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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 (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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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