# Your Ultimate American-style Ipa Recipe



## bcp (26/11/09)

Hi.

Just spent a little time in the states & (don't tell them but) some of their IPAs are just a revelation.

"On the tongue, English-style IPA feels much the same as a strong black tea that has been brewed too long: Your taste buds will feel like suede rubbed the wrong way. With an American-style IPA, you're likely to think tiny kittens have just skidded across your tongue, claws blazing, leaving your mouth scoured of all but the hint of hop." http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-20/fo...ale-ale-vs-ipa/

I'll have what she's having. In fact that's exactly what i tasted. (I do love a woman who can frame beer in words like that. Actually... no i'd best leave it at that)

Well - i'm after a recipe for an American-style IPA that matches that description.

Any suggestions?
Brett


----------



## clean brewer (26/11/09)

Try Ross's 200 IBU Ruination IIAPA or my "Leftovers A.I.P.A" is nice also, not heavy but well balanced....  

:icon_cheers: CB


----------



## schooey (27/11/09)

If you want a maximum Hop Assault, you can't go past Pliny the Elder... If you just want a seriously hoppy American IPA, back those hop additions off by a third each. If you want a really sessionable IPA, halve them... But one thing is for sure, that combo of hops is frickin' awesome.... :icon_drool2:


----------



## rosswill (27/11/09)

Google: Sister Star of the Sun. 
Said to be a seppo award winning IPA.
I've brewed this one a couple of times, and its a ripper.


----------



## Supra-Jim (27/11/09)

Try this one:

Stolen from Can You Brew It, West Coast Green Flash IPA clone

OG 1069
FG 1014
ABV 7.3%
SRM 8.8
90 min boil
Preboil gravity of 1054

Grains
6.35 kg 2 row Pale Malt
0.59 kg Crystal 40
0.59 kg Carapils

Hops - Kettle

28gm Simcoe @ 90mins

7gm Simcoe @ 60mins
7gm Columbus @ 60mins

7gm Simcoe @ 30mins
7gm Columbus @ 30mins

22gm Simcoe @ 15mins
22gm Columbus @ 15mins

22gm Cascade @ 10mins

14gm Simcoe @ 1mins
14gm Columbus @ 1mins

Dry Hops

14gm Amarillo
14gm Centennial
14gm Columbus
14gm Simcoe
14gm Cascade

Mash @ 67degC, mashout @ 76degC, Sparge @ 77degC

Yeast

1056 / WLP001 / US-05
Ferment @18deg and let it rise to 20 after a few days

Have fun with this one!!!!!

Cheers SJ


----------



## Fourstar (27/11/09)

Besides a pliny, lagunitas, stone clone. I had a AIPA 6%, 60IBU, 6 SRM for the xmas in july case swap. Should have called it 6.6.6 

Was very well recieved amongst the swappers. Heavy dank american hops on the nose, full bitterness, very well supported by the malt profile. Was a real stunner. To be honest i would rate it in the top 3 beers i have ever made. Absolutly supurb! 

Its also in the top 10 for ratings in the recipeDB and 1st of the IPAs :icon_cheers: 

I'll also list my beersmith output below as the recipe DB doesnt always throw up the correct figures/hard to read hop additions.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...&recipe=860

American IPA

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 25.00 L
Brewer: Braden
Boil Size: 33.38 L
Brewhouse Efficiency: 71.0

Ingredients
6.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (1.7 SRM) Grain 85.7 %
0.45 kg Caramalt (Joe White) (17.3 SRM) Grain 6.4 %
0.40 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 5.7 %
0.15 kg Crystal (Joe White) (34.2 SRM) Grain 2.1 %
20.00 gm Simcoe [13.00%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 27.1 IBU
20.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 11.5 IBU
20.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (15 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
20.00 gm Amarillo [8.20%] (15 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
10.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 1.0 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo [8.20%] (0 min) Hops -
10.00 gm Chinook [13.00%] (0 min) Hops -
10.00 gm Simcoe [13.00%] (0 min) Hops -
5.00 gm Amarillo [8.20%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
5.00 gm Cascade [5.50%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
20.00 gm Simcoe [13.00%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops - 
0.50 tsp Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Chalk (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2.50 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.062 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 %
Bitterness: 59.5
Est Color: 6.6 SRM

Mash Profile
Mash In Add 18.20 L of water at 70.1 C 64.0 C 90 min
Mash Out Add 15.11 L of water at 94.9 C 77.0 C 10 min

Notes
pitch dry hops at 1.024 SG for 4-5 days 
Water Profile @ 23 L. (post boil figures) Ca 120ppm, Mg 13ppm, Na 3ppm, SO4 250ppm, Cl 7ppm, HCO3 60ppm


----------



## Pennywise (27/11/09)

My mouth is watering reading this thread, and it's only 10 in the morning


----------



## Supra-Jim (27/11/09)

Damn that looks tasty 4*! I've really gotta start hoarding hops and knocking out a few of these!

