Extract Double IPA ideas?

[rglnz]

Hi guys,

Made a few kit brews, and have my first extract in the fermenter currently, but for my next I would like to try some sort of double IPA. Something along the lines of an Epic Hop Zombie or similar. Would like to make something quite hoppy with a slightly higher ABV. Does anyone have any good extract recipe ideas and tips?

Cheers
Ryan

 

[brewtas]

Something like Hop Zombie should be fairly easy to replicate with extract. It's really pale and their website says it's just pale and pils malt. They don't say which hops they use but they do say that they use 2 NZ and 2 US varieties. From having tasted it I'm guessing Motueka & Riwaka for the NZ hops and Centennial & Amarillo for the US ones. I'd do a hop stand for 20 minutes after flame out, I usually calculate it as a 10 minute addition.

For a 20L batch I'd go with something like:

OG: 1.076
FG: 1.013
IBU: 70
ABV: 8.5%

94% Light DME
6% Dextrose

Pick a smooth bittering hop and add enough at 60 min to make it up to 70 IBUs including the flame out addition (probably about 45 IBU if you're doing a full volume boil)
30g Centennial @ 0 min
30g Riwaka @ 0 min
20g Amarillo @ 0 min
20g Motueka @ 0 min
30g Centennial @ dry hop
30g Riwaka @ dry hop
20g Amarillo @ dry hop
20g Motueka @ dry hop

WY1056 or whatever clean, attenuative yeast you like. WLP090 is good.

Ferment at 18C

 

[rglnz]

Thanks for the tips there. Sorry, just a few real stupid questions. What is a hop stand? is that just adding some hops at flame out? And when you say calculate it as a 10 min addition, are you talking about IBU's? Also, any suggestions for a smooth bittering hop? - Im a bit of a newbie and dont have a lot of experience to draw on in terms of what different hop varietys bring to the table...

 

[brewtas]

Sorry for the lack of the lack of clarity.

Hop stand: it just means adding the hops at flame out and letting it sit before cooling.

Unless you're using a program that takes the bitterness given during a hop stand into account, enter it as a 10 minute addition in your brewing software to get an idea of the bitterness it'll contribute.

As for smooth bittering hops you're looking for something with low cohumulone levels: Citra and Simcoe are great if you've got them, otherwise Horizon and Warrior are both meant to be good but I haven't used them. If they're not available or too expensive I'd use a low alpha acid hop like Hallertau or East Kent Goldings - you'll need more but they'll give a very nice quality of bitterness.

It'll be important to keep the temperature under control during fermentation. Do you have a temp controlled fridge or are you fermenting at ambient temperature at the moment?

 

[rglnz]

Thanks for clarifying that. Awesome info. I do not have temperature control for fermenting, my current method is checking the thermometer sticker and either draping a wet towel and getting some airflow, or wrapping heat packs on it... Maybe I should have a crack at a standard IPA first to see how that goes and then try beef it up for the following brew?

 

[lukiferj]

Too be honest man, it's going to be tough to brew an ipa in australia at the moment without temp control. If you can get a party bucket type thing that will fit a fermenter in it, you can put water and ice in it to keep it stable. If you can't keep it under 22 (absolute max) then it's not going to be great. 18-20 degrees is fine.

 

[lukiferj]

Can send you a pic if that helps. Did it for years before I got a fermentation fridge.

 

[brewtas]

As long as you can keep it in the 16-18C range you should be fine. If not you'll need to leave it until the weather is a bit cooler. If you're going to do the IPA, try out the hop combination and see if it's near the mark. That way you can change it up for the IIPA if you need to.

 

[rglnz]

Sounds like a good plan. Think I will go for an IPA as a trial run, to see how the combo of hops goes, and if all goes well will step it up for the next one. Havent had too many problems keeping my ferm temps under 20 as its pretty cold where I live. If it starts to creep up I will try the party bucket idea.

Cheers

 

[pcmfisher]

You will have to do a full volume boil to get that much bitterness into your brew, as against a small 5-10 litre jobby.

 

[IsonAd]

+1 for full volume boil. In my extract days I tried many a time with smaller boils and just ended up wasting hops. You'll also need to think about yeast quantity for a IIPA. You dont want to stress the yeasties out too much or you'll get flavours you don't want.