don’t need to be tweaked… too much. Then there are others that you keep adjusting… looking for a certain taste/whiff. Sneezles61

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