Advice on TC IPA + Amarillo, Cascade Hop additions

[blackbeard2]

Hi guys,

Just planning out a near future brew in which I'm planning on using a TC's IPA kit as base. Was after some thoughts / advise on the additional hops I'm planning on using as I don't have a ton of experience yet with hop combinations.

I haven't used this kit before but I'm working on the assumption that it will pretty much have the bittering and some of the hop flavour I need, but not a great deal in the way of aroma??

I've currently got some leftover Cascade hop pallets in the freezer (approx 30g) which I'm planning on using up, and I was wondering what other late hop additions I can pair with Cascade which will go well and produce something along the lines of a big American IPA. At this stage I've selected Amarillo and only boil for a max of 15 mins, something like this:

Amarillo 40G @ 15mins
Cascade 15g @ 10mins
Amarillo / Cascade 15g of each Dry hopped

Just wondring what peoples experience pairing these two hops in late additions, or is there a hop that goes better with Cascade that I should be looking for?

Thanks.

 

[slcmorro]

It'll work fine mate. Give it a whirl and make some notes about how it tastes

 

[timmi9191]

Pairing them is a great combo.

However those volumes at those boil times plus the kit bitterness will probably give you too many IBUs

Use Ianh's spreadsheet to help you with your calculations.

 

[blackbeard2]

Pairing them is a great combo.

However those volumes at those boil times plus the kit bitterness will probably give you too many IBUs

Use Ianh's spreadsheet to help you with your calculations.

Thanks Timmi and slc.

Re the total bitterness - I have punched the proposed recipe into Ianh's spreadsheet (love that thing!!), and I'm going for a pretty hefty IPA:
OG: 1.072
FG: 1.017
IBU: 62.5 <- by the spreadsheet this puts it a slightly more bitter than the high range for the style, but my understanding is that many commercial IPA's are well in excess of this and I don't mind a bitter IPA (Sierra Nervada Torpedo IPA comes to mind)

 

[timmi9191]

That's not too bad. I aim for my ipa's to have between 1:1 and 1.2:1 bu:gu ratio. Ie the last 2 digits of the OG reading at least equals the IBUs. So you're pretty close.

I'm figuring you must adding some malts etc to get the kit to 1.072?

 

[blackbeard2]

That's not too bad. I aim for my ipa's to have between 1:1 and 1.2:1 bu:gu ratio. Ie the last 2 digits of the OG reading at least equals the IBUs. So you're pretty close.

I'm figuring you must adding some malts etc to get the kit to 1.072?

I've got to be honest - I've never known what the bu:gu ratio meant or how to use it...... will have to look into it in some more detail.

Yeah - the recipie I've concocted contains a fair bit more fermentables than just the kit + kilo, since you asked this is what I'm looking at throwing down:
23L
1.7Kg Coopers IPA
1.5Kg Coopers Amber LME
1.5Kg LDME
0.2Kg Dextrose
0.2Kg Light Crystal (steeped)

10L Boil

 

[timmi9191]

Looks good.

Wouldn't worry about the dextrose, it will thin out your beer. Use some more malt if you're looking for some more alcohol% points.

Bu:gu is a handy tool I find. Don't forget though the IBUs can come from late mid and early additions. For me, I aim for 60-80% IBUs from late (<10 min) additions in an American ipa.

 

[blackbeard2]

Wouldn't worry about the dextrose, it will thin out your beer. Use some more malt if you're looking for some more alcohol% points.

Bu:gu is a handy tool I find. Don't forget though the IBUs can come from late mid and early additions. For me, I aim for 60-80% IBUs from late (<10 min) additions in an American ipa.

Yeah I was just thinking when I was typing the recipe on here that I can probably ditch the Dex.

Thanks for your adivce - it sounds like I should be putting more hops in as late additions because the Kit contributes 38.6 IBU's which is over 60% of the IBU's in my recipe. Will take this on board and play around with the spreadsheet some more - but it's got me worried that by upping the amarillo additons, I'll probably drown out the cascade (since I'm trying to use up my left over 30 grams).

Might have to bite the bullet and go with a third hop (or get some more cascade)?

 

[lukiferj]

See how you go. I brew AG but I use 150 - 250 grams of dex in most of my IPAs. Find them much more drinkable that way.

 

[timmi9191]

Yeah I was just thinking when I was typing the recipe on here that I can probably ditch the Dex.

Thanks for your adivce - it sounds like I should be putting more hops in as late additions because the Kit contributes 38.6 IBU's which is over 60% of the IBU's in my recipe. Will take this on board and play around with the spreadsheet some more - but it's got me worried that by upping the amarillo additons, I'll probably drown out the cascade (since I'm trying to use up my left over 30 grams).

Might have to bite the bullet and go with a third hop (or get some more cascade)?

Yes - the kit locks you in. One of the downsides of kit brewing.

Go with what you've planned, I'm sure it will be a great beer

 

[bmarshall]

What about some centennial or citra if you after a big US IPA?

 

[Seato]

I've made this can a bit and have become a bit of a fan of galaxy it has a 14.5 IBU and I boil 15 grams for 30 min to get some real bitterness out of it. I normally use Amarillo 15 grams for 10 mins as flavour/ aroma addition and that has been quite successful. Cascade has similar flavour to Amarillo. 40 grams seams a hefty amount but it's all about experimenting. Good lick

 

[Yob]

also make sure you are pitching enough yeast with this brew..

2 packets (not the kit yeast) for a 1070 brew

 

[blackbeard2]

What about some centennial or citra if you after a big US IPA?

You might be on to something here...... Planning on doing a batch of Neill's Centarillo Ale in the near future (likely straight after the IPA) so if I stock up on Centenial and Amarillo in advance I can throw some Centenial at the IPA, get the BU:GU closer to 1 or above (as suggested above) without one hop overpowering.

also make sure you are pitching enough yeast with this brew..

2 packets (not the kit yeast) for a 1070 brew

Thanks Yob, was planning on pitching 2 packs (and no - definitely not the kit yeast), thanks for confirming my theory that this would be the required amount of yeast to pitch.