Cheers SJ


----------



## Bribie G (27/11/09)

Nah give me 30g of POR single addition for 90 mins :icon_cheers:


----------



## Fourstar (27/11/09)

Supra-Jim said:


> Damn that looks tasty 4*! I've really gotta start hoarding hops and knocking out a few of these!
> 
> Cheers SJ



Yeah tis great, the small 5g additoons where just finish off the packets. Awesome beer. i want todo one with Centennial, cascade and simcoe, bittered with magnum :icon_drool2: 



BribieG said:


> Nah give me 30g of POR single addition for 90 mins :icon_cheers:



Keg just blew dry on this one BribieG... Aweeeesommmeee summer quaffer!  Superpride = :icon_chickcheers: 





Aussie Pale 'Clean' Ale 
Australian Pale Ale 

Type: All Grain
Date: 27/09/2009 
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Brewer: Braden 
Boil Size: 30.90 L
Boil Time: 60 min 
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.0 

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
4.00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) (1.7 SRM) Grain 80.0 % 
0.50 kg Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.0 % 
0.50 kg Munich, Light (Joe White) (8.9 SRM) Grain 10.0 % 
20.00 gm Super pride [15.10%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 38.4 IBU 
30.00 gm Super pride [15.10%] (0 min) Hops - 
2.00 gm Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 
6.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale 

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %
Bitterness: 38.4 IBU 
Est Color: 4.2 SRM

Mash Profile 
Name Description Step Temp Step Time 
Mash In Add 14.00 L of water at 69.7 C 64.0 C 60 min 
Mash Out Add 10.00 L of water at 97.7 C 77.0 C 10 min 

Notes
CaCl into mash.
CaSO4 into boil.


----------



## KillerRx4 (27/11/09)

Fourstar said:


> 0.50 tsp Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
> 1.00 tsp Chalk (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
> 2.50 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc



Whats a tsp, 5gm?


----------



## brettprevans (27/11/09)

schooey said:


> If you want a maximum Hop Assault, you can't go past Pliny the Elder... If you just want a seriously hoppy American IPA, back those hop additions off by a third each. If you want a really sessionable IPA, halve them... But one thing is for sure, that combo of hops is frickin' awesome.... :icon_drool2:


ive got 60L of pliny elder in a fermentor atm. going into a keg tonight. :icon_drool2: wish i had of thought about divvying it and making a black batch of Pliny. call it Pliny the Aboriginal Elder


----------



## Fourstar (27/11/09)

KillerRx4 said:


> Whats a tsp, 5gm?



This was when i didnt have a gram scale. i used John palmers guides here as a guesstimate.

http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-4.html

Personally for this if and when i do it again, i'd just use my standard water modification for PA and IPA which is:

2g CaCl into mash
6g CaS04 into boil kettle.

you could add 1g of chalk to the mash if you want some alkalinity, but it aint really required with such a low SRM beer anyway.


----------



## Supra-Jim (27/11/09)

KillerRx4 said:


> Whats a tsp, 5gm?



There is no hard and fast conversion because you are converting from volume to mass. Hence the actual answer is dependant on the substance in question. I believe a tsp of sugar eqauates to 4.4gms, so if you use that as a reference, assuming that the substances have similar physical properties to sugar (grain size), you could work it out from here. Or grab a tsp measurement from the kitchen.

Cheers SJ


----------



## Fourstar (27/11/09)

citymorgue2 said:


> ive got 60L of pliny elder in a fermentor atm. going into a keg tonight. :icon_drool2: wish i had of thought about divvying it and making a black batch of Pliny. call it Pliny the Aboriginal Elder



Following my Black IPA adventures are we?!? 

Should be able to pitch my starter onto it tonight! Wish me luck!


----------



## KillerRx4 (27/11/09)

All good. I work off JP's RA spreadsheet & was just getting a handle on fourstars additions... 12.5g of gypsum & 5g of chalk seemed about twice as much as I am used to using. 

http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-4.html is a good reference & looks like the additions arent as high as I guessed....


----------



## Asher (27/11/09)

Here's My CC09 AIPA label.
IBU's a little low for that authentic cat skid effect.
More like sticking your tongue in a mini black hop hole :- You know you shouldn't, but your male, so you do anyway.... Only to find it dimensionally shift momentarily to become hop, before sucking the rest of you in behind it until there is no more.




You can work it back to your desired brew size 
Asher


----------



## brettprevans (27/11/09)

Fourstar said:


> Following my Black IPA adventures are we?!?
> 
> Should be able to pitch my starter onto it tonight! Wish me luck!


does it really suprise you? I love dark beers and probably 70% of my beers are dark (until recently).

good luck with the fermenting. definitely need a try once done.


----------



## Fourstar (27/11/09)

citymorgue2 said:


> does it really suprise you? I love dark beers and probably 70% of my beers are dark (until recently).
> good luck with the fermenting. definitely need a try once done.



Ha! Not really! Unfortunatly you will need to break your vows as i will only allow you to drink it as fresh as a daisy! (what a shame )


----------



## Maple (27/11/09)

Asher said:


> Here's My CC09 AIPA label.
> IBU's a little low for that authentic cat skid effect.
> More like sticking your tongue in a mini black hop hole :- You know you shouldn't, but your male, so you do anyway.... Only to find it dimensionally shift momentarily to become hop, before sucking the rest of you in behind it until there is no more.
> 
> ...


Lovely work with the label and with the by-bottle breakdown of hops!


----------



## snooze (27/11/09)

Received 1st place in IPA for this little mouth puckerer at VicBrew this year:

6kg Powells Ale Malt
200g JW Wheat
100g JW Dark Crystal
200g JW Medium Crystal
100g Dingeman Special B
200g Powells Munich

15g Simcoe (40 min)
30g Cascade (40 min)
30g Amarillo (40 min)
23g Simcoe (10 min)
23g Amarillo (10 min)
20g Centennial (10 min)
16g Simcoe (Flameout)
20g Amarillo (Flameout)
20g Simcoe (Dry hop)
20g Amarillo (Dry hop)

Mash at 65c for 1 hour
Ferment with US-05 at 18c

Made about 20litres. Almost came into IIPA territory at about 7.3%. Didn't do so well at AABC though, must've been a crappy bottle because this thing is delicious.

The 40 minute additions I reused from a hop tea I made for an American Pale that turned out revoltingly grassy.


----------



## glaab (27/11/09)

looks good, would you mind posting the .bsm file?, or pm'ing it to me please?


----------



## bum (27/11/09)

What are the IBUs on that one, snooze?


----------



## snooze (27/11/09)

I use qbrew for my recipes because I'm a cheapskate and I use Macs so no beersmith file, sorry.

I think it was about 70 IBU..???..give or take 5.


----------



## brettprevans (27/11/09)

pliney elder rec file
View attachment Pliny_the_Drunk_Hop_Surfer.rec


----------



## katzke (28/11/09)

citymorgue2 said:


> pliney elder rec file
> View attachment 33447



Note sure the recipe but here is a good bio of a true American IPA.

C-Note Imperial Pale Ale 
To call C-Note very hoppy would be an understatement. It's brewed with the seven "C" hops (Crystal, Cluster, Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus and Challenger) and pushes the bitterness limit to 100 International Bitterness Units. 6.9% abv. 100 IBU

For a true American IPA you need to be at least 80 IBU's. Balanced with the malt and aroma hops.


----------



## beers (28/11/09)

This is my latest. It is a tweaked version of my IPA that came 1st in the NSW State comp this year. This version got 4th in the nationals

Batch Size: 22.00 L
Boil Size: 26.00 
Boil Time: 90 min 

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
4000.00 gm Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBC) Grain 57.97 % 
2000.00 gm Pale Malt (Weyermann) (6.5 EBC) Grain 28.99 % 
450.00 gm Crystal Malt, Simpsons Pale (100.0 EBC) Grain 6.52 % 
450.00 gm Munich II (Weyermann) (16.7 EBC) Grain 6.52 % 
20.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.60 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 
20.00 gm Super Alpha [10.70 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 
20.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.70 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 
20.00 gm Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 
15.00 gm Super Alpha [10.70 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 15.8 IBU 
15.00 gm Super Alpha [10.70 %] (45 min) Hops 15.1 IBU 
25.00 gm Amarillo Gold (cube) [8.60 %] (15 min) Hops 10.9 IBU 
25.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) (cube) [13.70 %] (15 min) Hops 17.4 IBU 
25.00 gm Pacifica (cube) [4.40 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU 
25.00 gm Pacifica [4.40 %] (10 min) Hops 4.1 IBU 
25.00 gm Pacifica [4.40 %] (5 min) Hops 2.2 IBU 
15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.70 %] (5 min) Hops 4.2 IBU 
15.00 gm Pacifica [5.80 %] (0 min) Hops - 
15.00 gm Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min) Hops - 
15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) [13.70 %] (0 min) Hops - 
15.00 gm Cascade, NZ Organic [7.20 %] (0 min) Hops - 
15.00 gm Super Alpha [10.70 %] (0 min) Hops - 
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale 

Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.064 SG 
Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG 
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.66 % 
Bitterness: 75.2 IBU
Est Color: 20.7 EBC


----------



## bcp (16/12/09)

Fourstar said:


> This was when i didnt have a gram scale. i used John palmers guides here as a guesstimate.
> 
> http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-4.html
> 
> ...


Ok, you're pushing my limited knowledge here - so that's a good thing, but at this stage easy to do.

Help me understand what you're trying to achieve here. You're raising Ph in the mash (to do something - what pH are you after? I use melbourne water), then lowering it in the boil to 'lift the sulfate crispness of the hops' (what pH?). How are you measuring the water profile, or are you estimating based on the initial profile and what you add?


----------



## Fourstar (17/12/09)

bcp said:


> Ok, you're pushing my limited knowledge here - so that's a good thing, but at this stage easy to do.
> 
> Help me understand what you're trying to achieve here. You're raising Ph in the mash (to do something - what pH are you after? I use melbourne water), then lowering it in the boil to 'lift the sulfate crispness of the hops' (what pH?). How are you measuring the water profile, or are you estimating based on the initial profile and what you add?



Im adjusting the pH of the mash DOWN slightly by adding calcium but this is not my main objective. As my unmodified water is fine for beers in the 0-10SRM range, my aim for the mash water adjustment is not to drop the pH persay but to have atleast 50ppm of Ca in the mash for enzyme activity.

Then the addition i put into the kettle is to purely focus on achieving the approximate water profile i desire for the beer. In this case is hard sulfate rich water. The sulfate is the kicker for a smooth, crisp and drying hop profile perfect for an IPA.


----------



## Supra-Jim (17/12/09)

Fourstar,

last night i kegged a batch of your AIPA (mid year case swap recipe) and intial tastes are fantastic, bucket loads of hop flavour and aroma leaping out of the glass and good firm bitterness backing it up. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Cheers SJ


----------



## Fourstar (17/12/09)

Supra-Jim said:


> Fourstar,
> 
> last night i kegged a batch of your AIPA (mid year case swap recipe) and intial tastes are fantastic, bucket loads of hop flavour and aroma leaping out of the glass and good firm bitterness backing it up. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
> 
> Cheers SJ



Its a corker mate! Seriously, the aromas i was getting out of it when it was bottled was fantastic! Khe kind of beer where you finish the glass and sniff the bottle for the next few hours!

Just remember to rate it in the Recipe DB thread!


----------



## Bizier (17/12/09)

I have this nearly ready right now, calculated at over 200 IBU but it tastes smooth.

ED: ended up differently dry hopping each fermenter, one 100g Amarillo & 25g Cascade, the other 100g Centennial & 25g Cascade for 5 or so days.


----------



## yandy5000 (10/8/11)

Looks bloody good overall!

I like your name too mate, Asher is my 2 year old sons name

best!!
Yandy


----------



## chopdog (11/8/11)

snooze said:


> Received 1st place in IPA for this little mouth puckerer at VicBrew this year:
> 
> 6kg Powells Ale Malt
> 200g JW Wheat
> ...




hi mate, i brewed this last night and was just wondering about the dry hopping. when did you do it ? in the fermenter or in the keg??


----------

